Ah, a late September hike up Mount Townsend. A recent rain cleared the air. The temperature at the trailhead was in the mid-sixties and there were only four cars parked there. Even the dust was down considering that all of the streams that crossed the trail had gone dry. Lots of the leaves and flowers are well into turning color, or even dropping off their branches. The light came through in the forested part to highlight individual plants and showcase their foliage. The upper meadows were fields of dried flowers sprinkled with late red indian paintbrush and a few others that I didn't recognize. I hiked to the far summit to get away from the tiny crowd at the first summit. A nap later I headed down the hill. The trail could eventually use some work. Parts are getting kicked down the hill. A few stretches have developed foot sized holes. The brush is encroaching, but far from obscuring the trail. In other words, go for it and take a lot of water.

Thank you, to the friendly hikers who mentioned seeing the forceps with the green straw protecting the tip. We found them! (They hiked faster than we did and planted them so we could see them.) The trail was is great shape and the view panoramically stunning. The haze over the city area was brown.

We took a leisurely hike up to Mount Townsend taking ""the back way"", starting on the Little Quilcene Trail and turning at the junction with the Mount Townsend trail at 2.9 miles. It's only another 1.4 miles to the summit from there. This route has over 1000 feet less elevation than the standard route (which we did a few weeks ago), but does have some steep sections at the beginning. Luckily, the steepest part is in the woods, which was great since the day was already getting hot. Ours was the only car at the trailhead, but I anticipated lots of people at the top because the day was so beautifully clear. After the trail leaves the dark woods it climbs through gorgeous areas of mixed forest, twisted bushy pines, and meadows filled with more lupine than I've ever seen. (When I've been on this trail before the flowers had not yet appeared and I had assumed that only the other trail had a flower show). The views are fantastic as the trail opens up and they continue all the way to the top. It was fun to look across and see the meadow we had climbed on the Tubal Cain trail a couple of weeks ago. We went first to the south summit (the highest one)and were suprised to see only two people there. We took a long lunch, looking through the binoculars at all the Olympic peaks to the south and west and to Seattle, the Cascades, three volcanoes (maybe four--Mt. St. Helens was barely visible in the distance), the islands, Puget Sound and the Hood Canal, etc. We saw one more hiker arrive just as we left for the north summit. From there, we could look down and see our (still-lone) car on the road far below us. We continued north on the ridge as it drops down, following a way path which eventually dropped down to our trail. The return down was quick and easy. When we finally reached the old clear-cut close to the end of the trail (which is beginning to recover), I noticed a car parked and was suprised that anyone was starting this hike in the heat of the late afternoon (It was nearly 4:30). I must admit that I felt nervous (I think all of us hikers have been spooked by the tragic murders) and so, for the first time since I've been hiking, I took out my binoculars to take stock of the situation. I was relieved to see a man and two young boys putting on their hiking gear. It is sad to finish such a gorgeous hike with this kind of uneasiness.

The flowers were so good that it didn't matter that the fog kept visibility down to twenty feet at times. The rhodies were past their peak, but dozens of species were hitting their prime. About the only one I didn't see was trillium. The fog wasn't really that bad until Silver Lake. I was there in the early afternoon and had a hard time finding sites in the fog. For a lake that is small and out of the way, it got an amazing amount of traffic. Two hours after I set up camp, there were at least six camps set up. Then the boy scouts swarmed in. The area is fragile enough that it could benefit greatly from a back country latrine. Instead, it was too easy to stumble across toilet paper. The trail could use some saw work too. The trail to Silver Lake and Mount Townsend is drying out. Yet another stream has become too shallow to fill a bottle. At least the snows have revealed Windy Camp and its attendant pond. The meadows are wet and the mosquitoes are rising. I felt a large increase in bug bites in the three days that I was there. Flowers and bugs peak about the same time. Ain't it funny how the world works?

You cant go wrong on this hike. The flowers are coming on strong, the views get better and better the further you go, the rhodies are still blooming along parts of the lower trail. All snow is gone by this point. I would also like to thank the WTA trail crew working hard to remove several trees which had fallen across the trail. They make all this enjoyment possible. At the top, many persons go to the true summit, and then decide to venture a little further to the next summit over (north?). Unfortunately there is no trail which connects the two, and people trample over whatever direction they choose, damaging the fragile vegetation which looks like it has recently been restored. Perhaps a small sign would help. It seems a shame to undo the restoration work.