We visited Mt. Townsend today, along with many others! Parking was a bear at the trail head with a boy scout troop trying to ""save"" spaces for their late companions. The hike was beautiful, however, and I am so glad that we went. The flowers are not in their full glory yet, but the phlox made the hillside look like it had been dusted with snow and we were able to glimpse a wide variety of blooms along the entire trail. Although the distant horizon was a bit hazy, my husband was very impressed with views which he had never seen before. Finally, we would like to say thank you to the trail crew who we witnessed in action hand sawing a 3+ foot diameter fallen tree in half to remove it from the trail path. All three fallen trees of significant size were removed by our return trip. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK!!!

Not much to add to recent reports... a couple of negotiable blow downs, about 20 feet of fast melting snow at Windy Camp, and... no bugs! Good water in a couple of spots along the part of the trail that traverses in forest prior to Windy Camp. Lots of folks out this Monday. A handful came up the Mt T trail, but most seemed to be arriving via the Little Quilcene trail which starts a bit higher and is somewhat shorter (and more of it is in the shade, I was told). Shade was a bigger deal over the weekend with temps in the 90s. Time up 90 minutes.

Just a mostly-floral supplement to Sydney Kaplan's fine report from Friday. The rhodies along the first mile or so of trail from the upper trailhead are starting to bloom. A few are in full bloom, more are unfolding their flowers, even more will be unfolding flowers over the next week or so. The open slopes below Windy Camp are starting to get good, but are still well short of their usual full mid-June floral glory. There are a few glacier lillies left a short ways below Windy Camp. With a few easily crossed snow heaps remaining around Windy Camp, there still may be a glacier lillies to come. Above Windy Camp, the carpets of phlox and other flowers still aren't quite up to usual coverage. Summit area flowers are pretty good. On Saturday, visibility was quite good, though I've seen even better. Mt. Adams was visible, but only barely. The bottom line: assuming good weather holds, and atmospheric murk does not take over, it will probably be even better next weekend!

We took advantage of the great weather to do our first high elevation hike of the season. Mount Townsend melts off earlier than most peaks above 6000 feet and so it's a good choice right now. As the report a few days ago mentioned, there is only snow around Camp Windy. There were ten cars at the trailhead when we arrived at 10:30 on a Friday, so I can imagine it will be mobbed today and tomorrow. I'm also glad we did it before it heats up as the weather forecast predicts. The trail is in the bright open sunlight during its most strentuous sections. We opted for the north summit for our lunch as we noticed so many people at the south summit. We had the north summit to ourselves throughout most of our lunch--a couple of people arrived towards the end, but graciously situated themselves away from us on a lower rock. The views in all directions were gorgeous: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, and Glacier Peak were all in sight; Seattle, Pt. Townsend, the Hood Canal, the islands and Kitsap Penninsula to the east; great snowy peaks endlessly to the west. It was a great hike!

Only a couple of snow patches at Windy Camp - other than that trail is snow-free and dry with only two minor blow-downs. The first of the rhodies at the beginning of the trail are starting to bloom. Lots of blossoms of various flowers at the summit. Clouds obscured most of the view except towards the south and down into the valley. Waited an hour for the clouds to clear but they only shifted around. I find the trail books confusing about the drive to the trail head. Some only talk about the lower trail head, and the ones that talk about the upper trail head reference the numbers of the spur roads off FS 27 - and they're not signed. The Mt Townsend sign at the spur road leading to the lower trail head has been vanadalized to the point where its message is vague. Confused also why the trail books don't just say drive FS 27 to the end of its paved section and take the Mt Townsend spur road there (to the upper trail head).