The shady trail is rocky and mildly steep in places, but about halfway it turns into an open and nearly-level road with wide panoramas of the mountains along the I-90 corridor. You leave the road for the last short stretch of ""real"" trail to the summit. I missed the trail to the summit last year because I couldn't believe that steep dirt path was the real trail. Now I know to follow the arrow made of stones when walking north and arriving at a fork in the road. The bear grass were abundant and the mosquitoes were modest. A couple of very well-fed horses made their presence known by divoting the gravel/dirt water bars running across the trail and postholing the dirt outside the trail.

I am a little late with this report. We took it Wed. June 20th. This was my fourth attempt to summit Mt Washington I made it on the 5th try. The trail is well marked, I can remember the days when you did not know which trail to follow. There are signs (not official) but they work. We followed the (standard route). There is good tread and it is clearly marked with carrions along the way. When you get to the logging road at the top and you are looking down at I- 90, and over to Granit MT., Mt. Defiance, Mail Box, Bandera Mt, Mt Si, and McClellan Butte you are not there yet. By my clock and altimeter you about 6 miles in and at an Elevation of 3,950 -. Keep on going. You drop about 50 and then climb up to about 4,000 feet. You come to a (Y) in the road. Take the switch back logging road to the right. Keep going about a mile until you see a big arrow of rocks pointing straight ahead. At this point you leave the logging road and follow the well beaten trail up to about elevation of 4,300 feet that feels like 6,000 feet. My guess is that we traveled 7 miles in (14 miles round trip) and 3,300 feet difference in elevation. My GPS is broken so I don’t really know the exact distance but time wise at my pace of 2 miles an hour. It took me 3.5 hours in and my partner 3 hours who is 34 years my junior to make this trip. The summit is a rocky point room for two. To the side is a small weather station I don’t know who the owner is. The views were outstanding of Mt Rainer and the Seattle water shed and surrounding mountains. This is a great hike and I would encourage you to try it. Saw only on person at the top.

A couple miles of steep uphill grind, followed by some gentle road-trail. A nice conditioning hike, despite the constant drone of traffic along I-90. Armed with two previous trip reports and my Green Trails 206S map, I set out to find my way to the summit of Mt. Washington. It quickly became obvious that I would want all three; the map doesn’t show all of the roads that you encounter. The following is my attempt to provide comprehensive directions on taking the “standard route” all the way to the summit. From eastbound I-90, take exit 38, turn right at the stop, then make another quick right turn onto gravel to the parking lot. When I pulled in at 8:10 a.m., a curious black-tailed doe stood in the middle of the gravel lot, watching me approach, only reluctantly walking away as I got closer. Nothing in the parking lot identifies where you are, so find the unmarked trail on the SW side of the parking area, near a donation box. Head up the steep but short trail a tenth of a mile to a gravel road, where a signboard provides information. Continue uphill on the gravel road another eighth of a mile, to where it levels off at an intersection with another gravel road. Continue straight (west), seeing a sign that reads “IRON HORSE STATE PARK. NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES ALLOWED”. Immediately across the road from this sign is what appears to be a trail. This isn’t it. From the sign, continue west 50-60 yards to the actual trailhead (unmarked), about 0.3 mile from the parking lot. (Other mileages will be from the trailhead, not the parking lot.) The trail sets out from the left side of the road, dropping between two alder trees, then quickly gaining altitude. The trail starts out steep and rocky, passing a number of rock faces used by sport climbers. One has a significant overhang, providing a rock ceiling. The only reliable stream crossing occurs early in the hike. Later on, a short side trip from the 2 mile point will provide the last opportunity for water. In a few places, rockfall has left boulders in the trail. There was only one place that looked potentially dangerous, if covered in snow and ice. This time of year, it was easy to walk around (or over if you prefer). Continue up the rocky trail to a junction, approximately 1.4 miles. Take the path to right, which at this writing is marked by two signs reading “MT. WA”. In another quarter mile, reach the first significant viewpoint, a vertical rock face on the left featuring a low rock bench facing out to the west and views of the valley. This is the “Owl Hike Spot”, popular for sunset views. From here the trail levels off somewhat, and becomes easier to walk. At about 2.0 miles, the next junction is marked with a small sign. The options are the Standard Route to the left, or the Alternate Route (Washington Creek Basin) straight ahead. Your last chance for water lies 100 yards up the Alternate Route. Go left to follow the Standard Route. There were only two blowdowns along the trail, and the first appeared about ¼ mile past this junction. It was only 7-8” in diameter, but at belly-to-chest height, too high to step over. At ½ mile past the junction, I noticed a tree on the left side of the trail that had a lot of its bark recently scratched off. My thoughts of vandalism were quickly dismissed when I saw the numerous claw marks left behind. I had not seen any wildlife other than the deer in the parking lot, but I started paying more attention after this. At nearly three miles, I encountered the first patch of snow. Ten minutes later, as the steep dirt path turned to gentle gravel road, another black-tail deer stood and watched me until I reached for my camera. Then it bounded off. The rest of the route is almost all on road-trail. The next junction occurs at approximately 3.3 miles, where a short scramble from the road you’re on leads to an intersection of three others. To the right, rocks block the route, marking it as the wrong way. To the left, the uphill road is marked with cairns as the correct route. At about 4.2 miles, a hairpin switchback up and to the right is possible, onto an overgrown road. Others have mistaken this as the way to the summit. Bypass it and continue straight and slightly downhill to the flat but relatively narrow ridgetop route that bridges two valleys. While crossing this Great Wall (as it is labeled on the map), you can see your summit destination to the right. At the far end of the Great Wall, ascend the road-trail to another intersection, on a plateau. This section was completely covered in snow for me, but solid enough to avoid post-holing. At this intersection is where you should make a hairpin right turn to the right, keeping the No Trespassing signs for the Cedar River watershed on your left. A scant half mile later, where the road-trail splits to go left and right, continue straight, on the dirt trail that winds its way up the final quarter mile, past trilliums and other wildflowers, overlooking Chester Morse Lake/Reservoir below, to the summit at 4300 feet, 5.5 miles. Wander around the summit area to appreciate the views. Starting from the NNW (Little Si and Mt. Si), pan clockwise, seeing the whole range of local peaks. At 38 degrees, the top of Glacier Peak was visible when I was there. To the south is Mt. Rainier. To the southeast, view the Great Wall before heading back down to cross it on the return trip.

Mt. Washington turned out to offer much more than I expected from a hike so close to I-90. It is 6 miles one way on the standard trail and gains about 3000 feet. Much of the trail is overgrown logging road so it is a steady even grade yet has none of the ""forest road"" feel. Today's experience was enhanced by fog which silenced everything and gave us a closed in feeling. It also sheltered us from the sun. I would not want to do this hike on a hot day because there is a large stretch exposed without forest cover. Green Trails map 2065 is a good guide for this hike. Take exit 38 off I-90 and two quick rights to the east end of the Twin Falls trailhead. The trail climbs a short way up to the railroad grade and then along that .1 miles to an unsigned but obvious trail off to the left. The rocky trail gains rapidly here for about a mile and a half to a junction. Along the way is a nice little waterfall, a viewpoint, many amazing rock cliffs, and even a cave. Lots of flowers, too. The junction offers an alternate or a standard route. Take the standard! There is one 6"" diameter blowdown and a small but tricky rock collapse just beyond the junction and then the trail climbs up to an easy going forest road. Here is the oddest thing: right in the middle of the road are big arrows formed of stones. You cannot miss them. Here is where snow patches begin. At 3800 feet the trail climbs an embankment and meets that forest road again which splits right away into two. Take the right fork up. From here it is easy sailing but will require some Cindy Laupers soon because the brush is taking over the road. At 4000 feet the road straddles the edge of a ridge for .5 miles, called ""the Great Wall"". It's pretty steep down both sides but the road is a good 20' wide along the top. At the next junction, hang a sharp right. Walk the road with the ""Ceder Watershed No Trespassing"" signs on your left. This arrives at tower junction with the trail climbing steeply up the middle between two roads. There is a branchy blowdown up here. Soon you reach the summit with a weather station on top. Jon and I opted for the alternate trail coming down. We went back to tower junction and turned a hard left down one of the roads. There are cairns about .5 mile down which indicate the beginning of the alternate ""trail."" In reality it is a bushwhack scramble marked only by ribbons on the trees. After a steep and tricky mile we arrived at another overgrown forest road that took us through some delightful meadows and stream crossings back to the first junction at 2900 feet. Here we met Paul who is the guy who maintains these trails pretty much by himself. He deserves high praise for a dedicated job well done. Time up 3.5 hours. Time down 2.25 hours.

Piece of cake today. Almost snow free.