Leaving the Eastside at 6:45, my buddy and I were at the TH by 7:30 and on the trail 10 minutes later. After a short period on the 'ol Iron Horse Trail, we started up the road-trail. Not as bad as Dirty Harry's... but still pretty bad. After an hour of horribly monotonous traversing, we reached the ""Owl Hike Spot"", where it was time for a bit of food. Dawning snowshoes (although more to save our backs than out of necessity), we continued, following the fork in trail towards the Washington Creek access. Washington Creek is really beautiful, but not enough to get cold to take the camera out. After some more tiresome efforts, especially considering my Camelbak had frozen and I was restricted to my 1L nalgene, we reached the base of the North Ridge at 10:00. Here I snapped some pictures, and due to the battery power of the camera the only pictures of the hike. After a short break, we started up the ridge... This was by far the best part of the hike! Quite steep, and in a few places I considered getting out my ice axe, but for the most part it was fairly packed down by former hikers. We'd take a short break every 200 vertical feet or so to soak in the views from the 2nd or 3rd growth tree ridge. Near the end, it makes a tight squeeze through some trees, and after exiting the trees is 50 or so degrees. This was pretty sketchy, but only 20 vertical feet or so. Afterwards, hike south on the unmarked forest road and back Northwest to gain the summit. Time was 11:00. After leaving the summit at 11:15, we decided to take the conventional, 6-mile route down. Believe me, the slog along the ridge separating Washington and Change Creeks lasts forever. For good reason too, as it is about 1.5 miles. Grade was just enough downhill sloping so that the slight sidehilling hurt the ankles unbearably. Saw 2 others shortly after leaving the ridge, and continued down. We reached the car 10 minutes short of 3 hours from leaving the summit.

Mt. Washington, near North Bend, is an interesting winter destination. It's unlikely you'll find crowds there, the route finding can be challenging, and the summit, if you get there, has great views. On the way up, I met Paul who has been doing much of the trail maintenance at Mt. Washington. This morning he was working on drainage and brush removal. He told me about a new route he'd put in up the North Ridge. I decided to try it. I put on snowshoes around the 3500 foot level, snowshoed past the ponds and followed a logging road to where a path marked by surveyors tape went up through the forest. Eventually, I climbed out onto a nice ridge with steep slopes. Not a place for novice snowshoers. I followed this route up to another logging road, hiked it a short distance to the south and then went up to the summit via an old clear cut. The summit has a small, unobtrusive communications tower. The views are 360 degree, south toward Rainier, west to the sprawl of the Puget Sound coastal plain, north across I-90 to Si, Mail Box, Teneriffe, and east to McClellans Butte, Defiance, Bandera. I decided to descend via the so-called standard route in order to make a partial loop. I had been down this way only once before following well-defined tracks. This time it was trackless snow and I went too far to the east along the main ridgeline logging road wasting precious time. I backtracked and this time picked up the right logging road that descends into the Mt. Washinton Creek drainage. I got to the parking lot just at dark though I was prepared for night travel having with me a very bright headlamp. This is a long trek, maybe about 12 miles round trip, with about 3400 feet gain. The route does not have signage except for one small handwritten sign at a critical junction lower down and the Green Trails map is not very useful since it doesn't show all of the complex web of logging roads. Prepare for a full day of travel.

this hike was chosen as a close hike to seattle that is doable with a late start. that is about all that this hike has going for it. the biggest problem on this hike is that i rarely felt that i had escaped i-90--either with traffic noise or view. the only info that i could find on this hike was an old green trails map for bandera. unfortunately, the mt. washington road trail to 3600 ft on the green trails map is no longer the standard route. the first problem is finding the parking lot and trailhead. take exit 38, and head to the twin falls parking lot. 2/3rds of the way to the outhouse, there is a trail off to the left that leads back to the iron horse road-- a road restricted to bicycles and hikers. note the permanent map here for the ollalie state park--it will tell you where to turn when you are coming back. at the top of the road after it levels off, you will see a sign on the right prohibiting motorized vehicles. about 10 yards further on the left is the unlabeled start of the trail. it is marked only by two large dots with orange flourescent paint on each side of the trail. at a half hour, the trail passes by a rockwall on the right with a big cutaway--a hidden spot for advanced rock jocks, marked by at least 2 hanging bolts and a blue climbing ribbon tied to one of them, to practice climbing on roofs and practice overhangs. this is the BEST part of the whole trail. at an hour into the hike, there is a fork in the trail, marked by a large rock cairn. practice your cairn-reading skills and it points you to the correct side. so no prank messes with the cairn, take the trail to the right. at about an hour and a quarter, you come to another fork. posted to the tree, some good samaritan has left GOOD trail maps plus written instructions inside a ziplock bag plus posted trail signs . be sure to grab one of the maps. to the left is the standard route; to the right is the trail via the washington creek route. both trails lead to the mt. washington summit. since this was my first time here, i chose the standard route. the trail was full of fallen branches--the lint of the forest and signs that there was no trail maintenance this summer. i spent about a half an hour trying to clear the trail since particularly the evergreen branches can be slippery if wet. the trails about 90% better than when i found it. a lot of work went into the trail, and its condition is a result of the deep cuts in forest service maintenance budgets. in another quarter of an hour, the trail unfolds into an abandoned logging road whose start is marked by several cut young trees in the road bed. this old logging road eventually breaks out into the open air, just at a huge deciduous bush that has turned a brilliant orange and yellow. what tired wildflowers are left are blooming here over the gravel-covered road. now i left the old logging road at what i thought was the departure point, had to scramble--read bushwack--thru evergreens and past several small rock fields to attain the summit at eye level with mailbox peak on the north side of i-90, as well as several other peaks nearby on the south side. the good samaritan wrote that the open trail would continue to the top. perhaps i pealed off too early and ended up on a false summit. in any event, there was no tower at the summit i was on, nor could i see any tower on the other two obvious peaks. a small mystery...the views, btw, are in my opinion not great, therefore making the hike not worth the climb. yes, i've seen rainier many times and much better even from my dentist's chair on first hill. close by, teneriffe, mailbox peak, mcclellan butte, kendall katwalk, even mt. si are all better hikes. the hike/scramble took 4 1/2 hours round trip not counting lunch on top. this is solo friendly, trekking poles are recommended, and bring boots with shanks because almost the whole trail is rocky and hard on feet, ankles and knees. i figure it was about 8 miles round trip and maybe 2500 feet net gain give or take.

A gorgeous day to climb Mt. Washington, an arduous but very fun ""hike."" It's not truly a hike, but more of a scramble with some class 2-3 rock-climbing thrown in for good measure. I'd forgotten how steep the trail is; there's probably only 50 yards of level ground on the entire 3300 vertical foot climb! That would explain the incredibly sore quads and calves 2 days later. The trailhead isn't obvious. Head towards Mt. Ellinor's upper trailhead and turn RIGHT instead of left. Go less than 1/4 mile and park at the first wideout you see on the right-hand side. As you face the mountain, the trailhead is to your left, up a moderately steep embankment through some bushes. The trail then heads straight up, with a lot of climbing on hands and knees and grabbing hold of tree roots and branches. You'll eventually come to a large rock field. There are no cairns because the rocks slide all the time, but just head up the boulder field towards the tree line. Just above this, the trail is very easy to lose but there are multiple ways to get to the top. The easiest trail is to the LEFT side. You'll have to search a little for it because it's hidden in the trees and up a steep probably 4-foot tall bank. It doesn't look like a trail at all but once you get up on the bank, you'll see a footpath with some orange markers on the trees. If you take the MIDDLE trail, you'll see a footpath winding through some branches with sparse orange markers on those trees, too; but further up, you'll have to scale a small rock wall that might make those afraid of heights a bit apprehensive. And if you take the RIGHT-hand trail, you'll soon find yourself up against a sheer cliff wall which is too dicey to climb without a rope. So stay to the left and you'll gently ascend the large rock wall that you'd otherwise have to scale if you chose the middle path. Anyway, once you reach the little plateau above, there's a tiny rivulet where you can replenish your filtered water (slowly). It's a trickle off a rock, but you can pump water from there if you're desperate. In this meadow area, you'll see many well-worn paths that appear to go towards the summit. Take the left-most one, as that bypasses the difficult scree field that's higher up. You should see orange flags to guide your way. As you approach the summit of Mt. Washington, glance upwards to your left and you can see two white plaques mounted high on a cliff face. These are a memorial to Joel Cedric McLin, who died there in a fall in 2003. A short detour leads up to these markers and they're worth viewing because they contain quotes from his journal which are quite moving and awe-inspiring. The views are amazing as well. If you head towards the summit of Mt. Washington, be very careful of your footing, as the trail is narrow in parts and the sides are very steep. We stopped about 100 feet short of the summit because the trail appeared eroded and we didn't want to risk a fall. But even from our vantage point, on a clear day (which it was), you can see Mt. Rainier, Seattle, the Space Needle, almost all of Puget Sound, and the Olympics, to name just a few of the highlights. Almost no one hikes this trail, opting for the much easier Mt. Ellinor hike. In fact, you can use binoculars and see the many folks on Mt. Ellinor's summit across the way. A warning: on the way down, the trail is very easy to lose. If you find yourself in a meadow following a path that suddenly has a creek flowing to the left side of it, you're on the wrong path! Backtrack. Otherwise you'll have to bushwhack back to the main trail, which is far to your right and involves climbing down two small cliffs (I wouldn't recommend it, which is what we had to do). This is a VERY steep trail, almost 3300 feet of climbing in just 2.5 miles, and most of it involves scrambling, pulling yourself up on tree roots, and crossing ankle-twisting scree and boulder fields. I found a hiking pole very helpful for ascending the scree fields. The trail is especially hard on the knees and quads and I wouldn't recommend it for those afraid of heights. But if you enjoy a challenging day-hike with incredible views and solitude, you'll love Mt. Washington. No bugs, no blow-downs, no mountain goats either, for that matter. The huckleberries and salmon berries are out. The beargrass is surprisingly pristine in the higher reaches. Wildflowers are, of course, gone by now, but the views are forever.

Although the early morning weather did not look promising, I hoped for improvement – in vain as it turns out. I found the trail in pretty good condition up to the point where the ‘shortcut’ route goes straight ahead into the Washington Creek drainage and the standard trail turns sharply left. There I was surprised to find a plastic bag hung on a tree, with a note indicating that the enclosed maps showed a ‘cleared trail’ to the top of Mt. Washington. From the map it was apparent that this referred to the shortcut route. The note was signed by Me the Trail Man, apparently the person who has been doing work on this trail over the past several years. I have done the shortcut route twice before, finding it shorter in distance but not in time or effort. Although I was tempted, the prior experience, wet brush, and lack of visibility lead me to stick to the main trail on the way up. Unfortunately, the section from there up to the open logging roads was a bit overgrown with vegetation, and wet, and it became downright cold when I got into the open with a good breeze blowing. At least there were not bugs to be seen. After reaching the summit in a cloud, and wet anyway, I decided to check out the shortcut route in the downhill direction. For those who have not tried it, the shortcut route has two components. First, you follow a series of overgrown logging tracks up into Washington Creek drainage, and then up to the northeast ridge of Mt. Washington, coming onto the ridge at about 3500’. From there, it’s a steep and difficult bushwhack up the ridge until you come out on the logging road that runs below the summit to the east. The recent efforts by Trail Man have completely removed the brush from the logging tracks; however, the bushwhack up the ridge, though now marked with ribbon and with some brush cut back here and there, remains steep and essentially an off-trail endeavor. In summary, the shortcut route is more passable than before, but is not really a cleared trail. The longer route is easier and the views are better and I think most would prefer it. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the clearing of the shortcut route. The challenge and adventure are mostly lost, and the clearing is not particularly aesthetic.