Trail in great shape thanks to paul the retired printer who i met today, my fourth trip up mt. wash. his 39th. about halfway up paul put out some copies of his new trail to the pinnicles and a new way to the top, if you go this way, in two minutes you will cross washington creek where he widend and dug out a ''dog pond'' Lots of cold clean water here. when you leave the trail to the new logging road and the road splits by the hard to see iron gate and the lower road goes down to change creek here was parked a red government vehicle,a man and a woman working for the state where up there planning a bmx trail. last year the road from here to the great wall was a mess from tumble down rocks but now is dozed clean of debris and brush so they must be serious about constructing something.

It was great to be hiking with Brent and Matt. This was a long, tough day. We were safe, fun, and summitless. Go now, while there is a good shoe track. Snow right out of Exit 38 Twin Falls parking area. ($5 state park fee) Ran into Paul, unofficial maintainer of this trail. He's been working and clearing this trail for 12 years. Way to go, Paul! This long windy trail follows old logging roads almost the whole way. It's never really steep, and only occasionally brushy. We booted up just past Owl Spot, putting on snowshoes around 3000'. Even with three guys taking turns breaking trail, it was hard work. Many places we sank in over a foot. About four possible avalanche tracks are crossed below the great wall. This was the only place on route where the snow was very firm. Our navigation error was in believing the summit was the first false summit. Two roads (not on map) head left and right. The trail heads straight up. We hiked way past it, then eventually fought our way up two feet of sugar only to realize our mistake. We tried to traverse our way back to the real summit. Dense trees, cliffs, and way too much powder thwarted us. We backtracked and headed out knowing we would be lucky to get out before dark. 14 miles R/T, 3200' gain, ten hours car to car. I've heard rumors of a more direct track to the summit in winter. I'd like to hear about it.

Made a return trip to Mt Washington to avenge my previous short trip and make it to the actual summit. What a trip! This time there had been no fresh snow for awhile and the snowpack was hard and crusty. We didn't even put our snowshoes on until we reached the Watershed boundardy. The entire trip can be done without snowshoes but in the bright sun the snow did get fairly soft. The mile or two surrounding Owl Hike Spot is packed hard snow and ice, very slick. Bring traction devices if you have them. Further up the snow is uneven and slick but more manageable. There are some smaller blowdowns here to negotiate. On reaching the road we decided to take the long route since none of us were familiar with the bushwack route. We hoped we might see a shortened route back after reaching the top. Snow on the road is flat and crusted, easy walking. After curving around to the east side the snow is much softer and the drifts are bigger. The tread is much narrower here and on a slight slope making it easy to lose balance. We passed under the false summit, crossed over the narrow ridge top, and headed upwards towards the real summit. Slightly before the summit climb we found a blue plastic sign tacked to a tree reading ""Unit1"". The final climb to the top is slippery and steep but the views are awesome. Rainier popped out from behind its cloud just in time for a photo. More trip photos: http://www.pbase.com/billcat/hiking

We hiked the Mt. Washington trail past the Owl Spot to the 3200 foot level and then went straight-up the east slopes to the 4300 foot summit. We used Yaktraks to ascend the steep, crusty snow, occasionally breaking through into deep tree wells. The view from the summit is outstanding--Rainier, Glacier Peak, Baker as well as all the local peaks. We followed the longer logging road route down across the Great Wall with its top-of-world views. A very pleasing close-to-home outing.

I arrived at the Twin Falls trailhead with plans to stand on top of Mt Washington in the sun. Sadly the sun never appeared. After a wrong turn, luckily minor, I headed the correct direction on the Iron Horse. I followed a climbers trail straight uphill intersecting the Owl Spot trail just past the waterfall. About one mile before the Owl's nest the snow started, thin and slick. Quickly it got deeper and slick with several inches at the Owl's nest. Pressed on with the snow quickly getting deeper. At the Mt Washington turnoff I stopped for a snack and put on my gaiters. From here on up the trail gets very brushy. With the fresh wet snow on the trees most vinemaples were pushed down and lots of pine branches hung low. Travel was slow as I used my trekking poles to remove snowbombs from lowhanging limbs. This trail would be made much easier by waiting for the trees to clear after a snowfall. A half mile further I put on my snowshoes. Travel here was tricky with the vinemaples grabbing at the 'shoes and having to contend with many weighted down trees. Soon I intersected the logging road. I opted for the long route since visibility was so low and turned left. Easy walking on the road, nice fresh untouched snow the rest of the trip. The snow had a very thin crust on it and was very supportive but I was still glad to have 30"" snowshoes. Wabbit tracks everywhere. Deciding to chance a logging spur I took an early right turn. This ended in a nice clearing, which would be a good turnback point for a shorter trip. I found a gap in the trees that looked promising and continued on this for a long distance before it petered out. Short on time I tried to gain the ridge to drop back to the real road but could not penetrate the wall of trees. I took a shortcut down a snowy slope and shaved off a significant distance then retraced my steps to the trailhead, stopping off for a break at the Owl Hike Spot. I hiked up partway with hiker Paul, who has been maintaining the lower portions of this trail for 12 years! He's the one who built the bench at the Owl's Nest. He was cutting brush today, as he has apparently for weeks now, and is extending the Owl trail beyond the Mt Washington turnoff. If you're up there on a sunday bring some friends along to give him a hand a cut some brush or clear the trail! More trip photos at http://www.pbase.com/billcat/hiking