Our group of 4 followed the trail to the junction near the creek and turned left a long mile to the junction with the upper road. At this point some sunbeams smiled on us briefly. Since 3:4 of us elected to leave our snowshoes in the car, 1:4 of us did all the trail breaking. We encountered a bit more snow than anticipated; however made the summit in 4 hours. After a brief, chilly lunch we decided to descend from near the summit directisma to the road system in the basin. After beating a little brush we returned via roads to the creek junction and return to the car. 6.5 hours round trip. about 12 miles, and 3400' ele gain.

Clear blue skies, temperatures in the 30’s, with a brisk wind, perfect weather for hiking and snowshoeing to the summit of Mt Washington. For directions to the Mt Washington trailhead (Exit 38, I-90), and how to find the start of the trail (off the Iron Horse Trail), see Harvey Manning’s, Hikes around Snoqualmie Pass Mountains-To-Sound Greenway, Second Edition, (pages 134-138). The Mt Washington trail was also added to the most recent, 2002-edition of the Bandera, WA-No 206, Green Trails Map. A lot of work has recently, been done on the trail and it is in perfect condition. The snow starts about 2,500-feet and covers the trail after the “Owl Hike Spot”. You can easily hike to the upper old road junction, at 3,800-feet. This is a good place to put on snowshoes. The old abandoned-logging roads, which serve as the “trail” to Mt Washington’s summit ridge, are perfect for snowshoeing. The “Great Wall” section is particularly nice. Presently, there is no avalanche danger on the traverse leading to the “Great Wall”, but later in the season, especially after a heavy snow fall, the avalanche danger can be high. Snowshoeing the south-ridge leading to the summit is especially enjoyable as the views just keep getting better. Mount Rainer is spectacular. The lack of water in the Chester Morse Lake/Reservoir is scary. The winter-only, weather station, has been installed on the summit’s metal pole. Round trip is about 14-miles and 3,400-feet of elevation gain.

This is a trail the guide books suggest that requires a map and the possibilty of getting on the wrong logging road. With a new Green Trails Map in hand, I had no difficulty gaining the top of Mt. Washington. The old logging roads are not difficult to follow and I only once consulted my map to be sure I was on the right trail (road). This occured about 0.4 miles from the Owl Hike spot where the road/trail takes a sharp switch back. An equally good looking trail goes off straight ahead. Other than this I found other hikers had marked the trail with rock cairns and arrows to prevent taking the wrong road. The lower half of the trail is rocky but with a relatively gentel grade. The grade gets even less difficult as you get near the summit with the last 2 miles gaining about 600 to 800 feet. The summit views are great, I saw Mt. Rainer, Glacier, and Baker the I-90 corridor peaks and Chester Morse Lake and Dam. There were some people on the trail up and down with one gentleman (older than myself) doing the top in 2.5 hours (6 miles one way). It took me about 3 hours up and 2.5 hours down. There is a large parking lot for the Twin Falls Trail which is an excellent access point. From the lot go to the John Wayne - Cross State Trail and head West, the trail head for Mt. Washington is unmarked but obvious about 0.2 miles from where you get on the abandoned rail tracks. The trail is on South. Besides great views, fall colors and some remaining flowers are out, lupines and others I could not identify. This hike has better views than Mt. Si and much less hiker use. I also think it is an easier trail gaining less elevation and being less steep although a 12 mile round trip versus the 8 miles round trip for Si.

Hiked Mt Washington today. Started late (2 pm) and thought I'd only do to Owls Hike Spot, but, actually got to the intersection of the roads at 4100 ft when I decided to turn around so I'd still have light at the end. Very few folks on the trail. There were some groups climbing. But only ran into 5 people the whole trip on the trail and those were before I got to the OHS. The trail is pretty clear to OHS, but, then not too far past it gets really bushy for while. At about 3000 feet I was worried I'd lost the trail for a moment because I couldn't see the trail ahead of me. Also around 3000 feet it looks like the trail is close to washing out in a couple of spots. I hiked the trail alone and as I got close to OHS I passed to women coming down. One commented on my being alone and told me not to fall. I couldn't understand why, the trail had been nice and solid all the way up to that point. When I got to 3000 I understood. Going up in this areas wasn't that bad. Coming down you need to be careful though. The trail is somewhat steep, with lots of scree and gravel, and roots in spots. I almost fell backwards a couple of times slipping in the rocks.

Since WTA doesn't have a catagory for hikes way back east, I put this one in the furthest east here in Washington state. While on my vacation trip to visit my sister Mary in Conneticut, we took a three day trip up to New Hampshire and did the hike/climb to the summit of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the eastern U.S. You can get to the summit in three different ways, from the west side by riding the steam powered cog railway ($49.00), drive up the auto toll road on the east side ($16.00 per vehicle/$6.00 per passenger) or hike up for free. Our trip started at Pinkham Notch off of Highway 16 on the east side of the mountain. We didn't need to get a Forest Pass since this hike starts at the A.M.C. lodge and behind the USFS Ranger Station. The first half of the trek we hiked up the Tuckerman Revine Trail which was about 10 to 12 feet wide, all rock (like hiking up a dry creek bed with boulders). This section of the trail is wide for winter time use to run big snowcats up for skiers. Since it is still humid in New England this time of year, the first 1.5 miles felt like hiking in a sauna. The sweat was poring off me while my sister wasn't bothered by it since she has lived in Conn. for the past 30 years. After a little over 2 miles we came to the junction with the Lion Head Trail with a sign that read, ""Mt. Washington 2 Miles"". This was a very tough trail to go up. Big boulders to climb up and over, part of it reminded me of the hard part of the trail to Glacier Basin out of Monte Cristo, it turned into a rock scramble. Climbing up ledges and gullies. When we got above the tree line, the other mountains of the area came into view. We could see the summit high above us and hear the steam whistle of the cog railway locomotive. This is where the wind began blowing on us, which felt pretty good. After getting to the junction with the Alpine Garden Trail the route turns into a rock scramble up a boulder field to the top. There are giant rock carens along the way so people do not get lost if the clouds blow in and cover the route. This hike/scamble is 4.1 miles to the summit of Mt. Washington, 6,288' high with a 4,270' gain. There is a State Parks/USFS building on top to get out of the wind (blowing 25-45 mph when we were on top, the record wind speed was 231 mph on April 12, 1934) which has a mini cafe with great views. We watched the Cog Railway train coming up the mountain and went to the offical sign that marks the summit. This is not an easy hike at all because of all the rock on the trail. My sister had never done any rock scrambing before, but did great on this trip.