As a change of pace, we opted to try Change peak. The short road from the freeway to the trailhead has some significant potholes, but these were easily avoided. We arrived around 8:30 am and easily snagged a spot in the parking lot. The bathroom is open and stocked with TP.

There are trail closure signs at the trailhead but these don’t apply to the Mount Washington trial. The left turnoff that goes up to Mount Washington is located just before the landslide closure, thankfully.

The Mount Washington trail was in good shape with no snow coverage up to the junction. We took a left onto the Great Wall climbers trail at 2900 feet. From this point on the trail is unmaintained, and there were a few downed trees and branches to step over. It was a bit scrambly and exposed with a drop off to one side. There were patches of snow starting at 3550 feet. Once we hit the forest service road at 3800, the route is snow covered. However, the snow was only ankle deep and I didn’t even take out my gaiters. 

After walking down the service road for some time, we spotted another unmaintained trail to the right. It is a hairpin turn and easy to miss. From here to the summit of Change Peak, the unmaintained trail was clear of snow. It is steep in parts and crosses a boulder field, but the amount of scrambling required was pretty minimal. From the summit we were treated to views of the nearby peaks and Mount Rainier. We took a break for lunch and then headed back to the trailhead. 

Distance: 10 miles and change, elevation gain: 3200 feet, time: 5 hours 45 minutes

First time on this hike. Very beautiful day and gorgeous views! Temp was cold but sky was clear. Not crowded at all. I enjoyed this very much!

There were several rocky segments - a bit annoying to step thru at times but no big deal.

There were also several icy/snow segments. I’d recommend having poles or spikes if you are not comfortable with walking on icy-snowy conditions. I did n’t bring poles/spikes and I did slipped several times. During descend, I had to go very slow when there’s snow/ice. (I was wearing ACS Pro GTX sneakers) Please use caution and reserve more than enough time so you don’t have to rush your descend.

There were about 3-4 blowdowns on the trail but not difficult to pass.

Hike time: (including photo-taking time)

• 2.5 hours up (0920 - 1145)
• 2.25 hours down (1255 - 1515)

Timestamps:

• Arrived TH parking at ~9:12am. Still quite a lot of room for parking.
• Started the hike ~9:20am.
• Saw several clusters of icicles along first half of hike.
• Started seeing snow/ice on trail ~1040am.
• Snow/ice trail condition on and off along the way.
• Summit ~1145am.
• Meditation, lunch, photos for ~ an hour.
• Began descend ~1255pm.
• Back at TH parking at ~1515pm.

GPS watch logged 8.96 miles with 3,222 ft total ascent.
We moved a little slower than typical summer pace and took 3:35 total round trip (2 hours up, 1.5 hours down).

Layers: just wool long sleeves and leggings for warmth while moving. I started with a lightweight fleece and regretted it. 

Some parts of the trail near the top have some packed snow. Navigable but recommend waterproof shoes if you have them and some sort of traction for the descent. 

We used trekking poles and for a bit of the way down put on microspikes. They were not 100% necessary but helped us move much more confidently.

Beautiful winter day for a hike! 

Not sure why AllTrails says this trail is closed, but it definitely isn’t. What an awesome day for a hike. Easily found a parking spot but there is overflow parking not far away. I’m shocked at how little snow is on the trail, there’s basically none until 3 miles in, then it’s on and off packed down snow. Bring microspikes if you have them, but if you don’t you’ll get by with a little slipping. Wonderful view of Rainier soaking up the sun sitting on a snow free rock. This is a great workout that doesn’t get a lot of crowds and very fun this time of year. It took us 2.5 hours up and 1.75 hours down. Final stats 8.9 miles, 3264 feet gain.

Good hike to do this three day weekend of clear sunny weather. Could make out parts of Puget Sound and the Olympics from up there! Also nice to see Masonry Pool and Rattlesnake Lake back to decent water levels. Took snowshoes (just in case), crampons, and yaktrax. Only used the yaks. Loads and loads of fallen trees to go over, under, or around. I haven’t been here since 2024, so I don’t know if all of this is brand new or it’s just been building up over the past year or two. Water flowing over or through the trail was not an issue with waterproof boots on. Parking was easy and the pit toilet was available with a trashcan inside.