Nature's Playgrounds: Mt Washington

A group of seven of us from the Bushwhackers head up to Mt Washington in the Eastern Olympics as part of Patrick and Celese's annual climb and BBQ. Mt Washington at 5944ft, is the second large peak on the left that you see when you look out at the Olympics from Seattle. It sees significantly less people than its neighbor to the south, Eleanor. This is a pretty short but steep scramble that starts from an unmarked pull off along the road and heads up a climbers trail. There are numerous routes to the summit, but we opted for the easiest and probably most common, nothing more than a few brief class 3 sections. Patrick had done this hike about 8 times and had the route down.

The hike up was a lot more interesting than some scrambles, with a lot of variation in the terrain. There were several distinct sections (all of which Patrick had named) that felt almost like you were progressing through levels on a video game.

We met up early in Hoodsport and were in good spirits despite some ominous and foggy weather. Luckily, by time we were at the trail head, things were looking up a bit. At least we could actually see the mountain! The first section of the hike is probably the steepest. It follows a boot path through huckleberry bushes (which were ripe!) and ends at the "Meandering Meadow."

Mt Washington from the trailhead

After the meadows comes another section of boot path under forest cover (mostly cedar) with a few blow downs obstructing the way. This ends in at the "Primal Scree" which is a little bit of a two steps forward one step back kind of place. Soon after this you reach a pivotal moment, either enter the "Holy Gully" or take the "Round About Ridge." In the words of Doug, "gullies are for the gullible." You definitely want the ridge. Cross the little creek before it heads into the gully and climb up about 20 ft to the ridge. The ridge leads up towards a big knob and then begins the "Upper Meadows."

The knob at the start of the upper meadows

Marine layer over the Puget Sound

The Upper Meadow, (the Secret Ramp is just left of the snow field)

After a nice walk through the meadow, things get a bit more scrambley. There's a section of walking next to a cliff wall and then a second scree field and the oh so important "Secret Ramp" that leads up to the saddle. From the saddle you follow the boot path up and climbers right. There's one short section that is a little exposed, but really it looks worse than it is. Then its a little scramble up and around to the summit. Unfortunately, most of our summit view were obstructed by clouds, but we still had a great time. It was a little over three hours to the top and less time back down.