Hiking Mount Townsend

Last Saturday I went went on a Mountaineers hike to Mount Townsend, a 6000+ foot peak in the eastern Olympics.  After meeting the hiking group somewhere around insane o'clock at a P&R south of Everett, we headed for the Edmonds ferry to catch the 6:20AM sailing for Kingston.  Along the way, we noticed a brilliant and rare rainbow in the southwest.  Rare, I suppose, but then I am usually not out and around at such an ungodly hour.

We sailed across the Sound in fine form, and drove through Kingston and the tidy little town of Port Gamble, across the Hood Canal Bridge, and through the less-than-tidy little town of Quilcene.  From there, mostly paved forest service roads brought us to the trailhead.  Some kind soul had outlined all of the axle-busting holes in the pavement with orange paint.  Thanks Feds!!

The first thing I noticed at the trailhead, other than the fact that the privy needed some maintenance, was that this was a forest of rhododendrons!

Coast Rhododendron, the Washington State Flower

The woods were full of them

We put on our boots, used the smelly facilities, strapped on our packs and started up the trail.  And by up, I do mean up.  It was a pretty much unbroken positive gradient going on for miles.  I'm talking 2800 feet of elevation gain with nary a level stretch (unless you count where the switchbacks switched) for pretty much all five miles to the summit. 

Early on we entered the Buckhorn Wilderness

We went up through a lush forest of Douglas Firs, Western Red Cedars, and Western Hemlock. Continuing up we reached a clear spot with views south.

Up some more and the forest began to thin out. A bit of thigh burn was happening.

Nice picture of the Moon among other things

And up...

A very healthy looking Glacier Lily

Upwards! And we reached alpine meadows. Legs starting to feel rubbery.

Some late season snow

Summit in sight?  Nope, false alarm. Shuffling real slow now.

Summit in sight for real this time.  And the clouds roll in from the East.

Lunch with a view

Looking west from Mt Townsend summit

Looking northwest you can make out the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island

My legs were not looking forward to the trip down the mountain.  But at least I got to use some different muscles and felt OK leaving the summit at a good clip with a gravity assist.

However, about half way down, complaints were coming in from the front of my thighs suggesting that they were getting sick and tired of preventing the rest of me from somersaulting down the mountain.  I distracted them with thoughts of a milkshake and the prospect of our lazy boy recliners awaiting us at home.

Finally, I staggered into the parking lot at the trailhead, freshened up a bit, and we started the long drive back to Kingston.  We made an abortive stop for food in Port Gamble (too expensive: there is a high overhead cost for tidy cuteness apparently) where we happened upon a gent in mid-tirade about how overpaid public school teachers are.  Since a large portion of our group WAS public school teachers, we continued on our way to the ferry.  At the Kingston ferry dock, we found ice cream as we waited and were entertained by a live band, apparently a summer Saturday feature of that civilized little town.

On the Edmonds side, my legs and I headed for home and refreshment, lazy boys, and a good night's sleep.  One helluva hike though!