I did this hike on Sept 13 but didn’t post it here until Sept 26. Frankly, I forgot.
I took the day off Monday Sep 13 on the hope that the weather would be nice. I wasn’t disappointed. Since it was a weekday, the parking lot was nearly empty but for 10-12 cars. That meant a few were out on the trails with “few” being the key word. Nice out AND uncrowded.
Since I had hiked Rattlesnake the day before, late in the afternoon too, I didn’t get up early enough to start before 8 or 9 like I often prefer to do. By the time I was up, done eating breakfast, and packed and ready, I didn’t start on the trail until 11. But that worked out okay. I’ve found lately that if I hike later in the day, I seem to have more energy than early mornings. Don’t really know why.
The first mile was cool yet humid in the shade of the trees. As I got higher it warmed significantly. While it was only mid 70’s for a high that day, it was a sweatfest the whole way up. It was an hour into the hike before I ran into the first person coming down, and shortly after that I passed two young women headed up. They were loud and laughing, having an apparently grand time. But the trail itself seemed steeper than I remember it from before(I know I’m out of shape) and I had to keep pushing myself everytime I wanted to stop for a breather. I stopped for my sandwich about roughly halfway up, with a view of the freeway below from a rock in a avalanche shute. Good thing there wasn’t any snow. I expected the two ladies I passed to catch up to me at that point but they were taking their time, and although I could hear them coming, they hadn’t showed before I was done eating and ready to continue.
I got up to the 3/4 mark at 2 hrs, and had a 10 min rest on a flat rock by a pond. It seems like you should be almost to the top at this point, but its still almost a mile to go to the lookout. But at least it gets much easier from this point on. Another 45 minutes and I did arrive at the top, the only one there at that moment, with several others having just started down as I was about 5 minutes from the top. So until the two ladies made it up, I had the lookout to myself for about 15 minutes. I chatted with the ladies a little, ate the leftovers I brought to supplement my sandwich, and enjoyed the view for about 30 minutes. Mt Rainier was in the distance but mostly clouded over, or at least had clouds between it and me. The lookout was not staffed while I was there but was not yet closed up for the winter. It was locked so no access.
The hike back down was slow as I was tired, and my feet were really sore by the time I got back to the parking lot. I was there by 5:45 so 6 hours and 45 minutes was a most enjoyable day. Wendy was home from work before I got back, so I didn’t have to wait long for supper.