Great hike on a hot day! Got an early start and on the trail by 8:15. (Coming from Edmonds so on the road at 6am) Only one other car at the trailhead. Road is rough and has some good sized potholes but totally doable if you pay attention. AWD helps but not necessary IMO. That first mile+ hiking is a killer. Up, up and more up! The trail is in great shape but from mile 1 to 2ish it has a soft edge on the downslope side. It gave way on me at one point under my right leg when I was too close to the edge and I went hands down with my left knee hitting the trail. Luckily I caught myself but that whole section is sidehilling across a pretty steep slope. Something to be aware of. Very nice hike through shady woods with some occasional views west into the Olympics until you make the last ascent towards the peaks of Mt Townsend. And TONS of wildflowers. I took pictures of 25 different flowers. My favorite was the Deathcamas. Intricate little blooms with lots of warning signs and a fabulous name! (See picture.) You get rewarded after the last ascent with that amazing view of everything! Strait of Juan de Fuca, Mt Baker, Hood Canal, Puget Sound, Mt Rainier. It goes on and on. A little hazy today but seemed to be improving by the time I started down. I'm sure I would have seen Seattle and Bellevue if it wasn't hazy. I hit both peaks before heading back down. As others have mentioned no water source besides a small stream within a 1/4 mile or so of the trailhead. I took about a gallon to drink and still had plenty left when I got down. But it was getting much warmer. Overall a great hike I would do again.

First time up Mt. Townsend and I decided to take the back (less crowded) route with my pup, starting from the Little Quilcene trailhead. No regrets. I took the first ferry at 7:10 am to Kingston. Google Maps got me to the trailhead just fine, but it's a bit of a maze with FS roads back there—definitely recommend having offline maps or Gaia.

Trail's in great shape. Only one tiny stream running in the first half mile for pups, but we stayed cool by getting an early start. The morning shade in the forest helped a lot.

We went to both summits. For anyone hiking with a dog, there's a decent-sized snow patch on the north summit—great spot for pups to cool off and roll around. Mine got the full-on snow zoomies.

Views up top were incredible, especially toward the eastern Olympics—Constance, Deception, Clark, etc.

By the time we finished, it was very hot. If you're bringing a pup, go early and try to be off the trail before it really heats up.

After being dazzled by the wildflowers while day hiking this trail a week ago, we decided to return for a quick overnight.  Got to the trailhead at 4 p.m. and climbed 1600 feet in three hours to a nice campsite in a little saddle near timberline at 5600 ft.  The trail was in great shape.  Because there's no water at this camp, we carried all the water we needed from the car. 

From a knob near camp we had a fine view of the sunset, and of the sunrise the next morning.  We had clear skies, no wind, a nearly full moon, and the temperature didn't drop below 50.  Early the next morning we hiked another half-mile to the south summit of Mt Townsend, where our only company was chipmunks.  It's a rare thing to have this summit to yourself in mid-summer, so this was our reward for camping high.  Views were dazzling in every direction.  We then hiked to the north summit, then back to our camp and down, reaching the trailhead at 11 a.m.

The wildflower display was as impressive as the week before:  lupine, paintbrush, silky phacelia, cushion buckwheat, Olympic onion, tufted saxifrage, field chickweed, etc.

The drive in was pretty potholed.  Having high clearance was preferable, but you could do it in conventional car with care.

At 9 a.m. on a clear Tuesday, there were 6 cars at the trailhead when we arrived.  The trail was clear of blowdowns all the way to the top.  It was evident that someone had been through with a chain saw recently, because there were a number of freshly-cut logs.  Thanks, trail workers!

We hit this trail at the peak of wildflower season.  At lower elevations, rhodies were in full bloom.  Higher, Sitka valerian was blooming everywhere, then prairie smoke, cinquefoil, cliff beardtongue, silky phacelia, Olympic onion, spreading phlox, moss campion, cushion buckwheat, and much more.

The south summit was crowded, so we opted for the north summit, from which there were great views of the Salish Sea, Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, and the eastern Olympics.  The day was clear and warm.  In all, it was a grand day on Mt. Townsend.

Lots of elevation gain right off the bat, then thankfully periods of more flat or gently rolling hills. Very beautiful forest to hike through. Views from the top I'm sure would have been incredible but it was quite cloudy/foggy. Still worth the effort!