My hiking buddy, Greg, and I paid a Monday morning visit to Mount Washington in the Olympics. Ours were the only two vehicles at the trailhead at 7:45 am. Our intent was to follow the Standard South Route as described in climber's guides. As we hiked up the unmaintained but very well-worn trail, we were pleased to find huckleberries in many spots along the way to the first meadow.

During the course of the day, we ran into two parties doing this hike for the first time, and both parties expressed being a bit disoriented. For those who've never hiked Mount Washington, there are a couple of spots where it's easy to get off track. The first occurs after climbing to the top of a barren scree/talus slope above the first meadow, then making your way through a steep section of low-growing trees to the bottom of a narrow, wooded gully. High above and to the right is rocky pinnacle referred to as the Horn or the Tooth. The gully drains the west (climber's left) side of the Horn. Standing at the bottom of the gully, you can look up the gully and see a saddle above the trees which is the desired destination. A well-worn trail ascends the gully, but if you stop and look 90 degrees to your left, you will see a very faint path descending a short ways towards the west shoulder of the gully. Walking down, you approach the base of the shoulder and a trail comes into view, zig zagging its way uphill. This steep but short route is preferable to being down in the gully, and it doesn't take long to reach the saddle above the Horn.

Once at the saddle, a second location that's easy to miss lies ahead. It isn't a single spot like the previous one but occurs along the trail that leads to an important terrain feature. From the saddle, a large meadow fans out and the rocky flank of Mount Washington can be clearly seen. The main trail heads north-northwest up through low-growing trees towards the base of an imposing cliff. The trail is faint and steep at times, but gradually swings right in a more northerly direction, staying in close proximity to the base of the cliff. It's easy to lose the trail in this section because of an abundance of loose rock.

Eventually the trail intersects with the bottom of a narrow ramp that turns and ascends sharply southwest (climber's left). This is an important terrain feature that can be missed if you are not on or near the trail. One of the parties we met had dropped too low down-slope and overshot the ramp by a quarter mile. A well-defined trail ascends the ramp and, once on top, heads in a northeasterly direction traversing just below the ridge that connects Mount Washington with Mount Ellinor. Eventually the trail arrives at a saddle just below the summit where spectacular views of the vast interior of the Olympics greet you. Excitement builds as you see the trail ascending towards the summit.

The final climb to the top passes by the summit on the east side (climber's right), continuing almost to Washington's nose, then turns and approaches the summit on the northeast ridge. Some may find the ridge walk intimidating, but hand and footholds abound. A summit register is nestled in the rocks at the summit. 

I just added this trailhead to google maps so if you want driving directions than Look near the mount Elinor upper trailhead for it. Don’t search up Mount Washington trail on google maps because it won’t take you to this trail but the other Mount Washington trail in the cascades. It’s a few miles from the mount Elinor upper trailhead so you’ll see it on g maps nearby. Also these are the actual trail and road conditions. Don’t attempt this hike if you are inexperienced at scrambling.

                  Mount Washington is hands down, one of the premier day climbs within the triangulation of our mountainous region. There is no lengthy approach to lull oneself into the belief that this is simply a hike, and not a climb. Immediately upon leaving the car your boot goes up, and continues that general ascension throughout the entire venture with the exception of 2 quaint parks that tickle your imagination with images of rip van winkle fast asleep in a grass, but the meadows brief so don't blink. Elevation can be had quickly upon the well defined boot path, yet the absence of cairns might encourage the unsuspecting to pursue a more grueling ascent. Two precarious catwalks introduce themselves along the way, so if adrenaline is your drug of choice, then you can be certain that a good buzz is on its way. The summitt block is everything you would expect from a mountain preferring climbers solely, for it not once exceeds class 3, and to be frank its not difficult at all, but keep in mind your atop a 6,255 ft. peak overlooking hood canal, and the hallowed wind is a constant reminder that you are all alone out here.

Fantastic day on Mount Washington! I started early, hitting the trail at 6 a.m., and summited at 8:30. Not surprisingly, that meant I had the trail to myself, including an hour spent at the top.

My timing couldn't have been better, because once I rose above the clouds, the views were endless in every direction. View of four (five?) volcanoes!

I continue to urge serious research before attempting this one for the first time. This was my second ascent, and that made it much easier and much less "eventful" than last time. I got the ravine bypass right this time. Well, mostly right: I was part way up the ravine when I realized I had missed the turnoff, but I just backtracked a bit and found it. The cairn was knocked over, so I rebuilt it (and added three or four others along the trail, in what I though were key spots). I previously thought you were supposed to swing left away from the ravine, but you really hug the (climber's) left wall of the ravine and basically just climb along the top of that, with the ravine close by on your right (although mostly unseen). This was much easier than last time and made it no more of a scramble than the rest of the trail, really. (The trail shown on Gaia GPS tracks quite well the whole way, including in this stretch, FYI.)

I noted the trail as being in "good condition," but by that I mean good condition for a primitive, rocky, rooty, scree-strewn and nerve-wracking steep scramble. 

Parts of this are not for the faint of heart. The summit block is particularly treacherous, but I was almost as concerned about the stretch just below the saddle, because it is often steep with only a thin layer of loose sand and small rock -- which is fine, except a brief slide could take you over the edge for a good long plunge in places. 

And about that summit block, there are very narrow catwalks with life-threatening drop-offs, and then a nearly knife-edge ridge on which to scramble back toward the peak. The saving grace is that there is often -- but not always! -- solid footing in this area. Take it SLOW.

It's funny, after getting back down off the summit block, I thought, "Yeah, maybe that's the last time I'll do this one." It wasn't 20 minutes later I was thinking about taking friends up in the future. 

I saw three or four small groups coming up after I was 1/3 of the way down and thereafter. Some had questions about the trail that made me concerned they maybe weren't prepared to find the safe(st) route. I tried to help as I could.

As an aside, I was the only person with a face covering, but (almost) everyone was conscientious about social distancing. 

Happy hiking! 

This is a scramble, not a hike. MT WA starts from an inconspicuous tread out of the parking lot and starts heading uphill immediately. The tread heads uphill over rocks, earth and roots and at this point meanders up, over & around the ridge & remaining snowfields. It passes house size rocks, loose talus, through rocky gullies, and sketchy ledges, it passes an excellent ridge-top campsite that appears to have excellent views when it isn't fogged/clouded in. The final summit scramble requires the use of hands, but isn't too tough. Located on the lofty perch of the summit is an newish summit register left by the Olympia Mountaineers. Thank you, Oly MOUNTAINEERS! This is a great scramble! Two other parties of 2 on the mountain, masked up, easy social distancing.