From Highway 706 take Skate Creek Road to Big Creek campground where Osborne Mountain trail #250 begins, about 1800 feet elevation. The weather looked good as we hiked initially through a harvested area, then the trail relentlessly heads upward through the forest. There are numerous small blow downs with a few large trees across the trail, all fairly easy to get by, and patchy snow on most of the trail. At about 3800 feet, keep left at the posted junction to Cave Creek. The trail skirts the southern side of Osborne so remains cool and a bit dark for most of the hike, though with blue sky visible through the trees we kept expecting to be in the sunshine at each turn. We then headed for one of the off- trail summits, the terrain became quite icy & we wished we had our instep crampons with us. We finally arrived at a sunny area in deep snow, donned our snowshoes & began to climb the fairly steep slope. (see photo) There are a number of cut stumps plus buried logs in the melting snow, so take care around the numerous deep holes. Some of our group stopped for lunch and enjoyed the pleasant views from our perch at around 4600 feet; some deciding to explore a few hundred feet higher. The clouds were rolling in as we all headed back down the trail. With a mile or so to go we passed a couple of young guys with a dog headed up the trail, it was a bit late so they turned around & planned to return another day. Great workout ! Stats; GT 301 Randle, about 2800 - 3000 gain, about 10 miles RT

trail in good condition, as of 4/19 snow is encountered after first 3ish miles. parts of trail are narrow, could use minor widening. would be an amazing view of rainier from south on clear day