Beautiful day on the mountain! Went up on July 7th with the mountaineers, starting at the trailhead at 7am. Trail leading up to the ridgeline is in good condition, the scrambling isn't too bad, and you can completely avoid the little amounts of snow that are left.

Since it was such a blue bird day, we were able to see all the way north to Koma Kulshan (Mt Baker) and Takobia (Glacier Peak), and as far south as Wy'East (Mt Hood).

Tyler, who left another trip report, caught up to us on the summit, and we all headed back down together. Like he said, it's mostly class 2 scrambling on the ridgeline, with one Class 3 crux.
Very good scramble, with gorgeous views.

9am start from trailhead ended around 2:30pm with a total moving time of around 3:45 min. This was with multiple breaks and a jump into the lake. The route all the way up is clear of snow. Beautiful hike and made you want to sing the hills are alive and start twirling like Julie Andrews. Once up top you can make the choice to gain an additional 10 feet of elevation and do the scramble traverse. Most all of it is a class 2 but there is a class 3 crux in the beginning. 

I’d been thinking of getting up toward Tamanos Mt for years.  With just a few more days remaining of open gate at White River, I thought today had to be the day.  (Plus, there was a little inspiration from Mary&Mollie's recent report!)

The restrooms at the entrance were still open and stocked.  I even bumped into slomo here!

The 3.6 mile main trail is in great shape.  The cutoff I took is at 46 deg 51’ 46” per my cell and I took the R through a short area of flat sand then started the climb.  The map app on my iphone has been 99.9% accurate so far and today it was right on.  This less than a mile section is steep, rutted, and this day the plants were dry, but the ground was not dusty.  Adams and even Hood were visible to the S.  In the meadow below the ridge I looked at my thermometer which showed low 70s, so I was peeling off clothing and gulping my water.

I had the anticipation of Rainier “rising” as I approached the saddle and it was a rush I have to admit.  The views E and W are wide-open, and there’s still something left of the Sarvant Glaciers below the Banshee and Cowlitz Chimney areas to the SW and S.

Another half dozen hikers nearby chose to immediately head up toward Tamanos Mt, but I was completely content to take (and send out!) my pictures near the saddle and down part of my lunch.  Despite the steepness coming down I had no toe issues.  From experience I’ve learned to tighten my shoestrings before I start down.

All the flowers are gone, and much of the remaining year’s vegetation has been flattened already by recent, but now melted snow.  Previously in the area I’ve heard bugling elk as I approached my car, but not today.  The clarity of the blue sky -all day- made up for the lack of encountered large wildlife.

It was just over 8 miles and 2600’ gain.

You have two days left before the gate locks.

Bonus info:  I noticed that you can knock off about 25% of your picture file's size (and thus get it under WTA’s 5MB limit) by simply trimming just a little off an edge.

I started the morning with clear skies filled with stars.  As I approached Owyhigh Lakes, a thick fog rolled in.  My hope was to get to Tamanos for sunrise depending on trail conditions.

The trail up to the lakes was in decent shape.  Like other trails in the area, the trail wasn’t muddy.  There are wet spots that one can slip if not paying attention.

A reminder that the trail up to Tamanos Mtn is unmaintained, heavily rutted, loose gravel/rocks and very STEEP.  I believe it is close to a 1,300 ft elevation gain in 0.9 mi.  

Along with the thick fog, as soon as I hit the open meadow, the wind was fairly strong and cold.  There was less than an inch of intermittent snow on the upper portions of this part of the trail.  Made the trail more slippery.  Not enough to put on microspikes this morning.

I stopped just below the false summit where there was a natural break from the wind as I waited the 10 minutes for sunrise.  Sure enough, as the sun rose, the fog lifted.  

Once the fog lifted, it was still cold and the rocks up to the false summit were wet.  I didn’t go any higher for safety reasons.  Took a couple of sunrise shots and headed back down.

The meadow heading back down was gorgeous.  Would have been even more spectacular a couple of weeks ago when I am guessing it was peak for colors.  Still pretty cool.

I did hear a rock slide on Governors Ridge on my way down.  With the sun directly in my eyes, it was hard to see where it was exactly.

Colors around the lakes are also past peak.  Still stunning.  The picture I included is 180 degrees from the lakes.  One can see where colors would have been incredible a couple of weeks ago.

Overall a great morning!

Tamanos Mountain is fast becoming one of my favorite hikes. And it should be one of yours. From the Seattle area at 6 am, it's less than 1:45 to park at the Owyhigh Lakes TH, a few miles inside the White River entrance. The first three miles are in cool, woodsy forest, like a lot of local trails, but the path itself is wide, soft, and generally clear of rocks and roots. Good for running, if that's your thing. After mile 3, you emerge into a mixed meadow above Owyhigh Lakes, interspersed with scattered trees that let the sun and breeze and views filter through. Then after mile 4 (80 minutes in) you turn right and start climbing in earnest.

But this climb is also through a meadow, granted, it's one that appears to be tilted at about 45 degrees, up to the saddle, and then another right turn and a total of about 2:20 brings you to the trail's end. But don't stop there!  Drop slightly to the left and continue on another 25 minutes or so of class 2+ scrambling past several false summits and rocky spires until you reach the bona fide, final, actual summit (2:42 hiking time today). Carefully heading back down at first, then faster on the soft trail, took about 2 hrs back to the car. A tidy 4:45 overall on a glorious sunny day that started at 49 degrees and ended in the high 60s. I saw one person on the way up, and maybe 15 on the way down. The "lot" holds about 8-10 cars, which is not much, and I was the 3rd car when I got there about 7:45 and it was full when I returned around 12:30.

And I haven't even mentioned the views, which are spectacular once you exit the forest after 3 miles, lakes, Cowlitz Chimneys, Rainier and other spires in this neighborhood. 

Stats:  distance, 10.0 miles. Time, 2:42 up, 2:00 down. Elev gain, 2,990 ft. 

There are three video links below. A 4th one is here:  https://youtu.be/ioOE9qM-owI