Mount Washington — Sunday, Jun. 27, 2021

This trail is tough. You could call it a hike or a class 3 scramble. You are using your hands 50% of the time or more. The top of the trail is loose with extremely high consequences. The trail starts at the parking lot, not down the path to the right. I used the track on Gaia GPS (free app) and it was super helpful and accurate. I didn’t track myself because I knew I wouldn’t be on the correct trail the entire time (snow) and didn’t want to mislead anyone. For the first third you are in the forest climbing up root steps. Then you hit a meadow and this is where you become exposed. Next is a short but loose scree field. After that you get into some trees again. Note when the trail is next to the stream. I refilled my water here and did not get sick. Keep going up until you get to the second spot it is next to the stream. TURN LEFT AND CROSS HERE. If you find yourself ducking through bushes you have gone too far. It is very misleading. I built a cairn and tried to place sticks across the wrong trail. Next is some more trail/scramble then you get to a level spot kind of like a basin. This is where I hit snow and put my spikes on. I tried to follow the Gaia track as best I could being carful not to step on top of streams as you could fall through. At some point you need to hook left and cross another stream. For me this was the crux as the trail was not safe because the snow pack was severely undermined. The only option was a big stretch over a waterfall where both your hand holds and foot holds are wet rock with smaller loose rock. I’m 5’9” and pulled it off. After that you are super close to the saddle, keeping following the trail up. I hit another snowfield between now and then. Once at the saddle work your way along the ridge line. There are a couple of high risk tight spots and as usual there is loose rock everywhere. It had me a little nervous. Last part is a left turn then a super loose steep climb up to the top. At the top you are treated to views of Seattle, Lake Cushman, Rainer, Olympus, Elinor, Glacier, and Baker. Mine weren’t that great because this was during the heat wave and it was upper smoggy. There is a box of summit log books, there isn’t a 2021 book yet so I found a spot in a 2020 book. Now you have to go back down all of this. Take it easy on your knees. Be careful and have fun. Good luck.