Made it up to Mount Zion via the Mount Zion trailhead—I tried going up Deadfall a couple years ago, but ran into too much snow. I like this trailhead/section a lot. It’s really green compared to parts by the Sleepy Hollow/Deadfall. Steep, slightly longer, but still a good climb.
If you feel comfortable scrambling some short class 2/3 rock, there’re some nice viewpoints halfway up the trail (look for the rope at a switchback), and at the end of the ridge past the summit (head in the opposite direction of Deadfall/Sleepy Hollow). The rock is a bit sketchy and the consequences are pretty high, so I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you’re not comfortable with exposure, or if the rock is wet. If you make it, you’ll be rewarded with views of the Gray Wolf Ridge area, Deception, and Townsend, as well as Koma Kulshan, Dakobed, Shuksan, and several tall Mountain Loop Highway peaks, as well as Everett, portions of Whidbey, and north Kitsap Peninsula.
There wasn’t any snow on the trail to the summit, rhodies were budding but not yet in bloom (need a couple more warm weeks, I think..), and the salal bushes were seriously starting to take over the trail down near the trailhead. The trail is quite narrow (1 person wide in many spots), so pull offs aren’t easy; I stepped off the trail downhill so folks could pass a few times.
Downside to all this is folks using one of the gravel pits by Little Quilcene for target practice. I heard gunfire at least once every 5 minutes I was there.
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