Party of 2 - Arrived at trailhead @ 9:15, parking lot about half full. The road up was in GREAT condition. There is a bathroom at the trailhead, unsure of conditions though. The morning was warming fast, so the sweat came quick, but overall this was a pleasant climb. Varied thrushes serenaded as we climbed through the trees. As the trail wraps around the mountain, you get intermittent clearings that give you spectacular views of Rainier and Baker. Today happened to be a a marvelous clear day, so the vistas were plentiful.
The trail gets rockier and slightly more unsteady in the second half - I would strongly recommend good stable shoes for this journey - and my hiking poles came in handy a couple times as well. Also be sure to follow the orange trail posts, as there are a few points where you could lose the trail a bit amidst the rocks. We passed several parties descending - I hear early morning / sunrise hikes are beautiful up at the top! The final 100 or so feet before the lookout tower are straight-up scrambling over large boulders - wear good shoes, take it slow and give other folks descending their space! Bugs weren't too bad, but would quickly descend and swarm if stopping for longer than a minute.
The views at the top were insane - 360° and crystal clear, mile-high sights of seemingly every geographic feature in the Puget Sound region. We peeked at Seattle sparkling in the sun through our binoculars, and also tried to make out the Three Fingers lookout tower to the northeast. There were about 15 people hanging out on the tower, but everyone was respectful of space and all peacefully soaking up the scenery. After a quick lunch and some more photos, we made our descent.
Right before the trailhead, I noticed an offshoot trail to the west. We followed it, and found 6-8 campsites, complete w/ dilapidated picnic tables and fire grates. The site trails were so overgrown, and I hardly saw any fire remnants in any of the grates. The picnic tables also were sunken and slumped, as if they had been there for decades! Has anyone ever camped here? They seem like decent enough sites, and the further flung ones were far enough away from the parking lot to not even hear the car noise. But I am having trouble finding any discussion of these sites online.
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