Mailbox Peak - Old Trail, Mailbox Peak — Saturday, Jul. 25, 2015

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

Hiking the Mailbox Peak old trail has been on mine and my friend's hiking bucket list for some time now, and today we finally did it! We ascended the old trail in 3 hr 15 min, waving at the many other super fit parties that passed us on the way up. As the warnings state, yes, the old trail is definitely a haul and is very challenging. We are moderately regular hikers and needed to stop frequently, especially when the roots were super overgrown and we needed to determine the correct route to take. I wouldn't say that the trail is difficult to navigate though. People just need to be aware of their surroundings and be on the look-out for the white diamonds posted on the trees to keep you on the "trail". We found them to be very helpful. Honestly, the hardest part is once the old & new trails join up. Be prepared for that last half mile, its intense! Today was extremely foggy, and it rained in the morning, which was actually nice given the intensity of the hike up. So, there were no views once we got to the top of the peak, but it was worth it just to tap the mailbox & write our names down! We took the new trail back down and descended in 2.5 hours. The trickiest part of the recent was right after the mailbox. Everything was slick after the rain. We wish we brought poles just for that part! After that, it was a breeze! The new trail is very well done, and the switchbacks are very long and didn't seem too intense. Definitely great for people who don't want to do the old trail.