Mount Walker in December

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Distance: ~7.5 miles Round Trip

Trailhead : 966 feet (GPS N47 46.560 W122 54.849)

Highpoint: 2826 feet (GPS N47 47.338 W122 54.408)
Elevation Gain: 1860 feet

Hike Difficulty Calculator: 19
Trail Notes: Almost 1000 feet elevation gain per mile. No scrambling (climbing over rocks) Careful when the trail is wet or snow covered. NO water on this hike. One restroom facility at each of the two viewpoints.
Pass/Permit: None!

Driving directions at bottom of post

As always click on pictures for original size.

Photos of this hike are located here.

Mount Walker: A simple hike and only a few miles south of Quilcene on Hwy 101. "Mount Walker is the only peak facing Puget Sound that has a road to its summit" states the Olympic National Forest brochure. However, there is another peak with a road to its summit. Mount Constitution on Orcas Island of the San Juan Islands, offers panoramic views of the surrounding islands, the Cascade Mountains and a variety of Canadian and American cities. One just has to take a boat to the island before accessing the road.....;-)

The members of our hiking group to arrive at the park-n-ride meeting place were Jim, Cheryl, Mary, Kiwi, and myself. I wonder if there would be more people turnout for the hikes if the meeting place housed a Starbucks? A warm drink would help brush-off the morning chill. Though I feel we would get a later start to the trails if this was the case. LOL

A simple hike in retrospect. We had planned to start out with six hikers in our group but ended up finishing the day with four. There were no injuries or accidents. It was the unexpected ice on the roads in the morning that caused some of the group to wait for our next hike. We had even planned to hike a different trail but the road conditions and subsequent timing caused us to settle on a closer and surer destination, Mount Walker.

Roads were fine as we carpooled along Hwy 101, past Quilcene, finally arriving at the trailhead. Hikers have an option of two routes that reach the summit. Forest trail 894 is a two mile uphill trek through the woods that will cause you to sweat. The Mount Walker road is a four mile route with an easier ascent that circles around the mountain. Winter time is better for the road as there are no cars or bicyclist to share it with.

With cars parked and backpacks on, we began the quarter mile hike from the access gate to the official trailhead (GPS N47 46.560 W122 54.849). Not many people were logged in at the trailhead at this early in the morning. So we virtually had the whole trail to ourselves.

The trail starts climbing right from the start. The lower half of the trail is abundant with Douglas-fir trees that have grown up in an area that once was burned by fire. These trees are joined by many rhododendrons and some salal , with the Rhodies flowering into a bright purplish-pink during May-June, enhancing the experience of the hike. Navigating the many switchbacks that make up the trail, we climbed to increasingly wider views through the trees of the eastern front of the Olympic Mountains. The second half of the hike rises along the eastern side of the forested ridge with views through the trees to the southern viewpoint of Mount Walker.



We ran across only one decent resting point (in the video) where a tired hiker can sit down and catch his breath. None of us sat down, as the log that was doing duty as a seat/bench needed to be smoothed out a little more. Several pokey things were sticking up, and I did not want to injure my delicate hiney. ........:-)

Our leisurely pace allowed me to see some elevation markers for the first time. Cheryl had the sharp eyes that noticed the markers. I regret not taking a photo (next week maybe?), but small wooden stakes were hung out of reach above the trail, indicating 500ft, 1000ft, and 1500ft. We missed the others. Not exactly sure what they were measuring or indicating as the GPS indicated a couple hundred foot error. Anywho, something to notice and ponder about.

Up we continued. Jim did a short off-trail bushwhack to reach a large boulder that provided a great view. Unfortunately I missed the photo opportunity of the view, but I did snap one of Jim on the boulder against a cobalt blue sky. Magnificent.



Before long we were approaching the northern viewpoint (GPS N47 47.338 W122 54.408). On a clear day you can see all the way to Victoria, Canada if you tilt your head and squint just right. Most noticeably when looking westward are some of the eastern peaks of the Olympics. We could pick out Green Mountain, Mount Townsend with Welsh Peak, Mount Buckhorn, Iron Mountain, and Hamilton Mountain. Below us stretched a valley towards the waters of the Puget Sound. Mount Baker is viewable if no clouds obstruct it over the distance.



All of a sudden my stomach attacked me with a case of the hungries. As I had not eaten any breakfast, there wasn't much I could argue against it. Voicing my situation, the group decided to have lunch at the southern viewpoint. So I directed my grumbling bowels in the direction of promised food and away we went.

From the map and the video one can see that we traveled along the road to access the southern viewpoint. Snow was deeper here than along trail. and sensibly so because the elevation is higher with fewer trees at the top to impede the snowfall. The southern viewpoint (GPS N47 47.033 W122 54.070) offers a splendid view of Hood Canal and the Puget Sound facing Seattle. The Hood Canal was created during the last glacial period as the Vashon glacier gouged its was southward about 10,000 years ago. Other objects to view include the Hood Canal floating bridge (opening/closing video scenes), Mount Rainier at 14,411 feet, Naval submarine base Bangor, and Seattle with its famous Space Needle.




With a super viewpoint we broke out the comfy barcalounger and the jetboils to spoil ourselves with hot drinks and food. We spent about forty-five minutes relaxing, fueling up, watching the eagles soar, conversing and soaking up the super view. One small tidbit of information: When an individual is really hungry, they can eat a meal for two. Man, that hot chili mac dinner for two went down nice and easy....:-)



Well, time to head back down. For a different perspective, we chose to descend the mountain via the road. On our way to the road we encountered some tracks in the snow that were very puzzling. There is a photo below and closer ones with the rest of the hike photos. They were strange in that the two front feet were parallel and the hind feet were perpendicular to the front.This was perplexing in that not just for one set of tracks, but a progression of tracks yielded this strange occurrence. Did the animal hop, skip or jump? Maybe all the individual animals were beamed down from the mother ship. LOL Anyway, we sure were stumped.



Around the mountain we went, plowing through about a foot of snow for close to an hour. Everyone taking turns in the lead, breaking trail for the others. Oh, another lesson I learned concerning trail etiquette was after being in the front breaking trail, the next position you occupy is the rear of the hiking group. That way everyone takes their turn and we all share the hard work. However there was one member of our party that refused to break trail for us, Kiwi. She realized it took less energy to follow in my footsteps....:-)

The road was easy to follow and easier to walk as we descended towards the trailhead. You can see the routes we took by clicking on the topographical map below. It shows the route up the mountain through the forest and down via Mount Walker road. All in all, a nice leisurely hike, probably a little over six miles round trip, with good company.



Video:


Driving Directions:
On Washington Highway 101, drive south of Quilcene for five miles. Turn onto the Mount Walker Road at Walker Pass. In the winter time the access gate to the road will be closed. Though there is enough space for about about dozen cars. It is a quarter of a mile to the trailhead from the gate.