Jefferson Ridge

I hiked the Jefferson Ridge Trail twice before the fire.  The last time I went the road was really bad so I have not been back in a while.  I see that the road is actually quite nice now.  Anyway here are my trip reports from before the fire with pictures of the trail

http://mosswalks.blogspot.com/search/label/Jefferson Ridge

Keep scrolling down to see the two older posts.

Maple Fire Media Tour Maple Fire Photos Part 1

All of my images are copyright, all rights reserved.  They are also for sale as full resolution non-watermarked files.  I am hoping to sell some of these to the news media.

I took a media tour of the Maple Fire today.  Fire is 35% contained and is moving slowly.  It is burning in the underbrush.  Fire will be contained to North, South and East.  Fire will be allowed to burn to the West until it goes out.

Lena Lake trail, Hamma Hamma Cabin and all the campgrounds should be safe. Even Jefferson Ridge does not look too bad at the moment.. just a few patches of torched trees.


They have done some backburning and were able  to save most of the trees and burn just  the underbrush in the back burn area.  A sprinkler line has been set up above and to the South of Elk Lakes.


I have tons of pictures that I will post once they are all uploaded.

Interested media outlets may purchase my photos for publication.  Some of them should be in the Shelton Mason Journal soon.  Write to Shawnawhelanphotography@gmail.com

A few hot spots and burned trees on Jefferson Ridge

Jorstad Creek Road

Sprinkler line set up to contain fire

North Mason fire district 2

Work in the back burn area

Intersection right to Lena Lake, left to Jefferson Ridge

Hamma Hamma cabin has been brushed out and seems very safe

Jefferson Ridge

Lower Lena Lake Zoo, I don't go there in the summer

I don't like to hike on the weekends as we get close to summer and the crowds come out.  But I managed to find solitude on Jefferson Ridge.  It's been a really tough week.  This week my oldest child flew the coop in a very unpleasant way.

Anyway the road up is rough with big rocks. I'm glad I took my Jeep.  The roads are not what I remember either.  But with my GPS I found the trailhead quickly.  Problem was I had no water and everything looked so dry.  I made a .6 mile each way side trip down the Elk Lake trail to get water for my hike up Jefferson Ridge.  I heard shots being fired and had no way to know if they were being fired safely.

After fetching water I drove up to a blue ribbon that marks the start of the trail.  The actual trail register is even further up the road.  One can drive up higher than the register and nearly attain the ridge by car, but what fun is that?  I would like to find the trail where it joins the elk lake trail, I'm pretty sure they join up.

I hiked up slowly since it was hot and I was not in a race.  When I reached the top I was surprised to find that an old look out tower once stood here.  WHAT A MESS.  There was broken melted glass everywhere and all kinds of metal and wood left over from the lookout.  I had no idea the place was such a mess.  The only other time I went up there it was before the snow had begun to melt and the deep snow hid all the junk.

There are good views on both sides of the ridge, this is a fun hike and it is steep too, so it's a good place to get a work out away from the crowds on Mount Rose.  I've given up on Mount Rose, maybe I've blogged about it too much or maybe it's a result of Elinor being closed last summer, I don't know.  But Mount Rose is no longer a place of solitude.  People are on Mount Rose everyday of the year now.

I had tea on the ridge but added snow to it so I could have iced tea.  It was very warm today, the last bits of snow were very welcome.  Patches and I both utilized the snow to cool off.


5.2 miles with 2,500 feet elevation gain including my foray for water.




Amanita with lots of spores on the ground

Bear Grass

Clay Pigeon on the lower trail

Strange deep scary hole on the ridge

View looking towards Seattle telephone poles on the ridge

North Face of Mount Washington

This section of the trail does not get much use

All along the ridge living trees had been topped and used as
 power poles for the lookout at least that's my theory.

South Brother

Trail crosses the road for the last time here
One could drive up to this point

Slime mold

Forested ridge

deforested ridge

Our state flower

Patches finds a patch of snow to cool off in

Part of the old lookout

Oven from the old lookout

Time for some iced tea

The trail is brushed out now

Junk on summit

Junk on summit

Junk on summit

Junk on summit

Jefferson Ridge Trail #808

Today I started out at the Elk Lake trailhead and hiked up to the top of the Jefferson Ridge Trail. I ended up hiking 9 miles with 3200 feet total ascent. This hike kicked my butt!

(Bridge on the Elk Lake trail, click on image to enlarge)

I hiked with a group of people who call themselves the "Mountain Goats". They hike much faster then I do so I left home early. I tried to get to the trail head an hour before them. But I had trouble finding the trail head. I drove my jeep all the way up to 2,900 feet and then back down but failed to find the trailhead.



(looking down onto one of the Elk Lakes, click on image to enlarge)


I had brand new topo maps for my GPS and the trail was on them but the maps would not load so were of no help to me. When I got home I found out that my GPS memory card was not in all the way. If only I had thought to look at that when I was out there today.


So I decided to hike Elk Lake instead but the Elk lake trail is so short and a branch of it leads to the road that the Jefferson Ridge trail is on so I hiked back towards Jefferson Ridge. As luck would have it the group I was going to hike with were parked on the road right where the trail I was on intercepted it.

So I hiked up with them, and they showed me the trailhead. The trailhead was covered by a fallen tree but they had been there before so knew where it was. I should say I did not hike with them but behind them. I was surprised there were still on the summit by the time I managed to stumble up there. I kept up ok going back down the trail though.




(On the top at last)


( A small but very deep hole near the trail, click on image to enlarge)



(Looking down onto Lena Lake, click on image to enlarge)

(Snow falling hard, click on image to enlarge)

On the way down the snow started falling pretty hard and I thought I would be hiking in the rain once I got lower down but there was no rain at this point. We did see all kinds of different weather today though. Ranging from sunshine to rain and wind to wind driven snow.


(My track log, my routes up and back were different, click on image to enlarge)


(Elevation Profile, click on image to enlarge)


I accidentally erased my track log about a mile from my car so I really went closer to 9.3 miles today but it's not the milage that kicked my butt, it was the elevation gain. Jefferson Ridge trail is rather steep and unrelenting. The view at the top was only so-so, perhaps not worth all the effort. Still it might be nice to go back when the rhodies are blooming.

I had to regain several hundred feet right at the end of my hike. This hike rates a 24 on the hike difficulty calculator.