Mount Rose

I want to hike to Camp Muir with a group of geocachers at the end of this month so I need to get into good shape. Camp Muir is 10,000 feet up and I'll have to gain 4,600 feet on foot to get there. The thin air and the large elevation gain will make it a tough hike.

On Saturday with weather front moving in I decided against trying for hiking up Mount Jupiter and settled on Mount Rose instead. I like Mount Rose. My first trip up Mount Rose was right after I had started up hiking again once I had recovered from child-birth. Sitting on the summit that day reminded me of why I like hiking so much and made me really glad that I had started hiking again.

My second attempt at Mount Rose did not take me to the summit because there was too much snow but I had a nice hike anyway because I met a woman on the trail who joined with my for most of the hike.

This Saturday was my third time up Mount Rose and my second time on the summit. I had a hard time getting out of bed for this hike though. First of all I'm dieting and that is making me weak and lethargic second my least favorite aunt decided to come visit today. So I was tired and in a really bitchy mood.

I almost did not go hiking but then I remembered the plan I had made last night. My plan was to get a 12 inch subway sandwich and eat half before the hike and half after the hike. Oh food yes food! The thought of good fattening food got my fat ass out of the house. I knew that the ultra strenuous hike up Mount Rose would more then make up for eating a giant sandwich. So I could eat well today and still lose weight.

I started my hike at noon and was pleasantly surprised with how well my body performed. My backpacking trip must have gotten me into shape. I am only a bit sore this evening and that's saying a lot. The Mount Rose trail gains 3,400 feet in about 3 miles. Today's total mileage was 6.9.

There was a fire on Mount Rose last year and some of it went over the trail. But some plants have come back to the burned areas already. Those plants are bear grass, bracken fern, trailing black berries, and salal and of course fire morels.

The mushrooms I saw on this hike included Panther Amanita’s, lots of them, rotten chicken of the woods, a mystery mushroom and one giant fire morel. I saw two salamanders, several banana slugs and two dead baby birds. I guess the baby birds fell or were plucked out of their nests. Just as I finished up my lunch I saw a soaking wet gray jay. I felt bad that I had nothing left to give it.

I took the shorter summit route up and the longer ridge route down. I lost the trail on the summit route for a good 15 minutes and at the worst time; my GPS was reading that I was just ten minutes from the summit. I would have turned around and hiked the summit on the longer Ridge if I had to. I was not going to give up on bagging this peak today. Finally I did regain the trail but only after putting my GPS in my pocket and following my instincts. One problem with using my GPS there was that it was right at a spot where the actual trail diverges from the trail on my GPS map by a whole bunch.

Once I made it to the top it felt really good to sit on the summit of Mount Rose but there was no view. As predicted a big weather front had moved in and I hiked in the rain all day. But one nice thing I noticed is that when it rains in June the sky is much brighter then it is when it rains in December. I was in a cheerful mood for the entire hike (except when I lost the trail) in spite of the constant rain.

Mount Rose

Camprobber birds on the summit of Mount Rose with Lake Cushman 3,400 feet below.




Lake Cushman is low this time of year. The dry creek trail (last weeks hike) and drainage can be clearly seen from the summit of Rose. Last year's fired burned the stongest near the summit.



Mushrooms sprouting up in the burned areas



Burned trunks of live trees



Coral Mushroom



Pigs Ears

Today I gave my sore knee the ultimate test. The climb up Mount Rose entails 3,400 feet elevation gain (and loss!) in just 3 miles. My knee feels great! Yeah, I'm so relieved, it was just a mild injury and now it's healed.

I took the clock-wise route today and I had the trail all to myself except at the summit. Another hiker who took the counter clock wise route reached the summit just as I did. But at least I did not have to share the summit with half of Olypmia. I had thought of doing Mount Ellinor today but I did not want to share the trail with throngs of Olympians. I'll save Mount Ellinor for this winter.

I found some nice mushrooms but I did not find any of the mushroom I was really hoping to find. I made the mistake of not picking every mushroom as I passed it and someone came and picked some of the mushrooms near the trail head while I was up on the summit. Oh well, I'm still not going to carry mushrooms to the summit of Mount Rose! Maybe I should have picked them and then stashed them near the trail to pick up on the way down.

I have a lot of energy tonight so I must still be in good hiking condition. Mount Rose is my personal fitness meter. If I can do Mount Rose without aching for the next three days I know I'm in good shape. I might be a bit stiff in the morning though.

This is the first time I've taken the clock-wise route up Rose and it was a nice change of perspective. Also the prettiest spot this time was the same spot where I kept losing the trail in the snow last spring. Of course there is no snow now but the spot is nice and moist and bursting with mushrooms. On the elevation profile this is the relativly level part before the summit.

My college course is keeping me very busy and I never feel caught up but I have decided that I am going to hike every week no matter what. I need to hike to keep my sanity. As intense as my class is I need all the sanity that I can muster..:)

Once again it was nice to just be in the woods and not have to measure rotten logs.




The days haul, Chanterelles, Hedgehogs, Bears Heads and a Purple Cort.



I could not reach this one to pick it.



A scaber stalk. The largest bolete I have ever seen.




A wilted whooly chanterelle with bear grass.




Elevation profile for Mount Rose




Track Log on a topo map

Mount Rose during the drought of 2014

To cold to linger on the summit today

Again I was feeling much unmotivated; I just did not want to get out of bed.  But I did want to get in at least 4 good hikes in January and today would be my last chance.  I drug myself out of bed and fiddled around with my pack a bit.  Then I jumped on the internet and thought about just staying home and playing on my computer.  But Patches knew I was preparing to hike and she was so excited.  Patches enthusiasm to hike is what finally got me moving.  I thought about doing Marmot pass, but in the end I settled on boring old Mount Rose.

I started hiking in light rain.  Two other hikers were on the trail ahead of me.  They were wearing blue jeans and only had one tiny pack between the two of them.  Another hiker passed me just at the wilderness boundary; he also had a small pack but was probably much better prepared.  Maybe one day in the summer I will run up and down Mount Rose with nothing more than a water bottle.  I don’t think it’s a good idea to climb Mount Rose in February without packing extra clothes, rain gear a head lamp and a first aid kit. 

It took me three hours to reach the summit and I was kicking myself a bit for being so slow and wondering if I could ever do a through hike of the PCT as slow as I am.  I would love the hike the PCT and the AT when my daughter is younger.  In all of the times I have hiked up Rose I have never once passed anyone.  EVERYONE is faster than me EVERYONE!

The summit rock was wet and cold and slippery.  Snow was blowing sideways too.   I opted to have my lunch at the little ridgetop meadow rather than on the summit.  If I had waited a bit I might have gotten a good view from the summit as the sun came out while I was having lunch on the ridge. 

I’d say that about a quarter of an inch of snow fell while I was hiking.  The ridge was mostly bare of snow.  Normally this time of year the ridge has so much snow on it that I can’t even guess at its depth.  This is such a strange year!

Lunch on the ridge today was one Luna bar, one orange and a cup of hot instant coffee.  Patches had her very last TurboPUP bar for lunch.  Patches won a weekend supply of TurboPUP bars as her prize for being TuboPUP of the month in December.  She really liked her bars; I hope I can buy her some more in the future.

I took my time hiking down since I was tired and sore and my boots are just tight enough to make my big toes hurt on the down hills.  It actually took me more time to hike down than it took me to hike up.  I took a lot of pictures on my way down.  To save weight I packed just my 50mm 1.8 prime lens.  I would really rather has a 35mm prime lens.  50mm is just too much zoom for me with my crop sensor camera. I’m hoping to find someone who wants to trade lenses. 

When I pack just my little prime lens I can wear my camera over my neck and shoulder because it is so light and does not suffer from zoom creep.  My normal hiking lens is the Nikon 18-200mm; it is heavy and has terrible zoom creep so I have to carry my camera in a holster when I hike with it.

At horse camp I took a 20 mintue break with my feet up and I ate a banana.  After horse camp I quicked my pace and I made it back down to the trail head at about 4:30

I reached the trail register just in time to see a forest or park ranger slam on their brakes down on the causeway road and then sit there for a moment or two.  I have no idea what that was about.  Was he watching me or was he watching the lake?

Light snow near the summit

Lichen or fungi?

Shouler of either Mount Ellinor or Mount Pershing

Taken with my puppy portrait lens

No snow at 4,200 feet!

on the summit some snowflakes land on my pants

Moss sporophytes with the light hitting them just right



One hour rock.  It took me one hour and 8 minutes to reach
One hour rock today.  That's my slowest time I started keeping
track last year.

Just a dusting of snow near the top

Snow sparkles in the sun

Yay for wilderness!

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