Hiking Mt Townsend

Danny and I are planning to hike to the summit of Mt St Helens later this month and decided to use a hike up Mt Townsend as preparation. I recently bought a new pack and wanted to try it out before heading up. It was a pretty nice day and we were on the road before 8 to top off our tanks at a local restaurant. There are literally hundreds of day hikes within about 2 hours of our house, so an early start isn't always necessary.

The trailhead is at the end of about 15 miles of single lane forest service roads - some paved and some not paved. It was a little nerve racking and made me miss my truck a little bit as I felt my car bouncing through dips and over bumps. We made it to the smallish parking area at around 10 and headed up.

The trail starts out very steep as it winds through forested land in the Buckhorn Wilderness area. I imagine many less prepared people turn back because of the somewhat daunting start to the trail. It is well maintained and easy to follow but somewhat steep. After rising about 1000 feet in the first mile the trail becomes more manageable and settles in to a series of about 24 switchbacks as it works its way up the remaining 2000 vertical feet over about 3 miles. The views into the Quilcene valley are pretty amazing as you wind higher and higher - even Danny gave it a serious compliment when he said "this doesn't suck." Wildflowers were in full bloom along the trail for the first couple miles. The last half mile is brutal as you seem to climb straight up to the summit at 6280 feet.

We spent some time at the top taking pictures, eating a snack and trying to decide if we wanted to hike the additional mile to the lesser summit on the north side of the mountain. We elected to not go out there and instead began our descent. The hike up took us about 2 hours and the hike back down took about 1.5 hours. For me, the hike down is always more painful on my knees. I recently bought some trekking poles and that was a big help. Also brought some ibuprofen with me, and that was a bigger help.

All in all, a very good day. Mt Townsend is about 8.2 miles round-trip (4.1 out and 4.1 back) with a roughly 2900 foot elevation gain. Mt St Helens will be a 10 mile round-trip with a 4500 foot gain. I am expecting some awesome pictures from the summit, and we are taking some good company with us to Mt St Helens - our friends Mike and Ken.

Looking back down the trail into the Quilcene Valley.

Wildflowers were in full bloom along the trail.

Another look into the Quilcene Valley from higher up the trail (we were at about 5200 feet here).

On the summit, looking back at the approach trail with the Olympic Mountains in the background.

On the summit looking north towards Canada.

On the summit, looking towards the Olympic Mountains and Olympic National Park.