Mount Washington by Mount Ellinor in the Olympic Mountains / 華盛頓山

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Mount Washington by Mount Ellinor in the Olympic Mountains is the tallest of three in Washington State. Mount Pershing sits north of the valley above Brown’s Hike Lake. Meanwhile, a steep trail goes up from the south via Big Creek.

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Check out this post about Mount Washington in Skagit County; see this post for the one in North Bend.

Mount Washington by Mount Ellinor at a Glance

Access: Mount Washington Trailhead
Round Trip: 3.2 miles
Elevation Range: 3100′-6255′
Gear: helmet
GPS track: available
Dog-Friendly: on the trail

Early Winter in the Mountains

It was on the other Mount Washington when I set the goal to hike weekly. It’s still my thing, even a decade later.

We haven’t hiked much in the Olympic Peninsula. Three trips, including this one, were the most we’d done in a year. Cody and I went up Mount Walker in the late winter. Then, I climbed Mount Olympus over the Fourth of July weekend.

This weekend’s snowy mountain weather had us turn to the rain shadow. Even east of the mountains couldn’t escape the high rainfall in the forecast. With the early snow, our list pursuit might’ve ended after last week.

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Driving to the Trailhead

I drove to the Wagonwheel Lake Trailhead late yesterday morning, hoping to climb Copper Mountain. But I didn’t research thoroughly to know it was in the national park. So, we went to a nearby boat launch to let the pups play in the water.

Since I wasn’t prepared to stay the night, we went home instead. While driving, I realized we hadn’t been to Mount Washington and returned to the area again this morning. It was a perfect plan to escape the rain and snow in the Cascades.

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Mount Washington by Mount Ellinor Climber’s Trail

Until last night, I didn’t know about the trail on Mount Washington by Mount Ellinor. So given that it’s a short trip without the need to route find, we’d finish early. But the forecast had worsened from the initially partly sunny outlook since our 8:30 AM start.

This trail went directly up from the get-go as I pulled myself up using the trees. The old Mailbox Peak Trail had a mild start before the steep gain. But I don’t remember going up the steep slope with the help of tree roots. Snoqualmie Mountain, perhaps?

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Mount Washington by Mount Ellinor: The Climb

I checked my GPS, and holy moly, we climbed 3150′ over 1.6 miles! That explained why I couldn’t take my hands off tree branches while helping the pup up tall steps. But the steep, narrow rock gullies with stair-like tree roots were fascinating.

Soon, the trail eased at the 3800′ meadow, where I could make out the ridgeline and Mount Ellinor. It flurried as the path shot straight up but lessened in the upper meadow below the talus field. Then we went north for a while before turning west at 5600′.

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Southwest Saddle Route

The ramp hugged the headwall briefly before going through the trees. Then we were back in the clearing above the forest, where I saw the route up to the crest. Soon, we walked up to the saddle adorned with an excellent bivvy site and saw the summit.

We met some Mountaineers folks through the ridgeline, the only group we have met. Then we went through the exposed east side and up the crest northeast of the summit. Before traversing the ridge, we met a solo climber coming down from the top.

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Mount Washington by Mount Ellinor Summit Views

I didn’t expect views from the top, but at least it didn’t rain or snow! It was breezy, but the rocks shielded us from the wind. We hung out for 20 minutes as I checked the summit register entries. Then the clouds lifted unexpectedly moments later.

We enjoyed the views of Puget Sound for the next half hour; even Mount Ellinor made a cameo. I first saw Lake Cushman from Mount Rose, and it looked impressive. But this time, it stole the show. A blanket of snow had capped the tall mountains to the misty north.

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Outro

The gully I saw earlier looked like it’d lead to the summit, but hard to tell in the mists. Then I saw a trail below the top as we prepared to go down. So we took it as a shortcut to the path 50′ below, which saved us from the ridge traverse.

The vistas continued as we lazied down the mountain before it flurried several more times. We met another climbing group by the ramp above the talus field. Before returning to the trees, I took a moment to savor the last bit of Puget Sound.

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