Dow Mountain by Lake Cushman stands south of the shorter Saddle Mountain in the Olympic Mountains. The summit gives no views. But one can always enjoy the landscape through the nearby open areas within the logging territory.
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Dow Mountain at a Glance
Access: Prices Lake Road
Round Trip: 4.1 miles
Elevation Range: 940′-2514′
Gear: none
GPS track: available
Dog-Friendly: on the road
The Preface
One of my goals for 2019 was to explore more of the Olympic Peninsula. So far this season, we’ve been to the peninsula five times, going after the rain shadow. And that accounted for half of our trips since 2010.
We didn’t have much luck with views last week because of the poor weather. And I didn’t think we would see much today since Dow Mountain is short in height. Plus, it boasts a forested summit from the photos I’ve seen.
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Dow Mountain Road
We went to the uninviting “Lake Cushman Maintenance Company Members Only” sign on Dow Mountain Road. Even with the handful of recorded ascents, I didn’t want to risk it. So we left the area with the movie “Get Out“‘s opening scene playing in my head.
I had no backup plans and didn’t feel like revisiting nearby places. Then I came across a report suggesting going through the north via Prices Lake Road. So I decided to try entering from the state property instead.
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Through Logging Debris
After passing the first fork on Prices Lake Road, I turned right onto an unmarked logging road. Logging had ended long ago, but the roadway was still decent. Then I drove to the end over two long switchbacks. The vegetation was still damp from yesterday’s rain.
After leaving the car, we scrambled southbound through massive logging debris to the service road at 1600′. There were sights of Lake Cushman and Price Lake en route. I was glad to have come this way despite the annoying down trees. A much longer road walk would’ve been the other option.
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Navigating Through Logging Roads
Despite the slew of logging roads here, the main roadway wouldn’t take us to the east shoulder. So we picked the type 2 route and went southeast on the debris slopes. Soon, we came upon a path on the ridgetop that ended abruptly by the drop-off.
Ugh! The ridgeline wasn’t continuous. And none of the side roads were on the map. But then I saw a roadway down by the Sund Creek drainage. Seconds later, I noticed another one above my eye level. And it was going toward Dow Mountain summit. But to get there, we first needed to make it down to the saddle through more debris.
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Moving Southwest on the Ridge
The road by the dry creek wrapped around the ridgeline, which we followed to the west of the ridge. But it didn’t take long to realize that the roadway would end in less than one-eighth of a mile. So we turned around and went back to the pass.
Walking the road to the south of the mountain meant that we would be descending. So we didn’t go that way either. Instead, we scrambled uphill alongside a quarry and reached the upper roadway from the saddle. Then we followed it up almost to the end. From there, we quickly located a defined trail and entered the forest.
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Dow Mountain Summit Plus Outro
Just past the 2400′ elevation, the trail intersected an old roadbed. Then we moved through the brushy roadway and arrived at the top in 1000′. As expected, it was a forested summit. Smack in the middle was a clearing surrounded by trees on all sides. We stayed long enough to change the wet layers and took some photos.
I decided not to go through the minor ridgetop again on the way back. So at the saddle, we scrambled down to the main road shown on the map. Then we walked a quarter of a mile back to where we intersected the roadway earlier. Going down 600′ through the rubble wasn’t as painful. Soon, we were back at the car by the road’s end.
See more trip photos here.