Greenway Mountain by Change Peak overlooks the vast Chester Morse Lake of Cedar River Watershed. Most people here would likely flock to the nearby hot spots. But the obscurity of the peak plus the view of Mount Rainier makes it worth visiting.
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Greenway Mountain at a Glance
Access: Hall Creek Trailhead
Round Trip: 8.7 miles
Elevation Range: 1240′-4440′
Gear: microspikes, snowshoes
Route Info: Joanne Najdzin
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
A New Way to Greenway Mountain
It was our third visit to Greenway Mountain in eight years. The times before, we would start from Mount Washington Trailhead. Then we would go through the basin between Mountain Washington and Change Peak.
This time, we took the excellent Zig Zag Trail via Hall Creek Trailhead. It’s a path I didn’t know existed until this trip! Say what?! But it’s refreshing to take a new route on a simple outing like this one.
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Zig Zag Trail
We hiked half a mile on Hall Creek Trail to Hall Creek Trestle, part of the Palouse to Cascades Trail. Then the Zig Zag Trail went straight up the slope at the fork. As the name implies, the path made lots of switchbacks.
The lower part of the path was mostly dry. Soon, views expanded halfway up the route. Then snow patches showed up right before the top of the trail. Places like Mount Si and Mailbox Peak were visible from here.
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Road 9023
After gaining 1200′ in .75 miles, we reached Road 9023. Judging by the tire marks, there had been recent activities. Soon, snow showed up past the end of the drivable roadway. It’s freezing in the shade even though it’s sunny.
I later put on snowshoes in constant snow, and we hiked under a mile to the Hall Creek Trail fork. Though the path was on the map, I couldn’t find it for some reason. From there, we hiked over one mile to Road 9023-410.
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Upper Basin
By now, walking the road had become tedious. I also didn’t feel like making two long switchbacks to the ridge. So from the fork, we left the roadway and continued through to the top of the basin.
We first went through the snowy talus in the basin. Then we scrambled south in the dense forest on icy slopes. It was just steep in a few places. Before long, we made it up on the road at 4200′.
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Greenway Mountain Summit Views
Above the trees, we walked half a mile in the precious sunlight to the top of Greenway Mountain. The northern half of the summit was woodsy and dodged the wind gusts there.
Despite having the sun, it was subfreezing because of the wind chill. Like before, we enjoyed the sight to the south and savored the warmth. I also had partial views in the other directions by peeking through trees.
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Outro
Hall Creek Basin didn’t see much sun today. And we would soon lose all of the heat once we back into the woods. Glad that I decided to bypass the road since it had shaved off quite a bit of distance each way.
I had thought about exploring Hall Creek Trail. But I still couldn’t find the trail fork on our way down. Later we saw a few folks at the end of the drivable roadway. It sounded like they had come up through Mine Creek. And now for the steep exit.
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