Dow Mountain by Lake Cushman stands south of Saddle Mountain in the Olympic Mountains. Kitsap Peninsula is near the east by Hood Canal. Meanwhile, the north route via logging roads lets one avoid private land in the south entirely.
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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
Back to the Olympic Mountains
One of my goals for 2019 was to explore more of the Olympic Peninsula. So far this season, we’ve visited the peninsula five times, climbing the rain shadow high points. And that accounted for half of our trips since 2010.
We didn’t have much luck with views last week due to poor weather. And I didn’t think we would see much today either since Dow Mountain is shorter in height. Plus, it boasts a forested summit from the photos I’ve seen.
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Trying out 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 as 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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North Route Near Price Lake
After passing the first fork on Prices Lake Road, I turned right onto an unmarked logging road. Logging had ended a while ago, but the roadway was still decent. I then drove to the end over two long switchbacks with wet vegetation from yesterday’s rain.
After leaving the car, we scrambled south through massive logging debris to the 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 path didn’t reach 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 broken ridgeline had spur roads that weren’t on the map. The one down by Sund Creek drainage was there, and the other above my eye level went toward Dow Mountain’s summit. But to get there, we first needed to reach the saddle through more debris.
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Traversing Southwest on the Ridge
The road by the dry Sund Creek wrapped around the ridge, which we followed to the west. But it didn’t take long to see that the roadway would end in less than one-eighth of a mile. So we turned around and went back to the saddle.
Taking the road south of the mountain meant we would descend, so we didn’t go that way either. Instead, we scrambled uphill along a quarry to the upper roadway from the saddle. We soon followed it nearly to the end before seeing a defined trail into the forest.
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Spotty Views From Dow Mountain
The trail merged with an old road past 2400′ before walking 1000 feet on the brushy path to the top. As expected, the clearing sat smack in the middle, with trees all around. We stayed long enough to change my wet layers and take some photos.
Back at the saddle, we scrambled down to the main road on the map. Then we walked a quarter mile to where we intersected the path earlier. Descending 600′ through the rubble wasn’t as irritating before we reached the car by the road’s end.
See more trip photos here.