Mt Townsend via Dirty Face Ridge

We decided to take a different trail up to Mt Townsend, so we drove up to the Tubal Cain parking area past the Upper Dungeness area in the northeast Olympics. Across the road from the parking area is the trail up Dirty Face Ridge. This is a steep trail with 30-40% grade for about 2 miles. The trail levels out a bit along the "ledge" then joins the trail from the Little Quilcene Trailhead up to Mt Townsend. 7.5 miles round trip with 3,000 ft of elevation gain.  Lots of wildflowers in bloom including Piper's Bellflower and Spotted Coralroot.               There were rhododendrons and lupine in bloom along the lower section of the trail.

Before long, the trail had gained enough elevation that we began to see Mt Buckhorn in the distance ti the south,

and the Gray Wolf Ridge to the northeast.

The lupine continued being in bloom for a long portion of the trail.

The "ledge" section of the trail was open with great views and more wildflowers.

From here, we could see Mt Townsend to the south,

and far to the west, across Hood Canal and Puget Sound, Mt Baker and Glacier Peak,













but the best views were of the Olympic Mountains to the east! I could see the trail we hiked last week up to Buckhorn Lake from the Tubal Cain trail in the second ridge over.

After the ledge, the trail entered a short forested section, before starting up Mt Townsend. Lots of wildflowers in bloom.

We found a boot track off of the main trail that led up to the north end of Mt Townsend.

There were some nice rocky outcroppings with great views on the north side of Mt Townsend.













Pano: to the east, from Mt Townsend in the south to the Straight of Juan de Fuca in the north.

We continued on this trail up to the top of Mt Townsend. Today the Hood Canal and Puget Sound areas to the west were covered in clouds, but we were able to see Mt Baker, Glacier Peak and Mt Rainier above the clouds.

We continued over the summit of Mt Townsend and returned down and around the south side on the regular trail, continuing enjoying the views.

There were many fields of flowers on the east side of Mt Townsend.

We were glad we brought our hiking poles as the steep sections of the trail had loose dirt and gravel, making it easy to slip.












Some of the many wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail today: