Tunnel Creek to Vahalla Peak

We drove out to the Tunnel Creek Trailhead to hike up the Tunnel Creek Trail to the pass and up Valhalla Peak, near Quilcene in the  Olympic National Forest. This hike was about 9.5 miles round trip with 3,000 ft of gain. There was patchy snow from the parking area at 2,400 ft. We only saw 4 other hikers until we were about 1.5 miles back to the trailhead. A very beautiful and serene hike.

The trail soon enters the Buckhorn Wilderness and we saw more snow as we gained elevation.

It was chilly this morning and we saw lots of icicles.

This large downed tree had a "monstrous" appearance.

The trail was next to Tunnel Creek in several places.

The trail crosses Tunnel Creek about 3.3 miles from the trailhead on this log bridge.

Icicles over Tunnel Creek

After crossing Tunnel Creek, the trail climbs up and up. There were icicles hanging off the rocky cliffs above us.

And icicles lined the edge of the trail.

Lots of snow by the pond.

Valhalla Peak behind Harrison Lake

Nice to have foot steps already in place in the snow up the steepest part of the trail.

The fresh snow from the last few days created a winter wonderland.

View of Mount Constance a short ways before the pass.

zoom view of Mount Constance as we were hiking up Valhalla Peak

The clouds had completely obscured the view by the time we reached the top of Valhalla Peak.

The clouds rose enough that we could see Harrison Lake far below as we hiked down Valhalla Peak.

It was very frosty on Valhalla Peak,

even the icicles had frost on them.

Near the beginning of the trail we had some fall color,

and saw a variety of fungi:

 

Mount Rose

We drove out to the north end of Lake Cushmann in the southern Olympics to hike the Mount Rose Trail (5.8 miles round trip with 3,500' gain). Most of the snow had been washed away by the recent rain and there was a bit of fresh snow from last night. We saw 9 other hikers on the trail.

There was lots of water in the creeks.

There were some downed trees over the trail, most were easy to step over or get around. About 2,000' we entered the Mount Skokomish Wilderness.

We started to see some fresh snow from last night above 3,000'.

It was chilly in the morning, so we saw lots of icicles, in the moss,

on tree roots of fallen trees,

on the ends of mossy rocks,

and hanging down from boulders above us.

The water in the stream crossing wasn't difficult to cross, we were able to step on rocks and then the log across the rest of the creek.

squirrel prints in the snow

About 4,000' we saw Mt Rainier through the trees to the southeast.

zoom of Mt Rainier above the clouds

The last 200 ft up to the top of Mount Rose had most of the trail exposed, with just patches of snow. View of Lake Cushman below

Going up the official top of Mount Rose on some snowy boulders

Pano to the west from the top of Mount Rose, Lake Cushman far below. 

Clouds over the Olympic peaks to the northwest

We had a dark cloud pass over us as we were heading back down the trail.

Mt Elinor and Mt Washington to the east had patchy cloud cover

we saw a few fungi along the trail:

 

Yellow Hill

We drove out to the Teanaway Community Forest to hike up to Yellow Hill today, about 7.75 miles round trip with 2,800 ft of overall gain. We had the trail to ourselves. 

The first 1.3 miles is along a closed forest road.

Beautiful snowy covered trees in the morning sun

a little bit of fall color

The trail branches off from the road and starts going climbing steeply up.

The snow got deeper the higher up we hiked.

Views to the north from the first steep uphill

zoom of our view 

The trail drops about 300 ft before resuming uphill to Yellow Hill, seen in the distance.

The trail goes through the burn area into a healthy forest with large trees,

and small tress.

We were post holing in the snow about 10" deep as we reached 5,000 ft.

snow covered pine drops

We continued a short distance past Yellow Hill until we found a spot along the trail with some views. Great spot for a lunch break.

zoom of Koppen Mountain, where I hiked two weeks ago with no snow

zoom of Mount Stuart behind some clouds

Heading back down the trail 

views to the east