Mount Ellinor

We drove up to the Upper Trailhead of Mount Ellinor in the Southern Olympic National Forest to hike to the top. Although we were in the clouds at the summit, we were very happy with all the wildflowers we saw in bloom today! 3.2 miles round trip with 2,444 ft gain.

This trail is steep!

About 1 mile up the trail, we stopped at a view point looking out towards Mt Rainier (we also saw Mt Adams and Mt St Helens, but they were too hazy to show up in the photo).

As the trail leaves the forest and climbs up the rocky trail, we started seeing meadows with wildflowers blooming.

so pretty!

View from the open slope, looking towards Lake Cushman, Hood Canal, Puget Sound and a distant Mt Rainier

zoom of Mt Rainier

The trail then went up past a larger flower filled meadow, with a nice variety of wildflowers.

Watching the clouds come in.

Lots of wildflowers in the upper avalanche chute

Then we saw more flowers in the upper steep short switchback section.

On top of Mount Ellinor we had good views of Olympic Peaks to the north.

zoom of Mount Olympus

View of Mt Washington from Mount Ellinor

Enjoying the wildflower meadows again on our hike back down the trail.

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail today: