Mount Townsend

 We drove to the Upper Mount Townsend Trailhead to hike up to Mount Townsend today, 8.8 miles round trip with 3,000 ft of gain. The wildflowers look as if they are just beginning to bloom. The first few miles are in the forest. Here we stepped over a small stream.

We could see a waterfall to the south of the trail.

 

At one of the open areas along the trail, we could see Glacier Peak across Hood Canal and Puget Sound.

Further up the trail we could see both Mt Rainier and Mt Adams to the southeast.

zoom of Mt Rainier and Mt Adams

As we continued up the switchbacks, we saw Mt Baker and Mt Shuksan to the northeast.

zoom of Mt Baker and Mt Shuksan

view of the Olympic Peaks to the west from the saddle of Mount Townsend

Almost to the top of Mount Townsend

To the north is Port Angels, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island.

There were a few snow patches along the trail that were all easily traversed.

view from the summit of Mount Townsend looking north:

The squirrels are very aggressive at the summit.

pano from the summit to the west, we could see all 5 volcanos today

After lunch, we hiked from the south summit to the north summit, looking back towards the south summit, with Mt Rainier and Mt Adams in the distance.

douglasia in bloom

view to the southwest

panos to the west

another pano to the east

alpine smelowskia in bloom

some of the wildflowers and fungi we saw along the trail today: