Well, I am going to be honest and say we had not intended on doing the loop, nor fully intended on doing Mt. Washington. It honestly did not interest us to hike that summit. We did, however, intended on going to Change Peak after Hall Point. We decided on Hall Point because we were having friends come hike with us, and Hall Point is only 3 miles roundtrip. So we figured we would lead them up there, and if they were tired they could return back with success of one point, while we would move forward with success of something new into Change Peak, letting it be their decision if they could continue on or not.
Hall Point was a breeze, and of course beautiful. It never really was that steep to us. It has plenty of switchbacks; and, yes, though it is a constant elevation gain, it also is only 1.5 miles to get there one way, being one of lesser miles you will find to reach a ridge out in that area.
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| Hall Point, looking over to Zig Zag |
Retracing back to the Hall Point junction there is a sign saying Mt. Washington is 5 miles ahead. This makes the hike there 6.5 miles. Again, it was not our intention to get there, but knew Change Peak was along this route. We continued on it along the creek until we could pass the creek and be on the Change Peak mountain. This is when we encountered snow. We continued the trail through parts of the forestry terrain as it came alongside the more stream and a sign saying "Pond Trail," until we hit another sign that said "Shortcut" and an arrow to the left. We hit that up until we saw a clearance above us with a run off. Hiking up this run off, we came to where it met the old log road with a sign pointing to the "Pond Trail" from where we came from. This was a Pond Trail shortcut, rather than taking the trail all the way to the back of the mountain where it meets the logging road.
The logging road's elevation gain was very mild and whipped around the mountain to the other side where there was a junction to go right and down, or left and up. Obviously, since we're after the summit we went left and up. I am unsure where right and down led. We were thinking quite possibly the Great Wall, and maybe this is the way Great Wall Trail hikers make it up to Change Peak. Might be for another exploration day. The road swerved around back to the original side of the mountain where we met up with the hikers and their dogs whose footsteps we had been following in the snow. We told them about this loop we heard of and asked if they were familiar with it. They said they were, and also have come up to Mt. Washington through the other end, which is the back end of our loop, and that it was significantly easier to exit that way. What none of us realized up until we made it to Mt. Washington was that you actually had to summit Mt. Washington to find that trail and make the loop. We were under the assumption that after Change Peak's saddle (slightly past Change Peak) the trail had a junction you could either go one direction to get down or the other direction to summit Mt. Washington.
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| Change Peak, looking over to Mt. Washington on the left, North Bend to the Puget Sound ahead |
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| Change Peak lookout, directly before the saddle. Mt. Washington to the left, Mts Si and Teneriffe on the right. |
When we got to that junction after the saddle we realized quickly that going left and down was leading to the back of the mountains, where Chester Morse Lake is located -- unlawful area. We had no other choice but to go to Mt. Washington, where we saw footprints headed in the snow. We tried to pick up the old logging road on Mt. Washington, even past the line of rocks that are keys to tell hikers this is not the way (the only other option was up to the summit, but we had tired friends with us, we unsuccessfully attempted this as a way to bypass the 3rd summit for their sakes), but quickly found out that it must have been severely washed out over a cliffside as it abruptly ends. So we retraced back to the point where you have to summit Mt. Washington. It should have been the only choice as we logically talked amongst ourselves even beforehand that we saw footprints going up there and none coming back, clearly telling us that the backside of this loop must be the official trail to Mt. Washington met on the other side of the summit. Once we made it up there we were confirmed with that and took Mt. Washington's trail back to the trailhead and parking lot, walking 15 minutes to the Hall Creek parking to our car. At the bottom, Amira awaited me with flowers she picked as she went ahead of us.
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| Mt. Washington, view out to Mt. Rainier hiding behind the clouds. You can see some of the base mixed into the clouds. |
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| Mt. Washington lookout to Chester Morse Lake below and base of Mt. Rainier in the horizon above Brant's head (rest in clouds). |
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| Chester Morse Lake from Mt. Washington old log road that leads to nowhere. |
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| Mt. Washington summit where the antenna thingy is located, Mt Si over the cooridor. |
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| Mt. Washington Trail, backside of our loop |
It is very amusing to me that Brant and I have been wanting to do the new mailbox route (less steep/longer distance) and McClellan Butte, but have shied from it because of the distance being too long for the children, yet when I calculate the official postings of Hall Point Trailhead to Hall Point being 1.5 miles, then from that point it is 5 miles more to Mt. Washington, and from the Mt. Washington Trailhead it is 4.25 miles to summit (the backside of our loop), plus the distance it took to walk to our car.... yeah that put us to about 11 miles. I guess neither Mailbox's new route nor McClellan is too long for our kids. Bam was the happiest this hike, and I mean this full hike, only complaining at one point when his feet got cold (not wet) from deep areas of snow. Elevation is tackled at a mild to moderate rate, but your kiddos will need longevity to make this a family hike. Nine hours total.
Hiking is an adventure, and we learn that we must remember who is bigger and therefore who is boss: the mountain, and we are its guests. From our separate years as hikers and our time hiking as a family, these key pointers have always helped us out in the event that it goes longer, or you get lost and have zero signal without a GPS device: look for a road/old road and hike it; get a general direction of what is around you by knowing the mapped area and use your phone compass accordingly; when the old road does not lead to where you need to be (like that one that led to the unlawful water reserve), trust other hikers' pointers (snow was extremely helpful due to seeing footprints) -- for instance, had to trust other footprints we saw, using logic that they never came back so that must be the way to go; follow a stream, if available. If the worst that will happen is that you must retrace your own footsteps the way you came out, then there's no reason to panic. For this "in case of" plan, don't climb up anything that is more than 70% of your sketchiness limit, because it is amplified on the descend.
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