Horse Camp and No Further

We set out Saturday to tackle Mt Rose on the north shore of Lake Cushman. In your best shape and in the best conditions Mt Rose will kick your ass. From the car to the summit is just over 3 miles and has 3500 feet of elevation gain. She is one relentless trail!

Gary, Pam, Athena and I hit the trail at about 9 AM and started up. I forgot to mention that this is a truly pretty area. Most of the Olympics are like this, but there are great trees and foliage. Saturday the water was running fast in the creeks. It is quiet there, too. Since it is 15 miles off of HWY 101 the sounds you hear are natural ones.

We arrived at Horse Camp which is only 1.1 miles to the summit and found that there were tons of downed branches as well as snow and we were unable to find the trail to continue to the summit. There were no boot paths to follow and we haven't done the trail enough times to go from memory. We elected to head back down and settle for just under 5 miles.

The tree fall at Horse Camp.

Another shot of the Tree fall at Horse Camp.

 

Sunday Pam and I got in some cycling on the Orting Trail. We estimate that we got in 25 miles on a beautiful day. Mt Rainier escorts you along on a day like today so it's hard to notice you are even exercising.

Be very well and more soon....