Mount Rose = Relentless Grade

Saturday Pam Sue and I headed out to the Peninsula to hike up Mt. Rose. About 2 miles past Mt Rose you enter the Olympic National Park where you can hike Wagonwheel Lake. There is a sign there that warns you that it is the steepest trail in the park. They'd have to move that sign to Mt Rose trailhead if Mt Rose was in the park.

This trail gains 3700 feet in the 2.9 mile route to the summit and no mile of it has less than 1200 feet of elevation gain. She is a trudge that is always a great workout.

We were the only car at the trailhead at 8 AM and the trail was in great shape all the way up. It was foggy in the middle part of the trail until about Horse Camp at 3000 feet of elevation and then the sun was out. We made the summit in just over 2 hours and enjoyed a nice break with a couple of Common Jays that were game for any food we might have to spare.

We took the lollipop route down along the ridge back to Horse Camp and continued down - back in the fog again. With the lollipop, we weren't sure if there was anyone else on the trail until we ran into a couple less than a mile from the trailhead. At the trailhead we saw that there were 5 other cars.

One of our favorite parts of hiking the peninsula is lunch at El Puerto de Angeles IV in Hoodsport for beers and the shrimp fajitas. Even with lunch we were back home at 3.

Be very well and more soon....