Around the World and Still Going!: Home Leave 2015! Hiking Mount Townsend

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Home Leave 2015! Hiking Mount Townsend

One of the things Paul and I really wanted to do while in the Seattle area was hike one of the many beautiful trails in the mountains. After settling in for a couple of days we took our chance, left Piper with the grandparents, and headed toward the Olympic Mountains. We decided to hike Mt. Townsend since it was the most easily accessible of the mountains to where we were staying.

Starting around 3200 feet, we gained another 3000 feet over 4 miles to the summit. The hike started in a beautiful forest full of fir and hemlock trees. About halfway to the top the trees started thinning out and we started seeing numerous wildflowers and we began getting views of the surrounding mountains.

At the summit!

During our hike up we were racing a cloud that was slowly creeping up the ravines after us. We managed to have a sunny, yet windy and cold, lunch at the summit before the cloud overtook us. With the arrival of the cloud we started the four mile return trek back down the mountain. The mist from the cloud moving in and out of the ravines lent a surreal feel to the forest that is home to the sparkly vampires (twilight reference for those that may not read teenage girl books)!