Mt. Ellinor

 Ok, I have some time so I will play catch up. Last Saturday was a trip to Mt Ellinor up near the Hood Canal in the Olympics roughly an hour and some change from Oly. You head north up to Hoodsport then vear left up into the hills from there. Mt. Ellinor itself sits at 5952ft but the trail has two starting points. My Dad joined me in the excursion and we found at a certain point the forest service road was mostly impassible due to snow. My truck is capable but I did not want to have to dig and deal with all that entails. So we pulled off and hiked. Interestingly enough the snow was mostly on the road at this point. Then it cleared, then there was more snow.
There is plenty of snow up there, many creeks, plenty of views, and overall good vibes. If summiting this time of year cramp ons and ice ax are required. We were packing snowshoes. There is a class 4 climb on one of the bowls...
Most folks hike the area in the summer.
Dad and I made it to the lower trail head after a few hours. we opted to look around then head back rather than attempt to find the trail (it was covered in snow and not possible to see). In about a month we plan to get back up there and do the heavy hiking. This was a recon mission that lasted most of the day :)
On the way back down we stopped at Hoodsport for a brief break then continued on back to Oly.

Pictures

This was on a pullout on the drive down

So the weather rolled in while we were at our highest elevation. Apparently I forgot to get a picture of some of the epic peaks we saw. Next time.

In other news:

Work continues. It is going OK. There really is not alot to say about it to be honest. This last week I had been working early shifts leaving the house at 5.30...I closed on Friday.