Mt. Townsend, Olympic Peninsula WA

The hike up Mt. Townsend by the Seattle Hiking Group on July 2nd was blessed with lots of wildflowers, but, no views. Clouds and heavy mist were the backdrop for this hike even though a weather report at the ranger station gave us hopes of nice views from the top of Mt. Townsend.

For those who have not experienced Seattle weather heavy mist might be difficult to understand. The best I can described it is that there are small drops of water suspended in the air moving gently toward the earth. These misty conditions leave everything wet in a unique way. Because the precipitation is so gentle water collects in ways not normally seen after a normal rain. As you can see in the pictures below small droplets of water form on nearly every surface from the hairs on our arms to the delicate leaves of wild flowers. If it were not for the misty conditions and the wildflowers the lack of views on this day might have made this hike boring.

There was on very distinct difference between this hike and the others I've been on in the Snoqualmie Pass area of western Washington. With no intestates near by and the cloudy misty conditions the peak of Mt. Townsend was completely silent. No wind noise. No birds. No traffic. Just peaceful silence.

Even with the wet weather this hike had the feeling having some excellent views, so, I'll have to visit again when the skies are clear.

(July 2nd, 2005)

After walking on to the Edmonds/Kingston ferry at Edmonds I saw these baby seagulls in a nest built on top of the giant bumpers for the ferry.	Nicola with Rick in the background on the Mt. Townsend trail.	Rick in his burning man kilt.	Group photo taken by a friendly hiker that was passing by.
This man took the group photo for us on the Mt. Townsend trail.	Not much to see in the distance on this hike up Mt. Townsend.	The heavy mist covered everything in small drops of water. Even my arm hair.	Not much of a view near the top on this day.
There were lots of flowers at the top of Mt. Townsend to enjoy.
I like this picture because it shows the variety of flowers at the top of Mt. Townsend. I see at least 7 different kinds of flowers in this picture.		Group photo at the top of Mt. Townsend.	Just before I took this picture someone said, "hey look it is clearing up!" If you take a look at the next picture you can see that it didn't "clear up" for long at the top of Mt. Townsend this day.
Just 45 seconds after it cleared up this is what it looked like at the top of Mt. Townsend.	Seeing everything covered in water reminded me of what the plants look like after an ice storm.	Rick and TheAnh on the way back down Mt. Townsend.	Nicola seeing all 6' 5" of Steve coming down the trail thought he looked like a Stormtrooper.
	This interesting flower was seen near the middle of the Mt. Townsend trail.

Click on a thumbnail above to see a larger version of the picture.

The pictures in this gallery were taken with a Nikon D70 Digital SLR camera. Any use of these pictures without permission from the photographer is strictly prohibited. Email me to request permission to use any of these pictures or if you would like a higher resolution version.

Last updated: 7/3/05