a tree covered with rime ice
Yesterday's snowstorm and high winds had us concerned about the snowpack stability, so we decided to pick a hike with low avalanche hazard. Elain found a trip report for Humpback Mountain on Matt Robinson's web site, and it sounded perfect. The drive to the trailhead involved a snow-covered logging road, and we got briefly stuck. Eventually we made it to to the trailhead, and we started hiking at 10:20 AM. The first two miles is along snow-covered road, before the trail starts ascending the forested northwest ridge of Humpback Mountain. We encountered a party of BoeAlps hikers on the trail. Above about 4000', the trail went through old-growth forest and the surface of the snow was a hard rain-crust. The summit ridge was quite beautiful with trees covered in rime ice. The sun came out when we were on the summit ridge, and we had great views to the south, east, and west. We reached the summit at 1:30 PM. We took some time to have a snack and take in the views, and then headed back down. We reached the car at 4:20 PM.
Gear: snowshoes.
a tree covered with rime ice
Elain on the summit of Humpback Mountain
Steve on the summit of Humpback Mountain
Mount Rainier as seen from the summit
Silver Mountain (left) and Abiel Peak (right) as seen from the summit
of Humpback Mountain
McClellan Butte as seen from Humpback Mountain's northwest ridge.