Mt Ellinor - April 29, 2001

Was this worthy of a trip report? Not really.

Planning to do errands all day in Seattle due to a crappy weather forecast, I was intrigued by the clear weather in the Olympics as I drove around at 8:30 in the morning. At 11, after doing some research which suggested Mt. Ellinor was a pretty short hike, I decided to head over there. I left Seattle at noon. Being a outdoor person in Seattle and never having climbed Mt. Ellinor is kind of like never having seen Pulp Fiction. I had never climbed Mt. Ellinor. I had seen Pulp Fiction. Therefore I had better climb Mt. Ellinor I guess.

I think it's better when you can see something though. The clear skies I had seen over in the Olympics in the morning, did not stay that way. I arrived at a place where cars appeared to be parked (thus indicating some kind of trailhead - I had no good directions, and the map I had didn't include the beginning of the trail) at about 2:30 in the afternoon. Shortly thereafter, a group of about dozen people came off the trail. Among them was Talis, who I knew from mountain rescue. I got beta from him (quick, easy, occasionally snowing hard, couldn't see anything, etc...), and then set off.

The Mt Ellinor trail.

After 15 minutes of hiking in a clearcut, I arrived at the upper trailhead (the real one). I noted the time - 3pm. I met several people - probably more than 20 - coming down. Two of them had skis, and said the skiing was pretty good. I began to regret not brining skis. Turns out these guys are probably hardcore ski-all-the-time guys, and I have simply become a good weather powder snob or something, because when I got to the snow gully, the skiing sure didn't look appealing. That is, what I could see of it, since visibility was only a few hundred feet. I was then glad I didn't bother hauling skis.

Up the narrow snow gully, I followed a hundred foot prints (I passed the last people at the base of the gully, I had the mountain to myself now. Not that I would be able to actually see anyone else or anything...). It flattened out and I made my way over to the summit. Yay. It looked like this:

Note the patch of blue sky, eh? Well, that's all there was to see. Time was 4:15pm.

I put on shell pants for the long glissade down. Whew! 1000ft drop in a matter of minutes. I arrived back at the upper trailhead at 5pm - 2 hours round trip.

There were still more interesting things to see though. Back in my truck, I continued up the road to a good turn around spot. Here were two middle-aged men in a pickup, with a boat on top (we are at 3000ft elevation, nowhere near any lakes, eh?). As I turn around, I watch one of them hop out, and roll around in the woods beside their pickup. The other one, the driver, roll his eyes. As I pull away (quickly), the rolling around guy, is now rolling around in the dirt behind his truck. umm... ok.

Back in Shelton, I have the smart idea of going back across to Seattle via Bremerton, instead of looping down through Olympia. I've done it this way before, and don't remember it being any slower. Plus, it's more scenic, and the sun is shining now. I follow a road east out of town, and eventually come to a junction and take the branch that says "Tacoma", which is good, because I'm aiming for the Tacoma Narrows bridge. 20 minutes later, I come to another junction. The choices this time are "Gig Harbour" (I added the 'u'), and "Key Center". Note the lack of "Tacoma". Gig Harbor is the only familiar town, but I'm not sure that's the right way. That road goes north, whereas the road going to Key Center is south (according to my grossly inaccurate dashboard compass). South is better, since Tacoma is southeast. I must also add: I have a Washington State Gazetteer with me, but, conveniently, it is missing the page that has the map for the Puget Sound peninsulas/islands area.

So off to Key Center I go. 20 minutes later, I am much less certain of the correctness of this decision, and I pull over at a gas station. I ask the lady how to get to Tacoma. "Get back on the highway, and head north - keep going". She adds "Yeah, the other way is a dead end. You probably just want to get out of here."

Rabble-rousing juvenile bovine delinquents.

Feeling stupid, I continue back where I came from - until - I hit a traffic jam. Caused by --- you guessed it --- a pair of large animals on the side of the road. Why are people stopping? Ahh, they are afraid to pass the animals, because the animals are kind of going crazy, weaving on and off the road. A woman comes running down the opposite lane. I open my window, hoping to find out what's going on. She turns to me and shouts "Do you know whose cows those are?" I shake my head. She keeps running. I wait for my turn to pass the cows. It takes about 5 minutes. As I pass the cows, I have the thought "Wow, cows are big." The guy behind me tries to run the cows off a side road with his car, by swerving at them. It appears to work.