Trip Report
Day Hike - Tatoosh Peak
Perfect day for this beautiful trip!
Nancy Lloyd
- Sat, Sep 30, 2023
- Day Hike - Tatoosh Peak
- Tatoosh Ridge
- Day Hiking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Skate Creek Road is 2-way and entirely paved, but there are several bumpy patches and missing or no lines. Extra caution is needed in darkness or low-light. FR 5270 is not paved and in surprisingly decent shape. But there are several deep potholes, short sections of rock fall, and slippery mud in a few places. Parking is along the road across from the trailhead with room for maybe a dozen cars. The trail is easy to follow and clear of down trees. The landslide from a few years ago now has a good path across it.
We started hiking at 8 a.m. under a clear sky. It was chilly enough to need a puffy or jacket at first, but we quickly warmed up. The trail starts fairly steep through a forest that has some nice old growth trees. It does level off now and then, and eventually goes down and up and down and up. The surface has a nice variation of dirt, roots, rocks, narrow, wide. After leaving the main forest, most of the trail traverses steep slopes covered in grass and other dry growth that are probably gorgeous wildflower meadows in early summer. The only wildflowers I spotted were Pearly Everlastings - an apt name! Shaded areas were covered with a light frost that was gone in the afternoon on our descent. The summit had small patches of thin snow that were not a problem. We hiked a little over 11 miles rt with 3,600' gain in 9 hours, including leisurely breaks.
In a nutshell, a great less-traveled hike with fabulous views!
