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Trip Report    

Snow Scramble - Mount Jupiter

A strenuous and beautiful snow scramble (~20 miles, ~5300’ gain) with blue sky views into the central Olympics.

Dave Morgan Dave Morgan
May 07, 2018
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Brought snowshoes, but did not need them for the frequent and intermittent sections of snow (some small surface sloughs).  Ticks encountered on lower clear cut sections of the trail.  Surprisingly light snow cover given the oblique view from the Seattle area showing lots of white, but still required careful route selection to find the trail and avoid cliff hazards.  It is currently a non-trivial snow scramble.  A piece of pink tape was across the start of the trail indicating its closure, but I had talked with the Pope Hood Canal Tree Farm Office at (360) 394-0537, and they indicated that a) we were good to go as no work would be underway as of the day of our trip (Saturday 5/5), b) a series of pink markers shows the means to walk a bit of their new road to re-attach with the trail (near ~2800’ altitude), and c) their future plans were to leave the gate permanently closed (lots of solitude for the young at heart ;).

A strenuous and beautiful snow scramble (~20 miles, ~5300’ gain) with views into the central Olympics.  No other parties were encountered.  In addition to our mountain boots, some of our party greatly appreciated the comfort offered by approach shoes on the long stretches of trail and road walking.  Due to the long dry approach (no water sources the entire trip), bring plenty of it for the long day.  Total time was ~11.3 hours, with ~6 hours for the ascent, and 5 for the descent.  Photos from this and past trips can be seen here.