Winter hike up Mt. Walker

After Christmas I had a few days off, and since the sun was shining I decided to hike up Mt. Walker. Mt Walker is just past Quilcene, and only an hour from home. The elevation of the summit is 2,805 feet, so it's not a huge mountain, but because it stands by itself, it has some great views. I hiked up the trail and returned by hiking down the road, which is closed during the winter.
2,000 feet elevation gain and 6 miles.

At first the trail was snow-free, but about halfway up it became snow-covered. I hadn't anticipated this much snow, especially since the trial soon became snow-packed and icy, making footing difficult.

I made it to the north summit in two hours. I shared the view with a couple other guys and a hungry gray jay. You could see Mt, Baker to the north.

Mt Constance in the Olympics to the west.

At the south summit, you could see Hood Canal, Mt Rainier, and downtown Seattle. On the southern horizon was Mt Adams and Mt. St. Helens. It was hard to get a good photo because the low southern sun produced a lot of glare off the water.

I asked one of the guys at the summit to take my photo.

Then I started down the snowy road.

It was a lot easier walking down the road. I got back to the trailhead by 12:15 pm.