[seattlehikertoo]

It was late morning and I suddenly decided that going to a now empty MRNP on an azure blue fall day was better than toiling away fixing my porch. Figuring I wouldn't get started until early afternoon, I decided on something not far off Hwy 410, but somewhere I had not yet been. Barring any unforeseen traffic and my lead foot, I felt I still had time to do something decent. After weaving around slow cars and passing on the double-yellow line, I found myself at the Owyhigh Lakes trailhead with enough daylight to go up Tamanos and then over to Barrier. I was overjoyed to see how few people blew off work on such a fine day, and how few tourists there were scattering their unwanted debris, picking delicate flowers, kicking over mushrooms, or trampling them for that matter. I did not see one person the entire day. The route up Tamanos is very straightforward. You'll leave the main trail on a boot path to your right about 2 to 3/10 mile or past the lakes. I had no trouble finding it, but if it is under snow, the way up is to the right after you see the prominent west sub-summit of Barrier directly to your left (this is also the area you can approach Barrier). The boot path led me through a beautiful meadow and to to an amazing saddle where the views of the Cowlitz Chimneys and Mt. Rainier gobbled up the sky. Adams was visible to the south rising in back of the Goat Rocks. From the saddle, I headed right (north), following a path along the ridge that brought me to the first of a few false summits. At this point, you are talking about 50 feet or so elevation difference to the true summit, but it's another 1/4 mile or so of easy scrambling along the ridge. You stay mainly on the west side traversing and dropping no more that 50 feet or so below the ridgeline. There were some mixed conditions in here and some loose rock. I was glad I brought a helmet, but felt comfortable with no ice ax and never needed traction devices. The furthest north high point is marked as the true summit. My GPS disagreed to the tune of 7 feet. When I arrived at the alleged true summit, I found myself spinning around like a top taking pictures with my iPhone before realizing it was no use. The views are spectacular as expected, and I simply put the camera away and soaked in all in for a good half hour. Then I headed back the way I came to the main trail, crossed eastward on a freshly snow-covered meadow. I spotted a slight indentation in the few inches of snow where I could see there was a path that led straight to the prominent west summit of Barrier. I also startled a large elk that galloped away as I passed. Earlier, as I approached the lakes, I could see the entire Governor's Ridge and Barrier were covered with a thin layer of steep snow. This likely meant mixed conditions and loose rock. I wanted none of that, and opted to contour around to the south side on a rising traverse. I picked up an obvious boot path as I headed up since the south-western exposure had melted back most of the snow. I followed it as it made a slightly rising traverse from 5750 to around 5950 feet under some cliff bands, steep meadows, and the summit itself until it reaches an area where the terrain to your left flattens. It was here where I saw a mountain goat who looked at me briefly, but then ignored my presence. The way up from here is obvious, switching back climbers left and up to along a ridge around 5950 feet. There was nothing more than class 2 the last 1/4-1/2 mile to the summit, where I enjoyed the views and descended into the dusky evening after very relaxing way to spend an afternoon. It was around 13 miles and 4600 feet of gain, plus an extra 1.5 miles to retrieve my hat that I dropped along the Owyhigh trail. https://photos.app.goo.gl/GgpsskfBq3S4kqrw7