[cheakamus]

We originally chose to do Eagle Lake through the back door, thinking there would be fewer hikers on an ungazetted trail this Memorial Day weekend. Townsend Mountain was the natural extension of this quest. In the event, there were already 4 large trucks at the trailhead when we arrived at 8:45 Sunday morning. The trail, though not marked, was readily apparent. What we weren't prepared for was the heavy dew on the bushes for the first quarter mile. The previous day had been sunny with record-high temperatures; this day, the whole of Puget Sound was blanketed with low cloud. The trail ascends slowly through forest to a meadow, where it meets the trail from Barclay Lake. The meadow is still quite waterlogged, but it's possible to pick a way through without getting too mired (though my partner did sink in to his knee in one spot). At Eagle Lake we caught up with the owners of the trailhead vehicles--half a dozen camps were spread around the lake, and there was even someone sleeping in the cabin (guess they hadn't heard about hantavirus). They seemed to be primarily fishermen, and apparently the fish are biting, though they tend to be on the small side. We circled the lake clockwise till we were directly below the apparent notch in the ridge between Merchant Peak and Townsend Mtn. I say "apparent" because that notch was all we could see. The peaks were all buried in the aforementioned low-hanging cloud. From this point, there is no real trail (that we could find)--we simply pushed our way up through scrubby brush and talus till we hit the tree line, and then through forest till we reached the ridge. The section from the lake to the ridge is short but steep, and we were sweating profusely. The temperature was around 70 degrees, but the cloud cover really exacerbated the humidity. We sat down at the ridgeline to have a snack. By now I was feeling somewhat ambivalent about the journey so far--it had been good exercise I guess, but the scenery was certainly nothing to write home about. Then, between munching on some trail mix and scrutinizing my maps, I happened to glance up. So sharply did I exclaim about what I saw that I caused my partner, who was just then answering a call of nature, to pee his pantleg! A hole had suddenly opened in the clouds, and there directly in front of us, and seemingly close enough to reach out and touch, were Gunn and Merchant Peaks. Framed by cloud, they were more surreal than real, a vision suddenly granted and just as suddenly taken away. This vision came just at the right time, giving us motivation to continue. We turned right and headed toward where we knew Townsend Mtn. to be. As we ascended the ridge, we got brief glimpses of points ahead, but each turned out to be just that, a point in the ridge, never the actual summit. At first the way involved quite a bit of brush bashing, but eventually the ridge became more bare and there was just the occasional rock pile to negotiate. At last, at 5500 feet, we broke through the clouds and got our first view of the summit, still some distance ahead. But at least we knew where we were going! No more than half an hour later we were on top, with wonderful views of Merchant, Gunn, Baring, and Glacier Peak as islands in the sea of clouds. Baker and Rainier were just barely visible behind haze. According to the log left by the Mounties, ours was only the second party to visit Townsend Mtn. this year. The other group summited on March 3, noting that there was no snow. Nor did we see any nearly three months later--the only snow was on the north slope of the mountain, well hidden from the sun. Apparently the mountain sees few visitors, though it seems a worthwhile destination to me now, especially on a good day. It's probably easier to climb than either Gunn or Merchant, and it's almost as high. As I said, the views are good. One caveat: take lots of water. It's probably scorching when the sun's out, and there's no good water source after Eagle Lake. We chose not to return by the way we came, but instead simply headed down from the peak over rock, talus, and scrub toward Eagle Lake. This might not have been the wisest choice. We ended up bashing brush for about an hour at the bottom before emerging on the lakeshore, so the time and energy expended on our "shortcut" were not worth the trouble. The cloud cover never did lift, and we never actually saw the mountain in its entirety.

[naturealbeing]

cheakamus, Way to hang in there and get the job done. Too bad about the clouds and their teasing you guys. It's a trip well worth repeating for better views. To save time and energy I would approach Townsend from just across the Eagle Creek bridge and go up towards the saddle then traverse W to the summit. Quicker and more direct w/about a 5 miles RT. BTW. When I was up there about a month ago at about 3,200 ft. the road was badly washed and rutted. Is it any better at this time? Thanks.

[cheakamus]

Thanks, naturealbeing. We thought about just heading up from somewhere along Eagle Creek but didn't want to try it because we couldn't really see the lay of the land. Doubt we'll do Townsend again, but we'll definitely be back to do Baring, Gunn, and Merchant some time. The road was in excellent condition both to the Eagle Creek bridge and up the spur to the Eagle Lake trailhead (and beyond, apparently). I suspect it's just been graded in preparation for logging.

[-lol-]

[Justus S.]

Thanks for the trip report. Townsend was the first peak I climbed in that area. I rememder the views were awesome. I lost all my pictures from the trip, except one, so I would like to go back. Went up from Barclay Lake which is a real treat since you have nice views of Baring on the way up. If I go again, I might have to try that backdoor approach.