[beaudaddy]

So I headed out from work (Marysville) yesterday at about 4:30pm searching for a quick, tasty summit. Somehow I ended up finding myself driving eastbound HW20 looking up info on my iphone as I drove. My large map book layed open across my lap as I ate a banana and cliff bar. Takes talent right there or being really stupid. Mount Josephine looked pretty sweet on my map and I liked the fact that you could drive pretty close (if not all the way) to the summit. This was a big turn on for two reasons. The fact that I didn't have a lot of time plus I knew that at almost 4k in elevation (3,957') to be exact, that I would hit snow. This was fine for me because I wanted to stretch the legs, not just bounce around on a logging road all evening. I didn't have any info on this peak, just an old map that I have. So I took a left on Scott Paper Rd, took a right on Hamilton Cemetery Rd and then take a left on Medford Rd. When I got to the Horse Camp I took a right and ended up at some private campground/compound... Back tracked and took a left. I started driving logging roads and heading Northwest. I started to really gain elevation and tested every spur road that would make sense. I finally came to a good looking dead end. I looked above and there seemed to be a highpoint. I was getting frustrated on not finding the right logging road so I jumped out and went for it. I mainly made this decision because I didn't want to spend my whole evening driving down roads. I thought to myself, even if this isn't the summit it looks like it would have good views and I would be able to get a hike in before the sun went down. I scurried down some washouts in a easterly direction, flushed up a ruffed grouse and found a good slot of timber to start going up. Once I made it to the edge of timber it turned into a pleasant bushwhack north through open reprod. Lots of Huckleberries starting to develop, saw trilliums and stream violets. Nothing too outstanding. After about .5 mile and 400' of elevation gain I made it to a road on the high ridge. I looked east to the end of the ridge at a high point. This was the highpoint that I saw from down below. Later known as point 3,210'. I raced over and climbed some rocks to the top of it. The views were really good from here. The view looking up at Mount Josephine was real FREAKING great. I shook my head and laughed. This is exactly what happens when you head out without doing any research.

Looking east toward Mount Josephine from Point 3210

Twin Sisters Mountain from point 3210.

Field of Hemlock below point 3210

Point 3210 looking east

Point 3210 looking southwest

Point 3210 looking northeast. On a clear day you would see Mt Baker here.

I was very determined to Summit and I knew what the mountain looked like now.

Looking over at Josephine from point 3210

Mount Josephine seen from a lower road

Mount Josephine seen from the 3210 ridge

Twin Sisters Mountain seen from point 3210.

It was about 7:30pm at this point. I sprinted down the hill to my truck. Got in, did a cookie and evolved into a large cloud of dust as I knew exactly where I needed to go. Found the one spur road I didn't originally take. I thought that it was to low, but I was wrong the first time. Stayed on this road until I hit snow around 3,000' +/-. By this time it was like 8:30pm. I threw on my smaller backpack with water, headlamp and knife... The 3 essentials. I obviously had other gear on too. I headed up the snowy road to the summit. My hope was to get there before dark. Along the way a spur road intersected with the main road. With this spur road came really nice steps to follow. Nice, wide, flat and consistent steps. What was weird is that they had claws on the front of each step... Bear So I had a bear breaking trail for me for the next 400' of gain. I could tell that the tracks were 1-2 days old.

Bear Track in the snow below Mount Josephine Summit

Bear Track in the snow below Mount Josephine Summit

I found myself clapping and shouting to the summit, keeping my large knife close to my side. I have had many close encounters with bears throughout my life, so this was not something new... It is also something to never take lightly this time of the year. The road hike was about 3ft of snow with about 5 ft the last 200ft. I reached the summit. It was about 9:15 and I could see the city lights of Sedro-Woolley. You could tell that the views are amazing from the top. The summit was real flat, had no snow and all that remained of the lookout was 4 concrete blocks.

Looking back north on the ascent to Mount Josephine Summit

I highly recommend this as a late winter- early summer snow hike. This is a year round Summit. Being able to drive all the logging roads, I would not attempt this during hunting season unless you are wearing Hunter's Orange. The area is plentiful with Deer, Elk and Bear. I saw an Elk in the middle of the road on the drive out. This is a great snow hike that does not get a lot of traffic that time of the year. See my map of the two highpoints that I hiked to. The white lines I drove and the red lines I hiked.

Map of Summit Route

Total miles hiked for the evening: 4 miles Elevation Gain: 1,400' All the pictures (except 2) were taken with my camera phone. The batteries went dead on my camera I normally use.

[mtn.climber]

I wish my camera phone would take pics that good. Nice trip.

[Movenhike]

Cool title!

[beaudaddy]