[ragman and rodman]

I'm of the opinion that Mount Wow doesn't really like hikers... as she protects her flanks with brush... and at her very best, only provides poorly defined paths on the way to the summit. Research showed 3 routes: 1. Via West Boundary Trail... starting near the Nisqually entrance to MRNP... 10 miles roundtrip with 5000 feet of elevation gain... route-finding skill is highly recommended as the trail becomes less evident as elevation is gained. 2. Via Lake Allen... starting from where the westside road is gated... walk the road for 1.8 miles and look for the 6 inch "X" on a tree 15 feet above the road... in other words, the "X" marks the spot where the hiker leaves the road and heads for Lake Allen... 8 miles roundtrip with 3530 feet of elevation gain. Some suggest that route-finding skills are more important on this route than those on the West Boundary Trail. 3. Via Goat Creek Road... Klenke's trip report on summitpost.org describes it very well... 5.5 miles roundtrip with 3000 feet of elevation gain... route-finding skill is also needed on this route. We chose Klenke's Goat Creek route... setting our odometer to zero at Whittaker's Bunkhouse in Ashford... then driving east on Hwy 706 for 3.2 miles... where we turned left onto FR-59... then drove FR-59 for 2.7 miles to an obvious fork in the road at a hairpin turn (marked as "Borrow Pit" on the USGS map)... then took the right fork (Goat Creek Road?) and continued driving for .8 miles... where we chose to park due to poor road conditions... then continued walking the road for 5 minutes to where a rock slide covers the road and ends all vehicle traffic if you happen to still be driving. The only thing that I disagree with in the Approach Road section of Klenke's trip report is that he says you need to drive for 1.4 miles on the Goat Creek Road to the rock slide. We drove the Goat Creek Road for .8 miles and parked... then it only took 5 minutes to get from where we parked to the rock slide... suggesting that if you choose to drive all the way to the rock slide, it is probably less than a mile of driving as opposed to the 1.4 miles mentioned by Klenke. Now that you are at the rock slide on Goat Creek Road... go to Klenke's trip report and read The Route section... which we used to get us from the rock slide to the Wow summit. 5.32 miles roundtrip, gaining ~3000 feet of elevation. A few tips: 1. Klenke mentions this... and it is worth repeating here... after you continue walking the road beyond the rock slide, do not cross Goat Creek on the road. If you do reach the creek on the road, back track a short distance and take the overgrown spur going slightly uphill to your right as you hike back the way you came. 2. I would not try this route without a GPS. 3. On our return to the car we got too close (~3700') to the tributary stream that runs into Goat Creek... putting us on very steep terrain... requiring that we regain some elevation to get back on easier terrain... and a lesson learned... "If the route up is tolerable, don't try to improve it on the way down". GPS route and photos of our trip to Mount Wow. ..

[Marmot Salad]

Such hard work. Great job!

[puzzlr]

The last part looks really fun, the first part not so much.

[hikerman]

Stating the obvious, but that was a really big tree on the road on your way back down! How far from the main road was it? I've thrown the chainsaw in the back of the truck on windy days in the past.

[ragman and rodman]

[mdk]

FYI, I wouldn't say that the Lake Allen route is difficult route finding - once you find the magic "X". It's a black "X", on a dark tree, at the top of the 8-10' high bank above the road, pretty hard to spot except on foot. Several cars worth of parking room near it tho. Once you've found that, the route is pretty simple. Imitate a falling rock, in reverse. Short direct route, for sure. No brush, almost all in canopy forest, looks like your "continuing up" picture. Sneaks past the east end of Lake Allen by 100' or so, then up to the same saddle N of point 5722. It's one of my favorite early spring trips, when higher access trailheads can't be reached. I have lots of "colorful parkas in a cloud" pictures from the summit