[Bryan K]

Last week Thursday I went in for my 3rd back surgery, sadly I'm getting used to these.... A week later my dad was in town and I was itching to get out for a hike. We pondered going to the Hoh, but I wanted to get up somewhere with a view.... The weather for Johnston Ridge Observatory "looked" good on the internet so we headed up there instead. On our way up there my dad commented that we should have gotten gas along the drive up, the car said we had 47 miles to the end of the tank when we arrived at the empty parking lot.

We left the car and headed out onto the path. The sky was foggy and the views were non-existent. In a nut shell, we enjoyed a leisurely pace as I kept my fragile back in check with a very light pack. I had to make doubly sure that I didn't slip on a slick spot and fall on my ass, that would have surely meant a quick trip back to the operating room.

Harry's Ridge Route

Visitor Center Trail

We saw nobody on the trail as we talked and caught up a bit as my dad lives back in Michigan.

Trail and fog

Views

When we finally reached the junction with Harry's Ridge we came across another couple enjoying the lack of crowds as the Visitor Center had just opened the day prior. They were a friendly couple. The girl was rather joyful and animated as she told us about a "brain" looking fungus and kitty tracks along the trail.

Brain Fungus

Chipmunk greeting

The typical highpoint marker in MSH greeted us at the top.

Harry's Ridge Highpoint

We stayed up top for a few minutes as I took photos and video. Our ascent was so much more "leisurely" than I'm used to, it was 3 hours to top. Heading back down took us much less. On our way down I had wanted to take the route with the steeper slope below the trail. On our way in there had been rocks crossing the trail and it was obvious they wanted us to stay off of it. Well on the way back we took it anyway. I soon found out why it was closed. Many rocks had filled in the trail making it rather precarious for most casual hiking folks, but not us!

Stay On Trail

Dad on sketchy trail

Sketchy Trail Section

We handled it like champs and not a slipped footstep between the two of us. Along the way back we did get a few decent views of the plains below and partial views of Spirit Lake.

Lower views & Spirit Lake

Limited views

Back at the parking lot we knew we had to take it easy on the drive as we were certain to either run out of gas or at the very least roll into a station on fumes. Much to my dad's chagrin, the Shell closest to the mountain was closed. About 2 miles out of Toledo the dash said " 0 miles remaining".....we were on fumes. We made it to the "Flying K" without running out of gas, barely it seemed. After he filled up with 18+gallons I noticed the operators manual said the tank held 20.7 gallons, the dash lied to us!! We had such a great time together on the trails and in our nervousness over the chance of running out of gas in the sticks. I just wish that we lived closer and could spend more time hiking together.

[John Morrow]

Wow, no snow anywhere to be seen. Were north slopes at this altitude holding snow?

[Bryan K]

Barely any snow up there to begin with. Of what few views we had, we didn't see much snow except areas of dying cornices.

[fourteen410]

[skookum olympus]

I was up there on the 18th. Trail-blocking snow found only at the uppermost portion of the Boundary trail approaching Coldwater Peak, and that's likely melted now.

[lookout bob]

Nice report Bryan. Hope your back heals quickly and completely. Glad you had a good visit with your dad. Keep them cards and letters coming'!!!