Mt. Townsend: A view from crags to sea

     If you are looking for a great day hike with a different feel and look compared to the typical central Cascade trek, beautiful Mt. Townsend, on the west side of Puget Sound, offers a wonderful alternative.   Mt. Townsend,  named for explorer George Vancouver's friend, Marquess Townshend*, is a popular 6200' bookend to Mt. Pilchuck on the other side of the Sound.  Both have significant prominence as the first real mountains off the shores of Puget Sound.  Both are lovely hikes that move from old growth forest to a summit above a treeline with views of nearby peaks all the way to the water.   Townsend, however, belongs to a different geology and the  more ancient range, the Olympic Mountains.  In addition to hemlock, fir, and spruce that you will find on both hikes, on the lower third of the Mt. Townsend, grand  rhododendrons tangle up.  Higher on the mountain, scrub pine twists in to krummholz or elfin trees.  As one of my hiking buddies, Ernie, put it, the place just has a different green.  Finally, while both Pilchuck and Townsend have water views, because of its location, Townsend's vista seems to encompass almost all of Puget Sound.

  The many perks of the hike makes it popular if not easy to get to.  From the Seattle and neighborhoods east of Puget Sound, the journey begins with ride on a ferry.  For us, it was the 7:55 AM Edmonds-Kingston sail. We walked on, but I paid a pirate's rate of $15 to park in a lot across from the dock. Ernie parked where he could and was fortunate not to be towed.  In retrospect, taking the Sounder Train would have worked better for me since it offers free parking and an easy way to avoid traffic snarls to and from the ferry terminal.

After the half-hour sail, Ernie's friend, Enrique met us at the Kingston dock.   From there we headed down Hwy 101 through a rock quarry and onto Forest Service Roads.  Enrique told me he taught Physics at the local high school,  but by the way he handled the twisting track in his Eurovan, I suspect he might also be amateur rally driver.   Despite the roller coaster ride of sometimes one lane roads, I counted five vehicles already parked at the trailhead when we arrived about one hour & 45 minutes later.  Please use the WTA directions linked at the bottom of the page.  I tried Google Maps, and the route that popped up was an torturous additional hour to another trailhead.  There are four starting points up Mt. Townsend.  From Seattle, #839 is the easiest place to begin.

Despite the difficult journey to the trailhead, it was, in fact, a perfect day for hiking.  The trail (#839) parallels Townsend Creek for awhile, and gets a lot of elevation early.  I belong to the "let's-get-it-over-with" camp, so I was pleased to knock out the UPs early.  If you prefer to build to a crescendo, you'll be annoyed by the early ascent.  The rhododendrons had bloomed much earlier in the season, so the soft forest trail was more like the nave of a great cathedral between holidays, sublime but not overly adorned. Six weeks earlier and we would have been in the midst of our state flower's blooming glory.   After about mile and half though the woods, the route takes you through meadow where a number of flowers where still blooming.  The trail is well-signed, but the way to the top stays right at Windy Camp, about 2.5 up the trail.

6200' Summit of Mt. Townsend

Just below below Windy Camp, in the open, but steep meadow, we ran into Dr. Mark, a retired General Practitioner.  It was somewhat serendipitous since we were having a discussion about various approaches to health care and their relative effectiveness.  Dr. Mark was catching and releasing bugs. The current state of health care helped push him into retirement.  Entomology is his new passion. Interestingly,  he is a disciple of Dr. Dennis Paulsen, the local bug expert, I had met once in Magnuson Park chasing dragonflies.  We talked briefly with Dr. Mark of health and diet. He advocated walking, red wine and chocolate. We also spoke of butterflies and deerflies.  Dr. Mark reminded us that you cannot keep the bugs you catch in a wilderness area.     I added,  "And you're only allowed to eat them accidentally."

Once at Windy Pass, the trail follows the ridge line up to a subtle summit.  The ambiguity of the high point here is probably a good thing since it diffuses the crowd somewhat.  The actual high point is located in what almost appears to be a man-made pile of rocks.   On top of Mt. Townsend, we were  treated to views of rocky crags, hazy distant monarchs of Rainier, Glacier Peak and Baker, and the sea.    The day of our hike, a cooling breeze scattered any menacing flies.   However, we were harassed by an angry chipmunk as we ate our lunch.   If you want to explore further, the north summit runs about a half mile away.  We, unfortunately, had a ferry to catch at 4 pm. 

View of North Summit

On the way down, I took some time to photograph flora and fauna.  More groups were struggling in the heat of the day, up the trail.  Always good to get an early start.  Further down, we ran into Dr. Mark again.  He had had a good day "bugging," finding a bluish butterfly and some red-eye winged insect with a scientific name of "e pluribus . . ." ( Sorry, I am a little rusty on my Latin).

Back at the trailhead, we agreed, Mt. Townsend has to be one of the most picturesque day hikes in the region.   For me it's in the running for one of my favorite day hikes of the summer.  With Enrique's driving, we made the 4 o'clock ferry with three minutes to spare.

Notes:
* Marquess Townshend was the brother of Charles Townshend, whose tax on tea started a little rebellion.  Overtime, the spelling was Americanized.  It's ironic that Townshend lends his name to one of the most patchouli-scented refuges for aging hippies in the region, Port Townsend

WTA Website: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mount-townsend

Hiking With My Brother Website: http://www.hikingwithmybrother.com/2013/08/mount-townsend-trail-839.html