I hiked Mailbox Peak with Hans on Friday, June 4th. It was the hardest hike I have done to date in my training, and it felt great to get out and do something that was a lot more challenging. Having done Mt. Si and Tiger Mountain pretty much exclusively thus far this spring, this was definitely a cut above. Here is a link to an article written about the hike in the Seattle PI.
One of the videos in this post is a video I took from Mt. Si looking over at Mailbox Peak, just to the east. What you would only know from the trail itself is that it is pretty much straight up the entire way. It feels like you are going directly up the slope, rather than back and forth on a series of gradual switchbacks. I think you can reach forward and touch the slope in some parts. Furthermore, the terrain is rough. It doesn’t feel like a trail at all. Sometimes there is no trail. Sometimes you are just trying to avoid losing your boots in deep mud. Sometimes you are sliding 15 feet down on your ass after losing your footing (this was me once on the way down).
The hike, or climb itself, gains over 4,000 feet of elevation in just under 3 miles. That is well over 1,000 feet of gain per mile….pretty intense. It took us about 2:20 to get to the top, with only taking a minute or two for rest a couple of times. We were each carrying about 25 pound packs. We felt awesome about the time. We rested for 5 minutes after descending off the peak and into the trees for some shelter.
From the other video in this post (of Hans and I on the summit), you can see that the weather was dicey at best. It wasn’t snowing, which was good. But it was wet and cold. It felt like we were in a cloud. We were sheltered for most of the climb, but for the last 1/2 mile or so, you emerge from the trees and ascend up towards the actual peak, which is exposed. It grew much colder and nastier once out of the trees. We didn’t spend much time at the top itself. We didn’t even investigate the mailbox at the top (for which the hike is named). People leave all sorts of cool stuff in that mailbox. It is tradition to leave something there in it. But I will wait for next time. I need to make it up again just to check out the view. I hear it is awesome, but there was nothing to see this day.
After that 5 minute rest and snack, we descended the rest of the way. I think we were both ready to be down and warm again. And to get some food. We did it all in 4 hours. We hit the truck stop for a meal afterwards and coffee and reminisced about the adventure.
It felt great to get myself out there a little bit, out of the comfort zone, as Rainier approaches.
Here are a few other videos we took during the Mailbox Peak hike. Video of us starting out, a clip in the forest, and then footage as I arrived on the peak.
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