Checkin' the mail at Mailbox Peak
Summit #49 of 70--November 27, 2023
Yup, there’s a mountain in the Cascades east of Seattle called Mailbox Peak. And yesterday was our day to check the mail, as in check a box that’s been on my list for decades. And yes, there really is a regular old mailbox on the summit. To see what’s in it, one needs to hike a long, steep trail gaining nearly 4,000 feet of elevation over five and a half miles. In other words, it’s a grunt.
Julie, Samuel and I motored south to the chilly trailhead near North Bend, meeting Lee there, and were quickly ready to scoot. Sort of. I remembered that my parking pass had expired and I had to drive off to find a cell signal to book a new one online. The others headed up. I burned 30 minutes in the process and returned to the trailhead feeling ill-prepared and a little frustrated. But just as I pulled into the lot, a herd of a dozen elk loped gracefully across the road in front of me. Magical. Suddenly, I was feeling cheery again. If it wasn’t for the delay, I’d have missed the encounter.
The others were booking up the trail at a good clip and were more than half way to the summit by the time I caught up with them. Lee set the pace and Julie and I took up the rear. The trail stays moderately steep for over four miles, before reaching a large talus field with hundreds of stone steps meticulously arranged among the boulders. Many of the steps obviously weighed hundreds of pounds, so it would have been a heck of a feat putting them all in place—by hand. Kudos to the trail builders!
From there, it was a short slog to the top, and a classic 360 view of the Cascades, including three major volcanoes—Rainier, Glacier and Baker. Across the valley, I could see Rattlesnake Ledge (where Kris and I recently hiked), and many other familiar summits near and far. The view on top was so captivating that I actually forgot to check the mail, though I did get a snapshot.
Hard to ignore, was the flowing roar of traffic along I-90 far below. Also hard to ignore was the fact that Lee’s car was parked at an upper lot that would be gated shut at 4:00 pm. (I have no idea why they gate it so early, a tad discourteous to hikers it would seem.) She took a quick look around and cruised on down. “See you next time!” she said. We found out later she’d made it in time.
The calm air had warmed significantly and the rest of us enjoyed an unhurried lunch, despite a gaggle of gray jays buzzing us for handouts. Samuel found a perfect boulder to lay back and relax, soak up some sun on a late November day.
Fall weather in the Northwest has been pretty nice overall, unless you’re a skier/snowboarder disgruntled with the excess sunshine. However, dry trails are good for autumn peakbagging too. That said, I don’t mean to be greedy, so I guess I’m ready to welcome a good rain and a dump of snow up high. Gotta get that snowpack started, plus it makes it that much more beauteous for snowshoeing!
It was so nice to reach Summit #49—exactly 7/10ths of the way to 70! That leaves me with 21 to go by February 1st (my self-imposed deadline) with barely nine weeks left. And it’s almost winter. Hmmm….
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