Mount Ellinor, stairs, switchbacks and then some more...

"And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul."

- John Muir

We planned on visiting Cascades National Park this past weekend to cross of National Park number thirty. But... one to eleven inches of snow and a winter storm advisory for the region made us rethink our plans. We ended up choosing the sunny and fiftyish degree Olympic Mountain Range instead.

During our first visit to Olympic National Park in 2014, we were at the tail end of our 8 day trip, in a Cruise America RV that kicked off in San Francisco. To say we were exhausted and didn't have enough time to explore the nearly million acres the park protects, thousands of years of human history, and several distinctly different ecosystems, including glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rain forests, and over 70 miles of wild coastline - would be an understatement. During our trip in 2014, we barley touched the surface with 2 days and one night in the Kalaloch region.

We have plenty of regions of Olympic National Park to explore, and decided to start with the Hoodsport area, and the Staircase region found above.

Mount Ellinor Trail is a 6.5 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail. The reviews on AlllTrails were 100% accurate. It's a heart starter. We started at the lower trail head, which was a nice lush green walk through the rolling forest. When we met up with the upper trail head (which would have saved us some miles, but we weren't sure of the parking situation, etc.), the stairs, boulder stairs and switch backs really begin.

The trail was heavily trafficked and something we need to get use to. We certainly don't mind hiking with others on the trail, but COVID means putting on a mask or raising your buff every time to let others pass, and really being mindful of space. And sometimes finding space on a trail can be challenging, and can really slow down your pace. It's not the end of the world, but breathing and add heavy breathing with a mask on can really be physically challenging.

We made it to the summit for a quick peak of the valley to the north (I think...), before the fog started rolling back and forth over the pass and eventually fogged us in. Thankfully on our decent the clouds were now above us and we could see the valley below (which was fogged in on our accent), and Mount Rainier in the distance.