Mount Ellinor Hike

For this year's daddy daughter hike with Matt we chose to hike up Mount Ellinor in southern Olympics. I had done this hike twice before, but it was worth going up again to challenge the two daughters. Unfortunately Matt was sick the day of the hike so I ended up taking Vanessa and Rachel up on my own. The girls had not been together for a year, but they had lots to talk about concerning their shared geek fandoms and sport obsessions. We started the hike at the forested lower trailhead. This part was fairly easy, but after a couple miles we got above the tree line and the trail got steeper. After a long traverse we made it to the false summit. From there we did a short final climb to the true summit. At the top we had 360 degree views of the southern Olympics along with a beautiful view of Lake Cushman. The trail guides said the hike was 6 miles, but I logged 8 which made for a longer hike than expected. The girls did good with the 3000 feet of gain, but there were many rest stops along the way. It ended up being a great hike, too bad Matt couldn't join us.