Mount Ellinor
Date: April 17, 2016
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 6.2 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,200 feet
Time: 3 to 4 hours
Location: Near Hoodsport, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to Snow-Pack
Hiking With: Jim Darmiento, Ione Darmiento, Linna Freeman & my wonder dog Macho

My Audi S6 was in the shop and I had a Q5 SUV loaner car so I thought I had better use this vehicle to the fullest…so I decided on hiking Mount Ellinor goo.gl/w0nY6Z in the beautiful Olympic Mountains. To get to this beautiful hike you need to travel on gravel forest roads with a shit load of deep pot-holes…perfect for a loaner SUV. I called my good friend Jim Darmiento and his wife Ione to join my wife Linna and me on this Olympic mountain hike. Linna and I drove over to Jim’s cabin the night before so the drive to the trailhead the next day was only 45 minutes from Jim’s cabin on Panther Lake, Washington.

Just what I had suspected…the forest road to the trailhead was filled with bottomless pot-holes, but my loaner Q5 Audi took them like a champ and I didn’t go around them either the suspension took each foot deep hole like it was nothing.

We had to start at the lower trailhead because the road to the upper trailhead was snow filled. The hike started steep and eventually got into snow. I love hiking in the snow because it’s actually easier to step straight up than hiking in loose gravel.

We didn’t make the summit, but decided on a lunch spot with a huge view of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. Saint Helen’s and Puget Sound. We ended up back at Jim’s cabin for a swim and a cold beer.