Mount Pleasant
Date Hiked: August 10th, 2025
Trail Hiked: Mount Pleasant, Washington DNR Trail Systems
Distance Hiked: 8.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 1969 ft.
Duration: 3h 22m
Mt. Sinai being the first mountain I truly ever hiked to the summit may have spoiled me in some ways.
Not that it was an easy haul to the top, it most certainly was not, even for someone in the shape for hiking such things as I was, but it's not readily apparent how much switchbacks and resting points make a difference in such a climb until one doesn't have them available.
Mt. Sinai was a well-manicured and maintained trail that was easy to follow, meted out the elevation gain, and was clearly designed for hikers to traverse.
Mt. Pleasant was a small mountain surrounded by the Olympics in their grandeur, it barely had a trail access point unless one specifically knew exactly where to look, and rather than a trail, it was more like a dirt road that happened to be on a mountain somewhere.
In other words, it was designed for logging trucks to drive on, not so much for hikers to make an ascent, and good gods did it show.
Up on the Olympic peninsula, it was easy to be intimidated by the rugged nature of the jagged peaks. While still confident from my Sinai hike that I was getting to the point that I could make these treks, I wanted to work myself up and keep trying to steadily improve, so when I saw Mt. Pleasant in the app being a solid 1900 feet rather than some that were in the 4 and 5k gains, I thought a steady climb with a good view at the end would be the kind of hike that might not be as impressive as others nearby, but a good stepping off point for future, more difficult journeys.
Instead, I got a lesson on switchback efficacy, as ere stated.
Sometimes, solitude on the trail is a blessing for which I'm endlessly grateful, but others, it's an indicator of not doing enough research on my part. This was one of the latter examples, as looking into what others said about it would've given me enough information to reconsider.
I still did it, but it was not as pleasant as the name would imply.
The grade was intense, with nothing but my own switchback-ish abatement of the rise to lessen the impact on my knees. Even with much taller peaks surrounding me in several directions, this felt like getting my penance for making terrible decisions at a time in my life where my impulsivity was overriding my common sense and the pained soul in which I inhabited caused me to believe that opting out and trying something else was some indication of a character flaw and personal failure.
I saw two other people the entire time, and they were on motorbikes. On a beautiful day like this, the lack of other hikers was not a coincidence or stroke of luck. This climbed sucked.
The view at the end was the only part that made this trek worth it. Otherwise, just pick another trail.
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