MOUNT JUPITER TRAIL Length 7.1 mi/11.4 km Access Mount Jupiter Road USGS Maps Mount Jupiter; Brinnon Agency Olympic National Forest The United States Exploring Expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, visited Puget Sound in 1841. This expedition gave the name Jupiter Hills to the northeastern Olympics. The term is no longer used, but it survives in Mount Jupiter, a peak on the southern fringe of the district. Because the Mount Jupiter Trail is approached from Hood Canal and follows the Duckabush-Dosewallips Divide, it could be said to belong to both watersheds—or perhaps to neither. As a matter of convenience, it has been listed under the Duckabush in this book. No water is found along this route, and one should carry plenty because the hike is strenuous, much of it without the benefit of shade. Motorbikes are permitted on the trail; they have done considerable damage to the switchbacks. The trailhead (2100 ft/640 m) is located 5.9-mi/9.5 km from US 101 on the Mount Jupiter Road (Cormorant Way). In mid- June an apparently endless sea of colorful rhododendron blossoms surrounds one. The trail begins below the ridge on the slope facing the Duckabush River and starts to ascend at once, switchbacking through intermingled second-growth fir and rhododendron. Other plants include salal, bracken fern, Oregon grape, huckleberry, currant, beargrass, trillium, and the giant fawn lily, which resembles an avalanche lily but has variegated leaves. At first the views are little more than glimpses through the trees of peaks and [waterways—the latter often covered by clouds. After about a mile, however, the trail enters the national forest and Mount Jupiter itself comes into view, although it looks remote. In fact, the hiker is likely to doubt that one can walk to the summit and back in one day. Still traversing below the ridge crest on the Duckabush side, the trail goes by a little campsite (1.8 mi/2.9 km), which has room for one tent. However, anyone intending to stay here would have to carry water up from below. Apparently, fire swept these slopes at one time, and many blackened snags remain. The trail then comes out upon the top of the ridge, where the hiker has the first view of the Dosewallips side. The path now follows the ridge, not only climbing up and down but also shifting back and forth, first on one side, then the other—from the sunny south side above the Duckabush to the cold North Slope overlooking the Dosewallips. On the south side one can gaze at The Brothers and hear the murmur of the Duckabush on the north side, Mount Constance can be glimpsed occasionally, and the sound of the Dosewallips rises faintly from below. At times the route keeps to the spine itself, where one can look both ways through the trees. The alternating ascents and descents are disconcerting, however, because one realizes that during the return journey the descents will be ascents. The trail passes another camp (2.7 mi/4.3 km), which has a well-built fireplace, with logs and benches, and space for several tents. But, again, water is not available. At the trail's halfway point (3.6 mi/5.8 km; ca. 3300 ft/1006 m), a promontory to the left overlooks the Duckabush Valley. The rocky point provides a spectacular view of the country, including the delta of the Duckabush. One is most impressed, however, by the rock walls that extend down from each peak of The Brothers to enclose a snow-filled cirque on the east face of the mountain. Although the dramatic view is only a prelude — a hors d'oeuvre, so to speak—to what can be seen from the top of Mount Jupiter, this is a good place for hikers who do not wish to overextend themselves to turn back. As the trail climbs higher, through outcrops of basalt, the views improve be cause the trees are smaller, the stands thinner. The ridge is now a rocky spine, and two peaks appear to block the way, but this is merely an illusion. The trail goes around them, climbing a ridge through a thick growth of rhododendron, mountain hemlock, and subalpine fir. The hiker is rewarded by a sweeping view down the Duckabush Valley, with Hood Canal and Mount Rainier beyond. The U-shaped valley reveals its glacial origin; ahead are rugged ridges composed of volcanic basalt. Although the trail gets rougher and rockier, the views are an unending delight. So, too, are the flowers— phlox on the rocks, pioneer violets peeping from the crevices. However, the hiker walking the trail for the first time questions whether it will ever end. The route now enters The Brothers Wilderness (5.0 mi/8.0 km; 4050 ft) 1234 m), which was established in 1984 to protect the prominent, twin-peak mountain known as The Brothers, as well as the primitive 6-mile segment of the Duckabush River between Little Hump and the national park boundary. The trail goes beneath up thrusts of pillow lava, and the rhododendrons disappear, replaced by huckleberry, beargrass, and saskatoon, or western serviceberry Many bleached snags—the trunks of old, fire-killed trees—stand on the hillside among the upthrusted rock. Upon turning a corner, where the path has been blasted from solid rock, the hiker is confronted by rough hummocks of basalt that support a few mountain hemlocks. Now hacked in living rock, the trail begins a series of abrupt switchbacks—thirty- three in all—as it makes the final steep ascent to the top of Mount Jupiter. During early summer the slopes here are likely to be covered with snow. The summit (7.1 mi/11,4 km; 5701 ft/1738 m) consists of big blocks of broken sandstone, edged by scrubby little trees at the west end. The old fire lookout cabin that once stood here was destroyed about 1969, leaving the area littered with bits of broken glass, telephone wire, rusty nails and screws, and old insulators. On a warm, sunny day, the hiker will wish to spend at least an hour on the summit. The breezes are cool and pleasant, the views glorious. This is one of the superlative panoramas in the Pacific Northwest, and the hiker sees—at least when the skies are clear—an array of beautiful scenes: close at hand, the foothills and snow-clad peaks of the Olympics, dominated by Mount Constance and The Brothers; beyond them, Hood Canal and Puget Sound with its islands. Haze softens the country to the south and east, but at times the keen-eyed person can discern the skyscrapers in downtown Seattle or ferry boats crossing Puget Sound. The Cascades loom beyond, topped by the volcanic cones of Mount Rainier and Mount Baker. Far to the north, the Coast Mountains of British Columbia are visible. The calm, peaceful silence is accented by little sounds—the muted murmur of the Duckabush coming up from below, the rustling of the breezes in the tiny hemlocks, perhaps the humming of an insect now and then.