They say third time is the charm and this hike certainly proved that. Mt Mitchell is one of those little gems that are not that far out, not to long of a hike and not much elevation gain but with huge rewards. In the past, I’ve done this hike only to get to a summit completely immersed in clouds. On those cases, it was still rewarding as the top of the mountain is a flat rock bed with numerous rock formations around that are quite interesting. This time, it was quite the reward to get up there and actually get the views I had only seen in pictures before. As you’ll see in the pictures, the trail goes thru some dense forest with just a handful of viewpoints that offer hints of what you’ll find further up. About half way in, the whole forest opens up but, despite the fact that you can see all around you, you don’t get many expansive views. It’s until you are in the last section, just a couple hundred feet from the summit, that you get a good view north that includes Mt St Helens and the Swift Reservoir but that’s just half of it. Once you reach the summit, Mt Mitchell offers 360 views that also include Mt Adams and Mt Hood in the distance. Having those views with the rock formation I had seen before was truly a different experience. BTW, you’ll notice in the last couple of pictures we are in a cave. Yes, since this hike is not that long, some of us finished with a bit of room for more hiking so we decided to continue a bit further to the Ape Caves for a couple of extra miles.
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