Mount Shaw

Trail: Mt. Roberts Trail, High Ridge Trail, Black Snout Trail, Oak Ridge Cut Off, Upper Bridle Path, Lower Bridle Path

Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant

“Great hike overall. Met one other hiker on the High Ridge Trail, we were both surprised to see another hiker up there on a weekday. Lots of people on the Mt. Roberts trail.The upper part of the Oak Ridge Cut Off was basically a stream running down the trail till I hit the Upper Bridle Path. All the other trails were dry enough to miss most of the mud and water from the previous day's rain.”

Trail: Road walk, Cold Spring Trail, Faraway Mountain Trail, Oak Ridge Cutoff, High Ridge Trail, Black Snout Trail, Turtleback Mountain Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Leaves - Significant/Slippery

“1st hike in quite a while, life happens. Wanted something close so this was a great choice. Very gentle grades on all trails. Cutoff was by far the wettest, lots of rock hopping but feet will eventually be wet. Minor snow above 2700 feet, melting fast. Hazy view# from both but still beautiful. Was thinking about grabbing Turtleback as well, weather was moving in so another day. So nice to be back in the woods! Only saw 3 people out.”

Trail: Bushwhack, FR234

Conditions: Dry Trail

“I was originally thinking of doing shaw/twin/ricker from the east as a big loop with Weeks Brook Trail & Province Brook Trail, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add Hurricane, get some free elevation from Hurricane Mt Rd, and to skip the sketchier east side of Shawm, so this traverse plan was hatched. Straight line up Hurricane Mountain, in steep but open woods. Some evidence of an old trail near the summit and a number of boundary markers. Couple summit markers but no register. From here we headed pretty much due north, in mixed woods on the decent which opened up in the col, which had a decent looking old road passing through it east/west - maybe an active snomo trail? We skirted to the west around the bump just south of Weeks Brook Trail, finally meeting up with the trail just shy of 1500 ft. Followed Weeks Brook trail up to the 90 degree left turn just before the pond and headed into the woods for the short ascent of Rickers. Woods were fairly thick here, but it was short, so easy to push through. Nice summits with some open areas - signed in then headed to The Twins. Off Rickers, we headed NNW, towards a stretch when maps show slightly less dense vegetation. Then pivoted NE around 2200 on the bump to the north of Rickers. Ran into some pretty thick stuff in here and didn't feel like I was able to maintain a good line, but I've seen far worse. Made it to the col south of the Twins, which had a trail with some flagging heading NW/SE (possible the old Gemini trail). We followed it NW to a boggy area, then backtracked a bit and ascended the Twins, aiming for the col between the two Twins and then to northern summit. The approach worked well and we were on the rocky summit shortly. From the Twins N, headed north into the col with Shaw, then headed NNE before turning ENE at about 2400. Some thick stuff and boulder fields getting up Shaw, but no cliffs on from this direction. Signed in a headed WSW off the summit, aiming for the kink in FR234 around 1600. Woods were good but had to do keep pushing further south than the topography wanted - specifically getting over the ridge to the west of north twin. Finally made it to FR234 and it was a perfect logging road that we followed right back to the car on Town Hall Rd. Only took 4.5 hours total. 20 mins up Hurricane, 40 mins from Hurricane to Weeks Brook, 50 mins from joining Weeks to Rickers, 70 mins from Rickers to Twin N, 30 mins from Twin N to Shaw, 40 mins from Shaw to FR234 and 20 mins on FR234 to the car. Very happy with this route and the time we made. Wouldn't do anything differently, though I am curious where the trail in the col south of the Twins originates to the east.”