I had just returned from a week on the east coast. Now it was time to head to Washington state to grab some of my daughter's items from her apartment there.

In route to Seattle, I thought it would be great to stop and hike to the top of Silver Peak, a peak with over 2000 feet of prominence and located a short drive off of the Interstate.

My wife asked for the stats, which were 7 miles round trip and 2100 feet of gain. She felt that wasn't too bad given a trail most of the way and agreed to the trip.

We didn't arrive in the area until about 3:30pm and started hiking around 4pm. There were 20 or so cars at the trailhead when we departed (none remained when we returned).

The initial 1.7 miles of hiking are on the Pacific Crest Trail. Here we constantly passed hikers heading back to the trailhead. The trail here is in good shape and goes through a beautiful forest. However, it crosses probably 20 small creeks coming off the steep slopes.

Eventually we found the cairn marking the climber's trail to Silver Peak. Almost immediately, we encountered snow. Not just a drift, but huge snowfields. Around this time, we encountered a hiker coming down saying he couldn't find the trail. Occasionally we would run across tread from the trail where the snow had receded, so we knew we were on route.

As we got higher, the ridge narrowed, the terrain was more open, and the ground was snow free. This is also where the trail gets steep and encounters some scree. It would be worse if there wasn't a nifty climber's trail amongst the scree.

This section got us to the base of the summit block where about 200 steep feet separated us from the summit. The views from this section were stunning and soon we were on top taking in impressive views! To the north were the rocky, snowy Cascade mountains. To the south, we could see Mount Rainier rising high above all.

Below us was Annette Lake, which I later found out was named after my good friend John Platt's grandmother (how cool is that!?).

It was unfortunate to have to leave the summit on this beautiful evening, but the shadows were creeping and we had another hour of driving to go (and the hike out).

I followed turn-by-turn navigation by putting "Silver Peak Trailhead, Pacific Crest Trail, Snoqualmie Pass, WA 98068" into Google Maps

From Seattle, drive east on I-90 and take exit 54 Hyak/Gold Cr. Turn right after you exit the ramp. Reset your odometer here. Continue straight, crossing WA 906. The road you are on turns into Hyak Dr NE. Continue on Hyak Dr NE. The pavement ends in .6 miles and the road becomes FR-9070. This section is a bit rough with some potholes but drivable with a sedan. Continue on FR-9070 for 4.7 miles for a total distance of 5.4 miles.

Parking is just past the signed Pacific Crest Trail on both sides of FR-9070.

The last 1/4 of a mile are rocky and rugged. That said, there were still a few sedans at the trailhead. Clearance isn't as big of an issue as the rugged nature of the rocks.

Take Pacific Crest Trail (#2000) heading south for 1.7 miles. Look for a cairn on the right hand side of the trail at this point. This steep climber's trail will lead you to the south ridge of Silver Peak. Follow the ridge on a steep, but obvious trail to the summit. There is one section of scrambling on this trail to get over a rocky section.