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Trip: Mt. Jupiter - da ridge Trip Date: 07/16/2022 Trip Report: Kiba and I checked out Mt Jupiter, and it was a fine time. I had a boat ride a little while back that reminded me that I needed to get up there, the pic I took above inspired me to get off my ass. Rolled up Friday night and slept in the truck outside the locked gate. Got a few hours sleep and then couldn't get back to sleep, so we headed up at around 4am. Hike the road in the dark, we were in a cloud so it felt like rain. Visibility was pretty much zero, but I could smell the pungent odor of freshly harvested fir trees. I don't currently own a bike, so had none such modern contraption to aid my trip up and down. Anyways, that wouldn't have been fair to Kiba unless I got him a bike too. We reached the old trailhead sign which is a little worse for wear, and then headed up the trail through the reprod which was loaded from moisture from the cloud we were in and got soaked to the bone head to toe. Could have just wrung out my clothes and had enough water for the hike which has no running water the whole hike. As I expected a hot exposed hike I brought 6 liters of water, but I ended up dumping 4 liters on the summit so as to not carry it back down. Instead it is a hike up through the forest along an undulating ridge filled with rhododendrons pretty much the whole way. Was worried we would just be in the clouds the whole way, but we popped out into the blue sky at about 3500 feet, and we were treated to a view of the Brothers floating in a bed of clouds. It is a long hike up there, 10 miles from the locked gate to the summit. I pretended that Kiba and I were Buddhist monks traveling to a monastery the floating in the clouds, though I am neither a practicing Buddhist, nor a monk of any sort in real life. I can't speak for Kiba though. He was my guide, leading the charge, looking back every 15 seconds to make sure I was getting along ok. The summit seemed to be elusive, every time I checked Gaia GPS, I seemed closer, yet still just as far away as the map zoomed in. Finally we reached it and it wasn't till then that we saw the long ridge of Mt Constance floating its own bed of clouds to the north, and the Brothers floating to the south. I've visited both places in the past, so it was nice to see them and remember those trips. I could see the Finger Traverse and the final ridge to the summit boulder on Constance. Could not see any of the volcanoes at all. The Sound below was never visible the whole hike, always a bed of clouds. Just us and those peaks floating up in the clouds. Felt like a rich man dumping 4 liters of water up there, and Kiba and I drank most of the 2 liters that remained. We stayed at the summit till clouds swirled up and both the Brothers and Constance ridge disappeared into the white. The show was over for the time, so we headed back down. Back at the truck there was a note on my truck that I had been reported to the Washington State Patrol for trespassing, but nothing could kill my vibe. Kiba fell fast asleep, his work done for the day and we drove back to Southworth. I think this is a great hike and while some might call it just a foothill, the walk up through the rhodies was beautiful, and once you break out into the alpine it is simply gorgeous. I'm not sure if I will be back, but if I do I may spend the night on the summit. There is a snow field just below that could be used to boil water from. The position right there with the Brother and Constance....and seeing them float above us in the clouds, like higher monasteries.... I hope the access is sorted soon. Gear Notes: water, hope and dreams Approach Notes: trespassers beware