Mailbox Peak
Date: August 9, 2013
Difficulty: 9 out of 10
Distance: 5 Miles / 8 Kilometers Roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 4,000 feet / 1,219 Meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near North Bend, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry
Hiking With: Rick Massie and Macho my wonder dog

This is my second time this year I knocked of the famous thigh pounding Mailbox Peak. If you are looking for a personal challenge or conditioning training, the Mailbox Peak goo.gl/y3ANNn is the hike for you.

The new paved parking lot is open now, which is nice to be able to put on or take off your gear and not stand in gravel, dirt or mud. I don’t think most people know that the parking lot is open or even exist; people are still parking in the old dirt lot. The new 5 mile trail hasn’t opened yet, but when it does…I want to be one of the first to utilize it.

Rick and I made it up less than two hours, which is pretty good for a very hot day. Macho my dog wonder was struggling with the heat and we found him hiding in bushes at times to hide from the intense sun. I had no water left for the last hour of the hike and I was pretty dehydrated; I must have drank two quarts of water from the creek at the bottom. We decided to hydrate ourselves at our normal watering hole…North Bend Bar & Grille.