Green Mountain - Gold Creek Trail

Green Mountain is the Kitsap Peninsula's go-to after work destination. Whether you're mountain biking, trail running, or hiking, you can get a quick workout by hiking the Gold Creek Trail up to the summit of Green Mountain.

The Gold Creek Trail up Green Mountain heads through a working forest, so be aware that there may be closures due to logging activity. However, DNR will often provide well-marked detours, so even if they're working away, you will have somewhere to hike on this hill.

The Gold Creek trail traverses through an old logged-off area, which provides views of the summit you're headed to. After a half mile of hiking, you'll enter a shaded forest trail, that parallels Gold Creek. Cross the creek on a well-built bridge, then turn left at a junction. In just a few minutes, arrive at another junction, this one with the Plummer Trail.

Some hikers opt to hike this as a loop. You can hop on the Plummer Trail now, or find it at the summit and descend that way. If you elect to save it for later, stay right, on the Gold Creek Trail, and continue switchbacking upwards.

Gorgeous madronas and rhododendrons line your way, as well as a generous helping of salal closer to the forest floor. After a mile of this boisterous greenery, a trail junction appears that does not show on the DNR map. Take either trail, they will meet up later.

Stay right when you reach a junction signed for Green Mountain Camp -- it's an operating campground, contact DNR for more information. A quarter mile past the signed junction take the trail marked "Vista". This is the end of the Gold Creek trail but you have less than half a mile to the summit!

The parking lot you pass on the way to the top is the end of a road to the top of Green Mountain that is open in summer. That helps explain the picnic tables and restrooms found here. Past the parking lot it's a short jaunt to the very top, where a nice view of Puget Sound and Seattle can be found.

Heading back downhill, make for the junction signed for Green Mountain Camp. Take the trail you did not take on the way up, and head downhill for half a mile. Here you'll find the junction with the Plummer Trail, which is your return route.

Follow it all the way down, pausing to appreciate the incredible view of Hood Canal and the much closer Lake Tahuya. On a sunny day, this is one of the best views around.