My buddy and I had decided to hike Destitution Hill because we were expecting a rainy day and figured this way we wouldn't be missing out on any views anyway. Well it ended up being a halfway decent day, and with Destitution Hill in the bag in no time we decided we would try for Lion's Mane as well. We had been staring at the impressive cliff on its west side as we drove up to the parking area and again during the hike back from Destitution Hill. We couldn't resist the urge to explore a route to the top.

From the parking area between the two peaks we took a road that curved around the north side of the mountain. From the end of the road we took the north ridge to the top, following an old overgrown road occasionally marked with rock cairns atop stumps as we made our way up onto the ridgeline. Once on the ridgeline there was a vague bootpath to follow most of the way. There was just one particularly steep section as we approached the false summit that made me wish it wasn't so muddy. All along the ridge we got views of the neighboring peaks and the North Fork Snoqualmie River. The clouds continued to open up as the day went on. From the false summit to the true summit at the south end of the ridge it was easy travel on a wide ridge top.

On the way down we found a geo cache on top of the false summit wedged in the roots of a large stump just before you descend the steepest section of the ridge. We spent some time fishing through the contents of it and signed the register before heading back down. All in all it ended up being a more eventful day than I had expected.