Greenway Mountain and Machu Picchu
- Lucas Peterson
- Nov 19, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
11/19/2025
Jim and I did a fun loop in the local hills, taking advantage of a sunny day in November before the winter snow began in earnest.
We began in the Olallie State Park picnic area parking lot and took the Hall Creek trail for a quarter mile, before making the short, steep climb up to join the Hall Creek trestle and the Palouse to Cascades Trail. Jim was actually involved with the restoration of the trestle in 1999 following a washout in the 80s, which was fun to hear about. I am thankful the repairs were made!
We traveled for a short while westward on the rail trail before heading back into the woods at the unmarked trail that leads up to Olallie Knob and Hall Point. This path switchbacks up steeply and is remarkably well-defined and constructed for an unofficial trail.
We continued climbing and reached Peak 4264 (aka Songbird Peak), which is situated approximately 2800 feet above the rail trail. There were some surprisingly fun scrambling sections in this area and several cool looking rock formations. This ridgeline slips under the radar of many Seattle area-hikers, but I’d recommend it for those looking for something out of the way, with a bit more challenge than some of the typical established I-90 trails.
Beyond this, we pressed on to Greenway Mountain. More road walking brought us up near the summit area. Good views were had down to the Chester Morse Reservoir, but when we set our sights on the true summit, we found it to be guarded by steep embankments on all sides. We snooped around for a bit, and found what looked to us like the most pleasant way up, but we were still forced to pull ourselves up by branches in places. After only 10 or fifteen feet of this, the slope angle eased and there were no more difficulties in reaching the summit.
The summit had peek-a-boo views of Mount Rainier and the peaks along the I-90 corridor. We joked that I might be one of the only people to have climbed Greenway Mountain twice
We were convinced that there was a better way down the steep rubble embankment and decided to check out the western slope. This side had gotten significantly less sun, and the vegetation was coated in frost. We picked our way down, eventually resorting to tossing our trekking poles down and using the slick, icy branches to lower ourselves down the steepest bits. It’s a toss-up whether this way was any better, so pick your poison!
To continue our loop, we retraced our steps back to Songbird Peak and down another 400 feet before taking an old logging road east. This road contoured along a concave fold in the mountain for about 2/3rds of a mile before we came to our next point of interest – Machu Picchu.
It’s debatable whether this feature looks anything at all like the real Machu Picchu in Peru (although I have looked up at it while driving on I-90 and have seen a passing resemblance if I squint), but regardless it was a fun little side quest.
Jim had recently climbed it, so I dashed off alone to make the few short scramble moves to the summit. All in all, it took me about 5 minutes round trip, but it was worth it to tag a new peak.
Beyond Machu Picchu we left the road trail after another 0.8 miles and descended steeply toward Hall Creek. We made a careful crossing of the creek itself and then continued down to rejoin the Palouse to Cascades trail at the trestle. I was once again impressed by the construction of the Hall Creek trail, despite its unofficial status.
We cruised into the parking lot shortly after, very content with our creative loop and 10 mile day.
Final Stats: 10 miles / 3447 feet of gain
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