Washington was experiencing one of its winter high pressure systems bringing with it sunny skies, calm air, and mild temperatures. Fortunately, the high pressure system bridged a weekend, so I joined my friends Matt and Carla from Seattle on a climb to the top of Revolution Peak. Revolution Peak is just outside North Bend, above the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River and quite visible from I-90. Revolution is a full day adventure during the winter involving hiking, snowshoeing, and maybe even some scrambling. The trip covers a large distance and gains lots of altitude, a good full day objective, especially for the short winter days of Washington.

We left the Granite Creek trailhead (900 ft) at 8:15am, and for the first hour enjoyed a parklike hike up the new trail. At around 3,500 feet, there was enough snow on the trail to put on snowshoes (it had been a pretty meager snow year, so I suspect the snow would usually be further down in January). The meager snow made for quick travel, and we made good time to Thompson Point (5,124 ft). From here, it was 55 more minutes along a narrow ridge to the summit of Revolution Peak (5,454 ft), involving one steep section that looked more intimidating than it actually was. We snapped a few summit photos and then headed down. It was already almost 1 pm and wanted to get out before dark. The hike out went quick, and we reached the car around 4 pm, and were already nearing Seattle before darkness settled in.

I was disappointed to discover that the cabin was no longer standing at Thompson Point. I don't know much about the history of the cabin (i.e. when it was built, who owned it, what it was used for, etc.) but there's a few photos of it on this nwhikers trip report from March 2018. I wondered why it was torn down, so I did a bit of online digging and came across the following information, written by a user named puzzlr (who I know as Monty) in the comments on a December 2018 trip report on nwhikers.com (this trip report has much more wintery conditions than we had): "The cabin was removed by the DNR on October 24, 2018. The property was purchased by Forterra in 2016 and then transferred to the DNR. Per a conversation with the local DNR office there are regulations about structures inside NRCA boundaries and keeping the cabin wasn't an option. They got an estimate for hauling it all out but that was too expensive and they aren't allowed to burn structures on this category of property. During interactions about the Fairy Cabin they learned the FBI was willing to practice their bunker busting techniques and blow up the cabin. After the explosion tons of debris was hauled down via helicopters and taken to the dump by Wade Holden's Friends Of The Trail group."