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Introduction I just got back from a glorious week with LadyHiker, Hodgeman, Trailflower and BlindBob in Olympic National Park. We had planned on going to the Goat Rock Wilderness, but Washington had a heavy winter that didn’t melt fast. So we switched our plans to Olympic a while back and it didn’t disappoint. I flew into Portland on Saturday. LadyHiker and BlindBob picked me up and we started the trip to Port Angeles. Of course I was greeted with nice northwesterly weather, a little right. We got to Olympic NP around 6pm and started the drive to Hurricane Ridge to see the views. No go. It was all fogged in. So we went back into town for a rest. A quick tip, Port Angeles hotels fill up on summer weekends. After a few phone calls around we found “the hotel that fills up last” as one person put it, the Red Ranch Inn in Sequim. I won’t expand on the evening and just let your imagination fill in what a night at “the hotel that fills up last” is like. |
Sunday, August 10th - So bright and early the Sunday morning we head up to Hurricane Ridge again to see the views. Again, fogged in. By this time, LadyHiker is starting to teach this southerner about all the different types of northwestern fog. We head off to the Deer Park trailhead to meet Hodgeman and Trailflower. 16 miles up a forest service road and once again, we are in the fog. And this time, the fog starts to spit on us. The Canadians show up and we start our 4 mile, 3,500 feet descent towards Three Forks campsite. The way down was nice and crisp, which made hiking nice. But again, we were hiking through fog. We make it down the hill and spend the night at Gray Wolf camp. Most of the campsites in the Olympics are nice. Some have pit toilets and a few have bear wires. So there wasn’t much to complain about. Monday, August 11th - On Monday morning we started hiking up Gray Wolf creek to Falls Camp. The hike was nice. It was under really tall fir trees. So it was a pleasant hike. We make Falls Camp a little after lunch and begin our rest time. The only downer at this point is that I have spent 3 days in the Olympics and I still haven’t seen any mountains because of the fog and trees. But that soon changes. |
| Tuesday, August 12th - Tuesday we decided to go up to Cedar Lake.
This trail included what Hodgeman called Canadian switchbacks. They could
easily be southern US switchbacks also, meaning that they don’t switch
back until you get to the top of hill. These things go straight up.
Everyone use to nice gradual Sierra switchbacks can get a rude awakening
on these things. The trail to Cedar Lake is a use trail. It was fairly
used but a little overgrown in a few places. Cedar Lake was really nice.
It is nestled right above tree line and under a pass. On the way up is
when we started noticing that the late winter meant that all the wild
flowers were just now blooming. And I mean they were all blooming at the
same time. The colors were awesome.
After a quick stop at Cedar Lake, we went cross country over the Cedar Lake pass, into the Gray Wolf drainage and up the last mile of the Gray Wolf trail over Gray Wolf Pass. We had hoped to camp near the pass, but there wasn’t a good spot and there was no water. So down 3 miles and 3,000 feet we went. The trip down was in a little rain, but that didn’t matter because we went through a ton of meadows full of flowers. We finally got the bottom and camped at the first available place we could find. It was high concentration tent zoning for the night. But it was a long day so no one really cared. |
| Wednesday, August 13th - We thought about adjusting our itinerary because
we were farther along than we had planned. But instead we decided to take
it easy. So after spending the night near the Dosewallips and Gray Wolf
junction, we strolled a leisurely 4 miles to Dose Meadows. Dose Meadows
was great. The sun came out and we sat in a meadow of flowers all
afternoon. Everybody got clean and dry and just rested. That night we saw
a bear up on the hillside near dusk. He stayed away, but I think we all
put a few more scented items in our food bags that night.
Thursday, August 14th - Thursday we went up Lost Pass. This was 0.9 miles and about 1,500 feet, but well worth it. The top of the pass was full of flowers and we could see into Thousand Acre Meadows, Hayden Pass and Mount Olympus. Plus, we saw another bear up on the hillside. After resting we continued up to Cameron Pass. Two guys at the top of the pass convinced us to climb up a 300 feet knob beside the pass for a better view. That was definitely worth it. From the top you could see Mount Olympus, Mount Baker, Mount Rainier and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. What a view! We descended into the top of Cameron Basin and camped. It was a great camp, but for the first time mosquitoes decided to join us for dinner. |
| Friday, August 15th - Friday was supposed to be a simple 9 mile
downhill hike to Three Forks. Don’t trust the map. It was more like 9
miles of constant up and down while hiking alongside Cameron Creek. We
eventually got to Three Forks in the middle of the afternoon. Three Forks
is a good camp with a shelter and a nice campfire area. Plus, it is at the
bottom of the trail leading to Deer Park.
Saturday, August 16th - After a good night’s sleep we began the slog up 4 miles and 3,500 feet to the trailhead. This time, the skies were clear it began to get a little hot. But, we could actually see into both the Gray Wolf creek drainage and the Cameron Creek drainage and see Cameron Pass. We all powered up the hill in faster times than expected. It was a great trip. We spent 6 nights on the trail. The mileages on paper seemed short, but it turned out perfectly. There is no flat in the Olympics. If you go uphill one day, then you are going to do that much downhill the next, then uphill the same amount the next day, and then downhill the same amount, you get the idea. The area was a lot more rugged than we all expected. The wildflowers were a great surprise and would probably be hard to duplicate without another harsh winter.
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Olympic Mtns 2008 
