High Divide has always been a special place to me during my previous visits. When David and I began throwing trip ideas back and forth, this one quickly elevated to the top of the list, especially after learning that the flowers were still out.

David drove down to my place Friday night and we got an early Saturday morning start, arriving at the WIC as they opened. With permit secured, we were off to Soleduck.

Our permit was for Junction Camp, which is on the ridge at the junction of the Heart Basin and High Divide trails. We approached via the Soleduck. The trail has received much TLC lately, including new trail signs all the way to High Divide.

At the junction with the Appleton Pass trail, we stayed right and crossed the Soleduck River on a high log crossing with hand rail. It was an attention getter as it stems across a canyon with the river raging below, and the log was rather slick upon stepping onto it. David flashed me a smile once across, as if to echo my thoughts.

Once across the river, it was up to Soleduck Park where meadows of lupine, aster and paintbrush awaited us. The lupine actually looked early (not yet prime). I had to remind myself that is was only early September. Up high on the distant slopes we could see two bears grazing.

We marched on to Heart Lake where we watched a sow and her cub on the slopes above the lake. David stopped for some water while I continued up to set camp. Clouds banked against the south side of High Divide, providing a solid white curtain in the direction of Olympus.

Soon David arrived and we set about laying out our bivy sacks and eating lunch. David chose to take a short nap while I headed out to explore up the ridge to scout for photography options later. This was a bit of a challenge as I had to guess on the exact location of Olympus while figuring out compositions. I came back to camp feeling pretty good about my findings.

Around 5:30 the skies began to break. Olympus had played peak-a-boo with us a couple of times during the day for only seconds. Now all but the summit was visible. Carrie was also trying to make an appearance.

I hiked back up the ridge to my chosen spots to find none of them were in line with the mountain as I had previously thought! So the scouting began again…

While the flowers were still strong on the lower sections of the ridge, they are past and even gone on the higher exposed sections. I found a couple of exceptions.

David soon joined me for sunset. It was a pretty exciting show.

We descended back to camp pretty happy that we hadn’t been cheated out of the sunset. I had some dinner and then we called it a night. No sooner did we settle in to our bivy sacks did the wind pick up. It began gusting pretty good.

The next morning we beat it back up the ridge for sunrise. Then it was time to pack up camp and head out. We decided to hike out via the Bogacheil, completing the loop. Of course, a side trip into 7 Lakes Basin and a quick hike up Bogacheil Peak were also mandatory.

Along the ridge I saw quite the memorable sight – a single avalanche lily surrounded by lupine, with red huckleberry leaves nearby. What was wrong with this picture?

The wind continued to blow along the ridge. We escaped it momentarily during our descent down to 7 Lakes Basin, but it greeted us upon our return to the ridge. Upon arriving on top of Bogacheil Peak, I heard a strange sound and turned to see my permit flying like a kite to distances unknown. The wind ripped it right off my pack. Oops!

Flowers were out in force on the back side of Bogacheil and continued well beyond the 7 Lakes Basin junction. It was quite a show.

The rest of our descent was pretty uneventful. We arrived back at the truck at 1:30, well satisfied with our weekend choice of destinations.

Hiked the High Divide trail via the Deer Lake Trail and then hiked out via the Sol Duc River Trail. Did this hike as a day-hike even though it would've been nice to pitch a tent somewhere in Seven Lakes Basin and watch a sunset and sunrise from the High Divide over the Hoh River valley. The views of Mt. Olympus from the High Divide trail are one of best vantage points in the Olympics in my opinion. Hiked to the top of Bogachiel Peak which also had nice views of the Seven Lakes Basin. Lots of mosquitoes on the summit of Bogachiel right now. The Deer Lake and High Divide trails where both in great shape with no problems. The Sol Duc River trail is in good shape as well with the exception of some muddy patches on the trail and a couple of broken footlog bridges, neither one of which being a real problem. Someone has done a great job clearing all the downed trees along this 18 mile long series of trails.

The skies were cloudy when I hit the trail about 6:15 AM on my annual day hike around the Seven Lakes/ High Divide to celebrate my birthday. By the time I reached Deer Lake the clouds had dispersed and the sky a beautiful blue.I saw no bears but there was a herd of about 50 elk bedded down the head water area of the Bogachiel.

By the time I reached the High Divide the thermometer had climbed to 85 degrees (with high humidity), which was way too warm for this old-timer. There is very little snow on the trail and what was there is easily navigated or by-passed. By the time I got to the ridge above Heart Lake there was thunder and lightening to the south and traveling north in a hurry -which gave me added adrenaline to start booking. About the time I got to the Appleton Pass trail head it was getting closer. About three miles from the main trail by the falls there was a blast of thunder that almost shook my teeth. Fortunately, there were only a few showers and no rain and no more thunder and lightening.

The wild flowers were out in full force, far more than I have ever seen in this area. Unfortunately, the bugs were in record numbers, too. Several people who had hiked the route many times said that they were the worst they had ever encountered in the area.

All on all, the eleven hours on the trail was a fun way (though very tiring) to celebrate my 67th year on this great earth.............I hope to do it at least three more times.

Our party of five left at the Sol Duc falls / Deer Lake trail on May 23rd intending to pass Deer Lake and camp at Lunch Lake on the first night. A park ranger suggested avoiding the South side of Bogachiel because of heavy snow and wet slide potential. We planned to drop into the Seven Lakes Basin north of Bogachiel and regain the High Divide on the East side of Bogachiel on the second day, then hike out Appleton Pass and into the Olympic hot springs.

Snow began around 2,500 feet elevation with a few unstable snow bridges over stream crossings on the way to Deer Lake. Ours was the first visible boot pack and we lost the trail a few times. After crossing the bridge at Deer Lake, which was nicely melted out and made a great lunch spot, we continued up the adjacent drainage to the East of Deer Lake, hoping to cross a moderate pass and drop into the basin early. This drainage, however, has two top-outs and we chose the wrong one. Heading over the one further South, we ended up on the ridge leading to Bogachiel (north of it) and descended improperly down the Southwest side. Our intended rising traverse of the Northern slopes of the High Divide was actually a steep climb back to the same ridge Southeast of Deer Lake. When we saw Deer Lake we knew something was wrong, and had to abandon our original plan. We descended down large snow fields (fairly sun affected but stable enough) and back to Deer Lake, where a number of day hikers were hanging out.

The trail to Deer Lake should be fine for most people, with the obvious hazards of melting snow bridges and steep areas above the ravine where a fall would be catastrophic. Bring some trekking poles and don't wear sneakers. The boot pack is solid, but could be icy.

We passed a few people on 5/25 who were heading up for the whole SLB loop. It's probably fine aside from wet slide dangers around Bogachiel. An axe seems like a great idea but crampons are likely superfluous.