Information about this hike provided in partnership with Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Craig Romano/The Mountaineers Books

Sunnybrook Meadows

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Featured In: Day Hiking: Olympic Peninsula, by Craig Romano.
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Hike to the lonely high divide between two of the Olympic Mountains' tallest sentinels, Mounts Constance and Mystery. Watch the entire deep emerald Dosewallips Valley unravel before you. And mountains! Towering crags of snow and ice: The Brothers, Anderson, Elk Lick, Diamond, and LaCrosse pack the southern horizon. At your feet, daz-zling displays of wildflowers grace sun-kissed slopes. It's a stiff climb to Sunnybrook Meadows, but the expansive views and sprawling meadows are sure to brighten your day.

Consider the first 2.5 miles of this hike a warm-up. Starting on the well-groomed Dosewallips Trail, enjoy easy walking through cool forest. At 1.4 miles bear right at a junction (signed "Hayden Pass"). Pass Soda Springs and, if lucky, observe salt-craving deer relishing the seeps. Soon afterward, Sunny Brook is crossed in a deep dark glen, a far cry from its solar-enriched upper reaches.

At 2.5 miles leave behind this gentle hiking and the Dosewallips River Trail for the Constance Pass Trail (elev. 2200 ft). This lightly used but well-defined trail takes off through salal-choked forest up a steep rib via a series of short switchbacks. The forest is dry, with many openings in the canopy providing impressive window views stoking you for the grand payoff.

Pass through a rhody jungle where, at about 3600 feet, a reliable spring bubbles from the ground (the only water until the meadows). The climb now stiffens through a hot rocky corridor. But stands of mature mountain hemlock soon bring shaded relief. After 2.5 miles of relentless climbing the trail breaks out into a wet meadow (elev. 4900 ft). In another 0.1 mile a tumbling brook lined with yellow monkey flowers invites sipping and face-splashing.

The trail rounds a high basin cut by a myriad of tributaries that collectively become Sunny Brook. As the trail darts between

subalpine forest and expanding meadows, the views grow. To the south over the verdant Dosewallips Valley, snowfields clinging to The Brothers and Elk Lick Mountain shimmer in the afternoon sun. Keep climbing-it gets better. Through thick greenery splattered with a mosaic of colors, work your way up to a tiny little tarn (elev. 5500 ft). Watering hole for resident marmots, breeding ground for resident mosquitoes, and feeding ground for resident frogs, it's a beautiful oasis tucked beneath a barren ridge.

Just to the south find a small rise offering sweeping views to the south. Look straight across to Anderson Pass flanked by glacier-harboring Mounts Anderson and LaCrosse. Look west toward Hayden Pass. Look all around and savor the solitude.

Driving Directions:

From Quilcene follow US 101 south 11 miles to Brinnon, 1 mile north of Dosewallips State Park. (From Shelton drive US 101 north for 41 miles.) Turn right (west) on Dosewallips Road and drive 15 miles to its end at a campground and ranger station. Note: A series of washouts has closed the Dosewallips Road 8.7 miles from Brinnon. The road may or may not reopen. Without this road, an additional 12.6-mile hiking or bicycling round trip is required to access the trailhead.