Trip Reports

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.

Hiked from Sol Duc trailhead to Bogachiel peak, past Deer Lake.

Snows begins in earnest once divide above Bogachiel drainage is reached, and topped 6-12"" in the approach to Bogachiel Peak. Puddly trails at lower elevations. Wind, icy rain, winter temperatures at higher elevations.

Just back from a 5 day, 36 mile trip from Hoh River Visitor Center Trailhead along Hoh River Trail, up to the High Divide, down to Sol Duc, back up to Appleton Pass, then out through Olympic Hot Springs Trailhead. We saw a band of elk and a deer at the Hoh River Visitor Center camp.

The walk on Monday from the Visitor Center along the Hoh River to the Olympic Ranger Station was beautiful and an easy 9 miles, even with the heavy packs. My mother walked the first 4 miles with us, carrying lunch, and then headed back after we passed the second campsites. We spent the night on the sand bar (ranger's suggestion: more wind; fewer bugs!). I'm an idiot and lost a pair of women's Chacos on the sandbar (forgot to make sure they were attached to my pack before heading off)!

Before heading off, everyone warned us that the climb from Hoh River to Hoh Lake would be killer, but boy, were they right. Tuesday evening my brother was ill with impending bronchitis, so we wimped out at C.B. Flats and camped for the night, finishing the climb to Heart Lake the next day. Luckily this was provisioned for in the trip plan, since we had hoped to walk the Cat Basin Primitive Trail on Wednesday. It was so foggy that day, though, that it's really just as well we did not attempt it. We chased a few grouse up the trail for a switchback or two.

C.B. Flats was just going into bloom and was beautiful, and very, very wet. We found a site under some trees across the trail from the group site, and were thankful for our bear cans!

The climb to the High Divide was still tough in the morning. Hoh Lake was damp but not raining, very cold. We saw several marmots along the top of the trail near the High Divide. No snow left on the trail along the High Divide (ok, one tiny 5ft wide patch). No berries ripe yet, everything was just blooming, we wished we were coming back in two weeks!!

Heart Lake was freezing cold (literally: there was frost when I woke up on Thursday morning). We saw a herd of elk, two bears, and a family of mountain goats from our camp at Heart Lake. The elk and bears were across the valley on the other hillside. A family of grouse walked straight through camp as we were setting up.

On Thursday, the descent from Heart Lake to Appleton Pass junction was fast, but watch your step, those rocks don't stay put! Had to get creative to cross the creek at Deer Park Campground, and oh my lord the mosquitos there are enough to drive an elephant away.

Our Thursday afternoon climb up to Appleton Pass was easy, but the trail was starting to disappear under the plant life... this doesn't seem to be nearly as popular a trail as the 7 Lakes Basin trails. We arrived at the Pass viewpoint and picked a campsite, gathered water and chatted with the group who scored the awesome (unsigned) campsite next to Oyster Lake. I found it amusing that the Appleton Pass signpost indicates bearwires, but makes no mention of the only source of water for miles... we stumbled on it on a hunch! Lots of deer in camp this night.

Friday morning was our first really sunny day, and we woke at 6:30 and hiked back to the pass viewpoint to get a good look at Mt. Olympus before heading down. Just about 500 ft down the switchbacks we spotted two more bears on the slide near Oyster Lake.

From the switchbacks down to the bridge at Boulder Creek, the trail got really bad. We nearly lost it a few times in the high meadow, had a fun time climbing across a few full streams, and clambered over at least 10 large downed trees completely across the trail in several places. Looks like the trail crew hasn't made it up there at all yet this year, and the damage was pretty bad. We never had to take packs off, but beware you may need extra time to negotiate a few of these obstacles.

Made it to Olympic Hot Springs at about 2pm, where we sat and soaked in a great pool before packing it all up and walking out to the trailhead to meet our ride. All in all a great trip!!

Took a day hike to the High Divide via Sol Duc and Deer lake. Goal of hike was to see Mount Olympus and maybe some wildlife. We were told at the Sol Duc trail head that several bears were seen in the seven lakes basin and near the High Divide...we were not disappointed! First <mile of the trail is a freeway to the Sol Duc falls and then at the turn toward Deer lake, it turns into a true northwest rock and root trail..but in very good condition to the Divide. Deer lake was suprisingly beautiful, trees starting to change colors and hillsides above lake starting to show their red colors. From the lake to Seven Lakes turnoff, hillsides aflame in colors and berries, getting old, but still caused us to slow down-umm. Where are the berry-eating bears?? We met some backpackers coming down from the Divide that said there was a Mom and baby playing in a pond below the Divide so we went into overdrive. Of course when we got there, the bears were gone from the pond ...but we then heard rocks falling on the hillside and looked over to see the bears walking slowly away from us, stopping every 20 feet and looking back at us...less than a football field away! We watched for about 10 minutes until they disappeared around the mountain. We didn't go to the top of Bogachiel peak but decided to take the Hoh lake trail from the divide for a while - maybe we could see the bears again on the other side of the mountain. The Hoh lake trail has spectacular views across the Hoh valley and up to Mount Olympus. We stopped after a mile and had lunch - always looking to see if the bears might walk around the mountain to where we sat. Then there was rustling in the berry bushes below us near a small pond and a huge bear appeared below us...maybe dad? He walked into the pond, took a drink, and sat in the pond. We watched him roll around for 15 minutes, we ate our lunch, and when he decided to start up the hill toward us, we decided it was time to return to Sol Duc ! What a hike, 16 miles round trip, 8 hours in and out, spectacular weather, and we saw 3 bears and many deer! Not like hiking in the Cascades where I rarely see any wildlife. I think I may be spending more time in the Olympics!

Not a cloud in the sky for five days straight! We had gorgeous warm fall weather for the High Divide loop. So warm that my husband was able to swim in the lakes every day. I'm thinking that we got verrrry lucky.

Because we were carrying a third person with us (in my growing belly), we took the trail very easy over 5 days. I highly suggest this laid back route. I saw so much more than the last time I hiked it in 3 days. We started up the Sol Duc River on our first afternoon and stayed at a lovely river side camp (#2) that had a bear cable. The next day we hiked the ~2100 ft up to Heart Lake. The trail is so well graded that the elevation was pretty easy to gain, especially with our frequent breaks. Heart Lake is not very big and pretty shallow which made it warm enough for me to enjoy swimming with minimal yelping. :) The bugs at this camp were moderate which surprised me for the time of year - we never used bug juice, but were swatting the skeeters at a pretty good pace. The breeze was a welcome relief. The next day we hiked up to the divide and hiked along the ""catwalk"" with awesome views of Olympus and the Bailey Range. Because we only hiked 4ish miles each day, we were able to hang out in the prettiest spots and really soak in the views and enjoy the journey. We spotted a mama bear and her cub about 100 ft off of the trail and watched them mosey about for awhile - super cool. The knee-jarring hike down to Lunch Lake was made bearable for me by the most amazing tasting huckleberries I've ever had. I'm convinced that the low lying berries are better tasting than the tall ones! Lunch Lake was very scenic and very chilly (my husband still swam twice though!). Bugs were better here but still present. Our final camp was at Deer Lake, back in the trees again after two days up in the alpine zone. A nice place to camp, lots of deer, very few bugs. As we hiked back out to the trailhead, we passed a gazillion people on their way up or just dayhiking. By the time we got to Sol Duc Falls, we both felt like we were back in civilization.

My husband said the biggest surprise of the trail was the crowds. It is such a beautiful and accessible trail that many people love it. Be prepared for company!

And to those soon-to-be mamas out there, backpacking while 6-months pregnant was way easier than I thought it would be. Having a strong and willing husband to carry extra weight is probably key. :) The only major thing we did different was boil my drinking water as an extra precaution beyond filtering. Lots of rest breaks, extra food and pillows, and easy daily goals made it a totally enjoyable backcountry experience.

Oh yeah, as we got back to the car they were flying out the privies from all of the backcountry camps and replacing them with new ones. As in replacing the WHOLE privy building. A pretty funny sight to see flying overhead. I'm sure that the news ones have to be better than the old ones, which left a lot to be desired!

So, now I know why this area of the park is SO popular! WOW! Perhaps, I will spare readers the gushing about scenery and just give the trail information. It may be hard, so here goes...

Mike and I hiked up the Sol Duc to Sol Duc Park Camp in just under 4 hours. Trail in great shape. No problems to report. Blueberries/huckleberries starting to come in. Munched on some salmonberries on the way in. Flowers in meadows at Sol Duc Park still nice. I thought they'd be mostly gone...not the case. Lupine, tiger lily, valerian, paintbrush, arnica and others were still doin' fine. Having arrived to camp in early afternoon, we decided to hike up toward Cat Peak as far as we could before our stomachs spoke loud enough to turn us campward for dinner. Fog was rolling up from the Hoh nicely, in typical fashion, and had us socked-in for most of the time. Huckleberries are beginning to ripen, so (obviously) we encountered a black bear on the divide, near a campsite, and it didn't seem to care at all that we were 25 feet away. We yelled loudly and waved arms, as he/she chewed berries and just stared...seemingly uninterested. That was actually Bear Number Two; Bear Number One was spotted on the slopes above Heart Lake.

After a nice night at camp, we rose late the next day and headed back up with full packs to the High Divide Trail, this time with much nicer visibility. Saw adult and young mountain goat just below Heart Lake. Mt. Carrie and Baileys, along with Olympus and Mt. Tom, out in spectacular splendor! Amazing! Definitely one of the most supreme views in Washington. (O.K., I tried...but, it is truly difficult to write a report and NOT gush about the amazing scenery of the High Divide. There...I said it. So, on with the report...)

Trail snow-free and in good shape along divide. We lucked out this day as the fog never really settled in the Hoh and the views persisted into late afternoon. Looking down on Seven Lakes Basin is a treat, as the landscape is lunar-like...you feel much higher than you really are as you gaze down on the glacier-scoured land. Lunched with an adult Olympic marmot (with young on back--too cute!) overlooking the basin. Bugs were bad. Continued on to junction with Hoh Trail and trail to Seven Lakes, where we looked down upon a Roosevelt elk herd bedded down in a green meadow in the Bogachiel headwaters. They seemed so content.

Since we didn't get a permit for Seven Lakes, we camped at Hoh Lake and what a winner it was! On the trail down to the lake, we saw Bear Number Three in berry-mode with head to ground and an audience of teenagers. We dropped down into the Hoh Lake basin and found Bear Number Four and Number Five feeding on the berry-covered slopes above the lake. (Can I just say that this is more bears than I have ever seen in my total time spent in the backcountry of Tennessee, Montana, Wyoming and Washington?)

So after finding a campsite at the lake, the sun was heating up the basin nicely and Mike and I decided it was time for a swim...we were pretty smelly. The water was fantastic and two other backpackers joined us. As we swam, we watched a bald eagle soar overhead and taunt a marmot on the slopes above the lake. The marmot cried for 20 minutes solid as the eagle perched above in a high tree. The stand-off ended with the marmot quieting down and the eagle casually soaring on to other heights. Eventually, further up-slope, Bear Number Six appeared with head to ground. Amazing! All these sightings really drove home the point of just how important those berries are to bears this time of year. After dinner and watching the alpenglow on Mt. Olympus, we retired only to be awakened by a black-tail buck trying to lick our salty packs...repeatedly. He finally got enough and moved on, leaving us to sleep. The next morning, on the peak just west of camp, I spotted yet another bear, Bear Number Seven, grazing on a green slope above the Hoh Valley. Bears, Bears...everywhere!

Our trip out on Sunday was uneventful; no more bears. I will note that the flowers between the Hoh Trail junction and the Seven Lakes Basin Trail were splendid; diverse species and quite possibly near their peak in that little stretch--some of the most vibrant red paintbrush I have ever seen! We also caught up with a group of five NOLS participants who were on their 26th of 30 days in the Olympic backcountry. They were all in good spirits. One guy in the group reported seeing a cougar mid-way through their trip. Passing serene Deer Lake, we began to quicken our steps as we were on the home stretch. I wasn't ready for the rocky tread. This part of the trail is quite rocky and makes a jarring trip down; wear sturdy shoes for this one.

All in all, our circuitous, two-night trip up the Sol Duc and along the High Divide, with a side trip out toward Cat Peak and down to Hoh Lake, totalled more than 28 miles. We had perfect weather, incredible wildlife sightings, tasty berries and met some really nice fellow backpackers. I always knew Olympic National Park was special, but this trip really sealed it for me...truly a magnificent place whose beauty and diversity was thoughtfully preserved just in the nick of time. I am still in awe.

Loop trail from Sol Duc Hotsprings Resort along Sol Duc River up to Heart Lake, across the High Divide Trail to Lunch Lake, then down via Deer Lake trail. Roughly 24 miles RT. We left late the first day, only hiked 3 miles to Sol Duc River Campsite #2 (upon further inspection, absolutely the best option of the 4 available). Up early the next morning for a 14 mile hike around to Lunch Lake. Sol Duc Campsite was packed with wildflowers and mosquitos. We should have camped at Heart Lake, it was incredibly beautiful and worth the steep climb in the hot sun. We rested there and watched a family of mountain goats wander through another camper's site.

From Heart Lake up, up , up to the High Divide trail, a total of about 2000ft elevation gain in only a few miles. On our left was entirely foggy, but to the right we could look down into Seven Lakes Basin and it looked like characters from Tolkein were going to walk past at any moment. Spotted a bear and her cub, two marmots, and some deer all very near the trail.

On our way we met two men hiking the entire loop in a day: it was 3pm and they still had over 14 miles to go, and they had just a liter of water and a small backpack, no jackets. We checked on their flashlights before letting them pass us.

Camped at Lunch Lake -- 600ft drop in .5 miles, switchback stairs, ouch. Definetly not fun the next morning. We were attacked by mosquitos: do NOT camp here if you can avoid it. Bear wire was very far from the campsite, campsites were crowded together. View wasn't worth the descent.

From Lunch Lake back up and around, down some steep switchbacks to Deer Lake camp and the 4 miles back to the Sol Duc trailhead. This section was crowded with dayhikers from the hotsprings: steep and overused trail was very rocky and slippery, we had to tread carefully on tired legs. Passed an entire girlscout troup singing 80s rock songs.

The hike was absolutely beautiful, the views and weather were amazing, the wildflowers and huckleberries were just astounding: absolutely worth the trek!!

We spent a beautiful day exploring Seven Lakes Basin. The colors were marvelous, and except for a party of 3 backpackers coming down the trail below Bogachiel Peak, we didn't see anyone all day. The trail was in great condition; no snow, no bugs; a little water on the trail in spots. Lunch Lake was inviting and we were tempted to take a dip. No bears but it was amazing to have such a popular place all to ourselves. Only partial views of Mt. Olympus from High Divide due to clouds.

Kent and I set out to do the entire loop from the Sol Duc parking lot, up to Deer Lake, through the seven lakes, along high divide, through sol duc parc and back along the sol duc river (app. 18.75 miles)... We arrived at the parking lot at 8:30 and were on the trail by 9AM... The trail up to Deer Lake was in great condition and we flew up in just over an hour. From Deer Lake you could tell the berry bushes were turning bright red/orange and there were lots of berries left on the bushes. The trek up to the ridge above Deer Lake was quick and we saw a few overnight hikers heading out. We made it to the south side of the ridge and the views of Olympus and the Bogachiel (sp?) river basin were amazing. We passed the Seven Lakes basin trail and decided to go around Bogachiel and up to the top. When we made it to the intersection w/ Hoh Lake we noticed a good size black bear below us enjoy a dip in a small tarn. Truly amazing to see the bear playing in the water and oblivous to us being there. The trek up to high divide was quick and we stopped for lunch w/ a great view of Olympus on one side and the Seven Lakes on the other (while a near by marmot stopped by to check us out)... We left from lunch at 12:40 and trekked along the High Divide almost tripping over ever rock and tree root because the views were so amazing. We came across a group of 3 backpackers and they said there were two bears and one goat near Harts Lake... We turned on the juice and headed for the lake but were never able to pick out the bears or goat. At this point the trail was all ours... We didn't see anyone heading to Cat's Basin/Peak or anyone down in Sol Duc Park. The journey took us down into Sol Duc park and we said good bye to the grand views and headed for the enclosed shade of the forest. Once back across the Sol Duc river I changed into running shoes and we enjoyed a few miles of easy running to help stretch out the legs from all the hiking... The trail along the Sol Duc was amazing but at this point we were looking forward to sitting so we pushed the pace harder and made our way out by 4:30... on the road by 5PM.... a great day of hiking, views, wildlife and conversation... No bugs, weather was great, berries are out and changing color, and it is nearly time for the first snow of the year... ;)

Some friends of ours wanted to do the High Divide loop, so we agreed to join them. We did this loop 4 years ago, with our kids then aged 3 and 7. Now, at ages 7 and 11, the trip seemed completely new to them.

Day 1 was spent hiking up the Sol Duc river, and then to Heart Lake. Four years ago this had taken us three days with the little 3 year old hiker. This time our kids found it fairly easy to do in one day. We were slowed down by blueberries in the last mile. Our friends arrived just after dusk as usual.

The next day we awoke to find a family of 4 goats in camp, named Lancelot, Guinevere, Mordred and Galahad. We then day hiked south along the High Divide, to see whether an attempt at Cat peak would be feasible. We turned around after doing most of the sidehill of Cat peak, do to the lateness of the hour and our judgement that more than 6 hours of hiking would be too much for our 7 year old. The traverse is exciting, with open views over the Hoh Valley to Olympus and thousands of feet of sixty to seventy degree slope below a narrow trail. On our return we found a bear grazing the slopes above Heart Lake.

Day 3 we hiked to Lunch Lake. The fishing seemed poor, so I went with my 7 year old down to Round Lake to try our luck. We quickly hauled in several small Brook Trout. Remembering the ranger's admonition not to throw back any (unwanted invasive exotic) Brookies, and also how easy small fish are to clean, cook, and eat, we kept them for dinner. Near the outlet my son thought he had snagged a log, but instead pulled in an enormous Brook Trout, more than twice the size of any mountain trout I had ever seen before. Must have been nearly 2 feet long. That monster, which had to be cut into pieces to cook, plus the small ones made a pretty good start on a five course dinner.

The fourth day was cool, in the 40's, and intermitently drizzly. We wandered down to Long Lake where we caught a small Brook Trout for lunch, and then back over into the upper basin, which looks like Alaskan tundra. We wondered why the whitish-green blooming heather bloomed in large circles, and who was going to eat the incredible abundance of blueberries. One of our party startled and was startled by a bear above Morganroth Lake.

The last morning was frosty but the sun was back. Even at 37 degrees, it felt warm enough for a swim, and to put on shorts for the hike out. The last few miles of trail were incredibly crowded with day hikers.

Final surprise--a 10 minute ferry wait on Labor Day!

Wildlife--lots of tame deer, marmots, goats, bear, chipmunks, ptarmigan, frogs, salamanders, juncos, hawks. Hardly any mosquitos except along the Sol Duc river, and no biting flies.

We camped our first night at Deer Lake,leaving the next AM for Round Lake where we stayed 3 nights, doing day hikes from there. After setting up camp we hiked to Bogachiel Peak and then back to Round Lake through Y Lake Basin. Fall colors had started and were very beautiful. The second day we hiked to Hoh Lake and had clear skies and views of Mt Olympus. The third day we hiked from Round Lake to Sol Duc Lake, then to Clear Lake and Long Lake. Sunday we headed for Sol Duc Park to spend our last night. The High Divide was foggy with off and on light drizzle, so we will have to return again for the views! This was our first time to this area and we are eager to return to explore the ares we didn't see this trip!

Walked in to Sol Duc Park campsite on Sunday afternoon on a beautiful trail through deep forest. It was very hot, and the bugs were just bad enough to preclude rest stops. There must have been 50 people coming out, from large groups of exhausted teens to a number of one-day walkers of the loop, moving fast. The signs do not quite match the Green Trails map, with ""Seven Mile Camp"" located approximately at the sign for ""Group Camps"" and not seven miles in; but then suddenly you find yourself at Sol Duc Park, at 8 miles. Casey, the nice ranger from New Hampshire, sweetly told me I shouldn't dump coffee grounds in the bushes or leave my food even to get water from the stream; bear wires are welcome, however.

Sunday night's rain left the cloud level just above camp, which made for much cooler hiking. The clouds boiling up from the Hoh allowed only glimpses of Olympus, but the changing weather was spectacular. Heart Lake is pretty, but overused; the best campsites are on the ridge of the High Divide, but have no water. There is a small trail, not on Green Trails map, that leads from the lowest point of the divide down through the tarns to Lunch Lake. A nice trip would be to follow that trail to camp and then make a day trip of the divide and Bogachiel Peak. But since the trail sign rather discouraged going that way, I went over the divide, lunched on the peak, and then went down to Lunch Lake, also full of people. The next day I walked out, up the 600 feet to the ridge on gorgeous granite steps built by a very artistic trail crew, and down past Deer Lake and Sol Duc Falls to the trailhead to complete the loop. Wildflowers are at their peak this year of late rains. Lots of birds and deer, but no bears to be seen.

This is not a wilderness experience, although the park service is doing a wonderful job of educating the public with rangers on duty, attractive explanatory signs at camping areas and revegetation of the labrynth of trails that surround lakes. The trail crew is improving the trail so it will not erode or continue to spread through the heather. I would recommend this as an enjoyable hike in a beautiful place, but suggest that when you get your back country permit you do not let the ranger tell you where to camp. Surely there are some ""legal"" campsites on other lakes or tarns that give a bit of solitude. And a warning category should be added to the list: PEOPLE!

After a night at Deer Park campground, Susie(thank you so much again...) walked in to Sol Duc falls with me and then with a sweet adieu left me. I hiked up to Deer Lake in the rain and amazingly found a dry campsite under 2 tilted trees. Spent a rainy night there and then hiked up to the Seven Lakes Basin. I saw a sow bear with her cub on the way into 7 lakes. Camped at Lunch lake and cruised extensively around the area. ( All sites are snow free now and the flowers are fantastic.) Next day up to the High Divide, Bogachiel Peak, and camped at Silver Snag campsite..the only one on the High Divide. Day three...over the rest of the High Divide and into Cat Basin. I tried to find the Cat Primitive trail here, but being alone and having promised Susie I'd be safe, had to leave without discovering the south end of this trail that I wanted to hike. Oh well....back to Heart Lake and down down down into the Sol Duc valley where I camped in the huge trees near the Appleton Pass trail junction. Day four...up and up and up to beautiful Appleton Pass. Noone there so I scored the best site next to Oyster Lake.( full of frogs and their eggs...) Hiked up to the point southeast of the pass and took panorama photos....a grand vista indeed. Hiked a mile or so of the Cat primitive trail ( easy to find from this end....) and it still looks very attractive. Day five...dropped down from Appleton Pass to meet Susie at the trailhead in the Elwha. A lovely hike indeed. Saw bears, lots of black tail deer, grouse, rabbits( one new born hopped right up to me on the upper Bogachiel portion of High Divide....) frogs ( and their future...) and lots of juncos. This is a great high loop which I highly recommend. I had to carry a bear can as some of the sites listed have no bear wires. I would plan a trip around the bear wires so as not to have to carry the extra 2.5 lbs next time.

Five of us completed the Bailey Range traverse, August 14-20, 2004. Since the level of guidance we received from others who had done the hike was on the level of. ""the mountain goats are cute"" and ""I have heard that you take your life in your hands on the Elwha snowfinger"", I thought it would be helpful to recap our route while it is still fresh.

Kevin’s comments: The guidebooks are right when they say think twice about taking on this trip. The challenging up and down steep sidehill terrain gives you plenty of elevation change each day. In August the challenge is compounded by meager water availability. We had excellent sunny weather – although a bit on the hot side. Dehydration and heat exhaustion are very real concerns during August. With good weather our route finding challenges, though not inconsequential, were minimized. Rain or fog would add significantly to the challenge. After the hike we talked about the physical conditioning required to make this a comfortable outing. My recommendation – do a 5 day Olympic through hike on trails before you take on the Bailey. Any of the routes will do. Then – if you can climb Del Campo peak (in the Monte Christo area) every day for 5 days with a 50-pound pack on a hot day with half the water you want to drink - then you will be ready for the Bailey Range.

We left from the Olympic Hot Springs trailhead. The trailhead is located at the end of the Boulder River fork of the Elwha River road. From downtown Pt. Angeles travel 8.5 miles west on highway 101. Turn left onto the Elwha River road and follow the road 10 miles to it’s end (do not take the Whiskey Bend road that turns off to the left just after the ranger station).

Kevin’s comments: We took Bear Canisters for our food (very important) but did not have enough canister space for all our food. There are bear wires at Oyster lake (they are actually closer to Appleton Pass which is north of the lake – but you will find them if you look around). On the Bailey Range you have very few trees that are suitable for hanging food. We didn’t have any trouble with bears in our food – even though we saw nearly all of our bears in the Bailey Range itself. However – next time I would make sure we had less food to hang or take an extra canister.

Day 1, Olympic Hot Springs trailhead to Oyster Lake via Appleton Pass. 7.9 miles, 3400 ft elevation gain. Start @1700 ft, 2.7 mi to Olympic Hot Springs + 5.2 mi to Appleton Pass @5050 feet. Total elevation gain = 3350 ft, total mileage = 7.9 mi.

This is a good trail for packing in heavy loads. We stopped for a soak at the hot springs (sure wish that was at the end of the hike, not the beginning!). Oyster Lake is a short jog to the left after reaching Appleton Pass. If you keep your eyes peeled, you may spot a short herdpath shortcut angling up and to the left shortly before reaching the pass. Oyster Lake is a meltwater tarn without a natural outlet. We camped overlooking the lake and were visited by two deer that evening. After making camp, two of us ascended the flank of Mt. Appleton, which is a steep class 2 ridge walk.

Kevin’s comments – As you climb up to Appleton pass make sure to keep your eyes open for the blueberry fields. What a refreshing break to drop packs for 20 minutes and eat a couple dozen handfuls of blueberries! Oyster lake is perched near the edge of a little plateau – so you can take a short walk and get a nice view down the valley that you had to climb up. If you go on beyond the lake there is a very nice (but dry) campsite on the bluff overlooking the lake. The climb up to Appleton takes about 90 minutes from Oyster lake. We did not have time to make the summit, and there was a steep step up ahead that we didn’t get to, but it looked no worse than easy class 3.

Day 2, Oyster Lake to Eleven Bull Basin on the flank of Mt Carrie. ~ 8miles, elevation gain >1000 ft.

Hike east from Oyster Lake to a pass and then south on the E flank of a ridge with excellent views of Cat Mt.south from Oyster lake on the ridge tops – follow the ridge as it turns west to intersect with the high divide trail. About a quarter-mile before the High Divide Trail pass a small lake below you on the SE and then walk up to and around a larger lake, just right for swimming. We saw a bear at this lake (large bear with radio collar). Intersect the High Divide Trail and follow it east to where it ends just before the catwalk. After the trail ends, follow an obvious herd path steeply uphill to the cat walk. Crossing the catwalk involves some care, but experienced scramblers should not have any problem. The catwalk is an arête, with the low point in the middle. The traverse will take about 45 minutes with full pack. Boston Charlie's, a melt-water watering hole is at the east end of the cat walk. Fill your water bottles. Here begins the Bailey Range traverse proper. Side hill on steep terrain. Follow obvious herd paths, keeping elevation between 4800-5300 ft. Traverse numerous gullies requiring rock scrambling with full pack. 1-2 hours past Boston Charlie's, depending on the party's strength and speed, pass what one guidebook calls ""an enduring stream"". You are entering Eleven Bull Basin, where the slope eases somewhat. This is the obvious area to camp, as there are several good streams and tent sites. The view of Mt. Olympus is stupendous. We spent the night in the company of three bears and three mountain goats.

Kevin’s comments: This was a very tough day. Always fill your water bottles at every opportunity. The water at Boston Charlie’s camp looks much worse than it tastes. The trail is obvious for the most part. There was one large meadow in which the trail did disappear. Stay at constant elevation and follow the meadow as it necks down at the far end into the tree line you will easily pick up the trail again. This is the day we crossed about 4 steep gullies on the side of Mt. Carrie. The traverse across the north side of Cat creek basin prior to reaching the high divide trail has one short rock section that gives you just the slightest taste of what the Mt. Carrie gullies are all about. The lake we swam in is in the fourth (?) and last basin in the Cat Creek basin traverse after the obvious pass that you attain heading south from Oyster lake. The lake is not on the map even though it is quite large. Stay somewhat high on the traverse of this last basin, which does not have a distinct trail through it. Very refreshing swim! The trail from here to High Divide trail is obvious. Take a left at the trail intersection and follow the High Divide trail until you clearly can go no further (unless you are a mountain goat or have a rope) – nice vertical dropoff. Take 5 steps back and look up to your left. You will see the switchbacks heading straight up. As you pull yourself over the top (about 200-300 vertical feet) the catwalk appears directly in front of you. There are no serious problems with the catwalk – but you do have 45-50 pounds on your back, so take it slow. There are a few different routes over the rocks – but the rock off the “route” is crud – so you know right away if you stray. Take the trail straight up the hill from the tarn at Boston Charlie’s and you top out in a nice side hill meadow with a clear trail through it. This is not a bad option for a camp. Water is available at Boston Charlie’s. If you proceed on from here you must cross the four gullies (very difficult) to reach the obvious plateau that juts out from the side of Mt. Carrie – a long way along the side hill but visible from the flat spots above Boston Charlie’s. We pressed on. What a long day! The gullies at times are just that – down into the gully and up the other side. Sometimes there are footprints – sometimes you’re on rock - some of the gullies have nothing more than loose, steep rock (lots of rock slides down the chute with each step) and two of them require a descent of several hundred feet straight down a gravel chute. No switchbacks on the Bailey Range! The streams and flat ground of Eleven Bull Basin are obvious and welcome. If you come to a trickle of water – press on. The enduring streams of Eleven Bull Basin are true watercourses. What a pleasant campsite! The traverse is really quite fantastic. You can see the avalanche tracks that run 2000 – 3000 vertical feet down the side of Mt. Carrie to the Hoh river. Mt Olympus and it’s cloak of glaciers stands unobstructed to the west. Take binoculars and check out those crevasses and the ice rivers flowing off Mt. Olympus. Tremendous!

Day 3, Eleven Bull Basin to Cream Lake/Lake Billy Everett. ~ 7.5 miles.

Challenging day. Continue side-hill traverse and cross several prominent gullies between Mt. Carrie and Mt. Stephen. At one point the terrain forces you down to about 4700 feet; parties have a choice at this point of staying low, entering woods and brush and heading for Cream Lake, or following herd paths that climb steeply again. We took the latter route. The herd paths lead to a prominent cairn on the side of Mt. Stephen. From the cairn, the preferred route is to climb an additional couple of hundred feet and then break out to the right onto an obvious avalanche meadow. Descend the meadow and ensuing gullies towards Cream Lake. The gullies will lead you onto a nose about 200 ft above the lake. Descend the nose and beat the brush to the edge of the lake. We took our boots off and waded across Cream Lake. We followed the shore to the inlet and then walked up the inlet (easy walking) until an obvious herd path leads steeply upward. We followed that up and to the right about 800 feet. Moving to the right past a tarn, through easy walking we arrived at Lake Billy Everett, a great destination for the third night.

Kevin’s comments: From Eleven Bull Basin there are still a few challenging gullies. One involves some steep / slippery rock. Good challenges. The trail always seemed fairly clear to me until we got to “the cairn”. The cairn is right on the trail and is at a location where the trail has been side hilling for some time and is just about to descend. We met two others at that point who were exploring the side hill above the trail. Their information said that the trail from here descended to Cream Lake but not before getting into a tangle of slide alder that was absurdly difficult to get through. We wanted to stay high so headed up the hill. There were a number of good trails up there about 5400 feet elevation – and they must have all been game trails. We eventually cliffed out and could not make the traverse by staying high. We speculated about going higher yet – about 5800 to 6000 feet – but we were pretty bushed by that time and did not relish the idea of climbing another 600 feet and finding another dead end. It didn’t look obvious and there were a number of places that looked impassable. We backtracked and took the “trail” down the hill. That trail also pinched out and we commenced a 1000 vertical foot brush thrash to Cream lake below. I’ve been on worse, and the trees made for great holds. And we were going DOWN! Not too bad. However - it would be nice to know if there is a good route from that cairn to Cream lake. Beyond Cream lake we hiked up the inlet stream and found ourselves on a trail again. We were heading about due east from the lake. The trail funneled into a gully and climbed steeply upwards. At the top of the gully you could turn left – we pushed straight up another 20 feet, through a hedge of brush and followed the trail to the right and further up the ridge line to the most picturesque lake of the entire trip - Lake Billy Everett! We camped in a beautiful meadow to the east of the lake near a fine waterfall and stream meandering through the meadow to the lake. The lake was quite large and plenty warm for swimming. Behind the lake was a fine backdrop of peaks. Exquisite.

Day 4, Lake Billy Everett to Dodwell-Rixon basin. ~5 miles, elevation gain about 2000 ft.

Proceed SE on the far side of a prominent nose above the lake, heading generally for the spine of the Bailey Range. Follow obvious glacial channels to several small snow-fed lakes. Mt. Ferry and Mt. Pulitzer will be in view. Climb to the ridge line and then turn S. The route for the rest of the day generally follows the ridge line and is located just below, on the flank. Cross permanent snow field leading to Bear Pass and also beyond Bear Pass. We saw four mountain goats in this area. Top Bear Mountain, then descend the ridge spine over heather slopes to Dodwell Rixon Basin. There are several fine tarns in the basin for camping; we chose the site nearest to the heather ridge that we descended. From Bear Mountain and several points in the basin, one can see the declivity that is the Elwha snow finger, the descent route off the Bailey Range. The views on this day are consistently extraordinary. When camping in Dodwell-Rixon Basin you are as isolated as you can get in the lower 48--a 2-3 day tough walk out in any direction.

Kevin’s comments: Take the obvious trail from the lake to the southwest – it will shortly peter out. Keep turning to your left (southeast) and angling up moderately steep grass slopes until heading east for the top of the Bailey traverse. Soon you will enter the moonscape of the high mountain ridge. Billions of rock shards cleaved from the distressed basalt bedrock lie underfoot. Look for the vertical up-thrust layers of sedimentary rock – the tilted and up-thrust layers of the ancient seabed that form this part of the range. The terrain is rugged and beautiful. As you reach the spine of the Bailey Range you can see Mt. Scott – an immensely beautiful cone of a mountain standing on it’s own. You also get the most spectacular overview of the Goldie River valley – where the Press Expedition spent their most challenging days in their successful maiden crossing of the Olympic Mountains in the winter / spring of 1889 / 1890. Their last cache is still located down there somewhere – and you can see how crazy you would have to be to mount a serious search for it. The trail across the range here is mostly obvious. At one point you climb up a ridge just south of Mt. Pulitzer (snaghorn) and go up and over the top. There is no other real obvious route but the trail does disappear now and again on the rock. Follow the ridge to the permanent snow field which is steep enough to require your ice axe. At the top of this snow field, angle slightly right and down to drop into a small hanging valley that slopes downward from southwest to northeast. It’s a steep drop into the valley – we dropped down to our right to the lowest easily accessible point on the ridge and found it was an easy 10 foot steep slide into the valley. Climb up to the top of the valley and continue south. Cross over the top of this next ridge and drop down a large scree slope to another very large snow field. This one is not nearly as steep as the first snow field and is about three times as long. Continue traversing south – either climb up on the ridge or traverse around the right side and climb up to the top by turning left. The Dodwell-Rixon basin will come into view. We continued on the heather strewn ridge line as it made it’s steep descent into the saddle that formed the headwaters of the Elwha / Goldie / Queets rivers. Tremendous vertical terrain surrounds is basin. The peaks that form the head of the Queets basin rise to vertical terrain – not climbable and beautifully rugged.

Day 5, Dodwell-Rixon Basin to Low Divide via the Elwha snow finger. ~8 miles, 3000 ft descent, 1400 ft ascent.

The snow finger may have been an easy descent at one time but in this age of warmer temperatures it is somewhat more dicey. We had to crawl through a snow tunnel, pick our way through ice blocks from a collapsed snow tunnel, and descend a steep and dangerous watercourse. Guidebooks give various helpful suggestions, none of which were followed. One that bears checking out is just below a large obvious snow wedge, head SE up and through a prominent notch and then angle back down; this route MIGHT save a severe, difficult descent of a glacial creek. The Elwha Basin trail will be found on the N side of the creak at about 2200 feet. The trail end is marked by a prominent sawn-off stump.

Kevin’s comments: Do not expect this to be one of the “easy” days – it’s very difficult. It took us four to five hours to descent the two miles of the snowfinger – and we had many miles yet ahead of us down to the Elwha ford and up to the top of low divide to our camp. A nice itinerary option would be to spend a rest day at Dodwell-Rixon to stave off the rigors of the Bailey range traverse and get refreshed for the remaining challenges. The characteristics of this descent will change with seasonal snowfall and time of year. We did not have to worry about falling through snow bridges since all the seasonal snow had melted by August – but early season attempts should consider this risk. There were many times we had cliffs in our path and turned back to find a passable route – but we always found a way. Steep unconsolidated side hill ascents and descents were required to avoid the cliffs. We decided not to bring crampons after considerable discussion. I think we made the right decision. The ice is extremely hard and there are narrow crevassed ice bridges that I would not cross even with crampons and ice axe. Several times during the day we heard ice cracking and possibly calving off the existing ice bridges. I recall looking at my watch when we were in the middle of the collapsed snow tunnel – 11:00 AM. Next time I want to be through the Elwha snowfinger descent well before noon. The rest of this day is uneventful. The low divide camp is quite nice with a good stream (headwaters of the Quinault!) for a refreshing bath.

Day 6, Low Divide to Francis or Elip creek camp. 9.1 miles, descent >2000 ft.

While it is possible to walk out from Low Divide in one day, we chose to break the trip at Elip Creek. Elip Creek proved to be a delightful creek-side campsite with great swimming and sunning.

Kevin’s comments: I believe we stopped at Francis creek camp for this night. The camp is delightful. There are huge rounded boulders in the creek so that you can crawl out of the water and air dry on the warm, smooth rocks. Just like sea lions at the beach! Take a hike up-creek a few hundred feet to see the washout path of this creek during the spring runoff. Pretty awesome. There is a little peninsula of rubble just up from camp that’s been there for 20 years or so – judging from the age of the alders growing on it. How many years it will remain there resisting the spring melt floodwaters is hard to say.

Day 7, Francis or Elip creek camp to North fork Quinault River ranger station. 7.0 miles.

Easy three-hour walk with pack. The old growth forest is stunning. About 1000 ft down the road from the trailhead, follow a small culvert channel (left) to the river for great end of hike swimming.

Kevin’s comments: Lesson learned – make sure to give extremely explicit instructions, including mileages, to this trailhead unless your pick up party knows the area. There are no fewer than three (and maybe four) ranger stations in the area and they all have similar names. Both of our pick up drivers, both armed with maps and directions, ended up at the same (wrong) pick up location. This error is easier to make than any of us thought. We hiked the four miles out from the North Fork Quinault ranger station before we could hitch a ride. It would have been another 10 mile hike to civilization from there. Then go have a nice dinner at Lake Quinault Lodge. You deserve it! You’ve just completed the Bailey Range Traverse!

The wife and I decided a couple weeks ago to head back up to Hoh Lake near the High Divide area. Last time we were there, rain came in fiercely and kicked our butts. We have wanted to get back there and check it out in nice weather for a few years. We were sure rewarded this time. We had a great breakfast at the Sol Duc resort and hit the trail at around 9:15AM. The switchbacks up to Deer Lake always seem to grab our attention. We made it to Deer Lake in a pretty quick 1hr 45min. After a 20 min snack break, we pushed on for the High Divide. The heat wasn't bad. Temps must have been in the low 70's. We were glad we filled up with water at Deer Lake. There are no other places to fill up for quite a while. You could get water at the potholes in a pinch but the water looked pretty brackish. The high divide was as spectacular as always. Weather was great with crystal clear skies. Views of Mt Olympus were awesome. You always forget how tired your legs are up there because the views are so distracting. We saw our first bear right after we turned right off the High Divide and onto the Hoh Lake trail. It passed right over the trail about 150 ft in front of us. We made it to Hoh Lake by 3:15. The campsite layout there, seems to lead you either down a dead end trail to the lake or up past the campsites and to the bear wire / privy. After we took our packs off, we scouted and subsequently settled into a very nice campsite. It is a peculiar site layout at Hoh Lake. One of the sites is shaded, has awesome views of the lake and Mt. Olympus, and offers seclusion. The rest of the sites are exposed with no views, no shade, and are right on top on each other. Luckily, we were the early birds..... After setting up camp, we grabbed the binoculars and starting looking around for wildlife. The Hoh Lake area is a BIG wildlife area. We immediately spotted 5 bears on the wall on the opposite side of the lake. We got some great pictures. The area had to break the record for the most wildlife raucous noises in the campsite during the evening while in the tent. We kept an immaculate camp but, nonetheless, there was a lot seemingly going on in the site all night both nights. Got some great fishing in during the early morning. The mosquitoes were strangely not bad at all on Friday but were horrible on Saturday and when we were heading out of there on Sunday. Saturday morning breakfast was interrupted by two somewhat aggressive mountain goats that entered our site! First time I've seen them in the Olympics. We also are pretty sure we saw a pine marten. We discussed it with the backcountry ranger and we all agreed that's what it was. They are a rare spot. Also, backcountry rangers are a rare site. What the heck is going on with the National Park budget? You've gotta love broken campaign promises..... We headed out early Sunday morning to try to beat the sun from beaming on us during the half hour of switchbacks to get out of the Hoh Lake valley. Back up at the High Divide, the views were once again awesome. We made it back to the trailhead in 5 1/2 hours. The trail was in excellent shape the entire distance.

Two friends and I set out from the Sol Duc River trailhead planning on an 8 day trip though the center of Olympic national park on the classic Bailey Range traverse. Bad weather moved in before we could make camp at Heart Lake as the forecast predicted, but was expected to clear the following evening. We decided to try to wait out the rain for 2 nights hoping to have better conditions on the catwalk and for navigating the off trail route south from Mt Carrie.

Our 8 days of food would not fit in the small bear canisters, so we took advantage of the bear wire at Heart Lake until we could cram the canisters closed.

The catwalk was not as scary as I had expected. We did get off route near the southern end, requiring us to retrace our path to the ridge top and try again. In most places the worn down boot path makes the best route obvious from the catwalk to south of Stephen Peak.

Recent rain provided plenty of opportunities to resupply our bottles from flowing water along the high route, but it may often be dry between Boston Charlie camp at the catwalk and upper Cream Lake. We camped in the only level ground near the boot path between Mt Carrie and Stephen Peak which offers great views of the sunrise on Mt Olypus across the Hoh river valley. Above our camp a bear meandered about and chased a pair of foxes when they got too near as well as a herd of moutain goats. Later that morning we encountered a group of elk at rather close range.

Although several guide books and previous trail reports recommend staying high on the ridge and bypassing the upper Cream Lake camp, the well worn boot path caught us off guard by dropping rapidly before the lake was in sight. By the time we questioned the route, we'd descended to an elevation actually below the lake and still half a mile northwest of it. After a long bushwhack back through the alder we stumbled out into the meadow surrounding Cream Lake. If there was an easy way to continue along the ridge rather than decend to the lake, we never saw it. Continuing from the lake, we ascended to the the upper cream lake basin NW of MT ferry where dozens of tarns dot the rolling heather slopes.

The following day we encountered the most difficult challenge of our trip. A north facing snowfield on the unnamed peak just south of Mt Pulitzer was icy and steep enough even in midday sun to have our full attention. We had ice axes, but not crampons, and we wished we had both. None of the other snowfields we crossed nor the elwha snow finger were as icy or danagerous as that first snowfield.

That evening we made camp at a tarn just below the saddle between Bear pass and Mt Barnes rather than at Dodwell-Rixon Pass. Two bears visited us there (hence the name Bear Pass probably) , but didn't approach after they saw us. We had the impression they frequent the same tarn reqularly and we were intruding on their routine. This site had the advantage of a gorgeous sunset and an early sunrise over the nearby ridge crest.

The following morning we visted with the only group we saw on the route ( must be Rubberlegs from the Sept 23 trip report). The decent down the Elwha snowfinger was long and hot but not icy. The snowfinger is actually several sections of snowfields this time of year with the creek running down the rocky creek bed underneath. We took time to scout the thickness of the snow bridges before crossing them. At the bottom of the snowfinger numerous cairns marked the way trail out of the Elwha river up to the ridge as shown on the custom correct map. The climb up was slippery and lined with devils club, but thankfully the path descends gently over the ridge near a waterfall. Once down to the maintained trail at Elwha basin, the trip up to Low Divide and down the well maintained north fork Quinault river trail was an uneventfull 2 day journey. The berries are ripe and abundant at Low Divide.

On Friday we started at the Olympic Hotsprings trailhead and started up the trail towards Appleton Pass. There were plenty of cars at the trailhead, but most were headed to the hotsprings. We had an ambitious day so didn't stop at the hotsprings. We slogged our heavy packs to Appleton Pass, then to Heart Lake and camped there. The weather held nicely, with just a few minor drops of rain. Trail in good condition the whole way, except for plenty of horse damage and their Appleton tons o' apples residue.

Saturday we turned east on the High Divide trail to its abandoned end. Here I crept up Cat Peak while the others scampered acrosst the Catwalk. Yikes, this was no fun and a bit spooky. Only for the bold of heart and sure of foot. Once across, it's a steep uphill battle carrying up Carrie. One of our party summitted Mt Carrie. Then we continued on a traverse with several ""interesting"" gully crossings for a long ways. Several ups and downs and finally a dive-bombing to Cream Lake. The last section is confusing with lots of brush bashing and swamp crossing. We dropped, exhausted, to a mundane Cream Lake camp.

Sunday we climbed up towards Mt Ferry, which is an easy walkup peak. Then some cramponing up steep snowfields and across some glaciers past Mt Childs (a steep walkup peak). Then the route goes up and down along the Bailey Range ridge over Bear Mt and a chossy drop to Dodwell-Rixon Pass. We camped at a nearby lake. Eyeing Olympus, with a long drop to 3800' and then a 4000' climb to the summit, then another big climb from the Hoh back to High Divide... et al... we suffered from an acute case of mountain lassitude.

Monday we backtracked the Bailey Range after a brief climb of Mt Barnes and after a few routefinding problems found ourselves on the ridge between Mt Ferry and Ludden Peak. This route has even more pucker factor than the Catwalk, but with a rope assist and carefully chosen footwork, made it down one particularly interesting section. Then it was a long traverse along the ridgeline, then another steep drop to the pass between Ludden and Scott Peaks. Then another steep drop (oh, the toes, the toes!) and a steeper climb up ""Ball Bearing Gully"" to the abandoned trail segment on Ludden Peak. We call it the Blasted Trail, for several reasons. Now it was a mere trail stroll (careful, it's a steep dropoff! Not recomended for the acrophobe!) to a campsite near Dodger Point.

Tuesday it was a long drop down a downy-soft trail, with the gentlest of gradients, to the Elwa River trail. All in good condition. Just what the foot doctor and thigh doctor ordered. Now only 10 road miles from the car, we dropped packs while two of us started the long jog. Fortunately a kind soul took pity on our poor soles (ooh! ouch!) and gave us a ride after only 20 minutes of pitiful jogging.

We hiked the High Divide from Sol Duc to Deer Lake to the Seven Lakes Basin and exited through Heart Lake. Altogether about 19 miles in 9 hours. Since the weather was cool and overcast with rain slated for the afternoon, we decide to speed-hike in running shoes, the entire trail. We did'nt break a sweat, me at 54 years old with my daughter at 21 years old and she all the leading, of course.

We carried 20# packs, equipped for overnight if needed, with an energic and happy attitude, about not having to carry a heavy pack or wear heavy boots.

We had adequate energy food- cheese, apples, salty turkey-jerky, and non-alchoholic energy drinks- pure water. Also peanut butter filled crackers- protein!

The entire trail is well maintained, elevation gains are easy due to new switch-backs and stone-stairs. Elevation gain over 10-miles was noticeable but relatively painless, unless you were carrying a 50# pack. Stone stairs lead down into the Seven Lakes Basin from eat os Bogachiel Peak.

Encountered black-bears sweeping low-bush blueberries, doe and fawns sunning, blue grouse grousing, and hundreds of junkos and regional smal-birds.

One drawback- if you drive through Port Angeles and east during the 4-5AM time, you will discover that few resturants are open, except 24-hour Safeways.

We plan to do this loop again durin early Spring on skis, weather permitting!

Absolutely stupendous loop! On a car camping trip with our 2 kids (age 1 and 4) at the Sol Duc Hotsprings, I took half a day by myself to do this loop. I started at 6AM from the Sol Duc campground, heading up the Sol Duc River towards the High Divide. The trail was in very good shape as were all bridges over the river. 1.5 hours later, I broke into a beautiful subalpine meadow just below Sol Duc Park. Half an hour later, I was feasting my eyes on the fog filled Hoh River valley and Blue Glacier spilling off the flanks of Mt Olympus. High ciro-stratus clouds and a steady crisp breeze kept me moving though. I opted not to explore east toward Cat Peak and the Bailey range, but turned west to rim the south edge of the Seven Lakes Basin. Half an hour took me to Bogachiel Peak, and another 50 minutes down to Deer Lake. Across the Bogachiel River headwaters, I noticed a herd of ~50 elk bedded down about 1/2 mile below me. At Deer Lake, I opted to turn west and follow the Bogachiel River trail. This trail was noticeably less well maintained, but certainly passable. More mud holes, roots and rocks kept my pace down, but it was still about 90% runable. After about 50 minutes of jumping roots and dodging mud holes I grew tired of the ups and downs of the trail, and just wanted to see the junction of the Mink Lake trail. Besides, I had just run out of water, Cliff bars were like chalk, and Gu was coating my mouth like, well like goo. The junction came and I began the final quad busting, ankle twisting 4 miles back to the resort. Back by 11:30, thank god for the hot springs. A quart of water and some time in the pools revived me so I could play with my kids.

All junctions were well signed, and the mileage on the Custom Correct Map I had was right on the money. Alas, no wild life besides the distant elk and a startled grouse, but the vistas from the High Divide ridge were absolutely spectacular. Beautiful weather and beautiful scenery made this a fantastic trail run.

We stayed in Port Angeles on Friday night and were at the Sol Duc Hot Springs trailhead at 7:40 in the morning. The plan was to hike the High Divide trail in one day - we figured by starting at 7:40 AM, we'd have more than 12 hours of daylight. What a beautiful trip. We got to Deer Lake by 9:20 and then climbed past tarns to the ridge. Fantastic views of a beautiful alpine bowl. Reached the cut off to Round Lake and Lunch Lake about 11:30 and went far enough up the side trail to see the lakes from above. Gorgeous views of Mt. Olympus after that - plus you can see all the way down to the Hoh River from the ridge. The two miles up and down to Heart Lake seemed to take forever, and then you go down, down and a very long walk along the river back to the shelter which ends the loop. Finally, under a mile to walk back to the trailhead. Everyone we saw on the trail (enough people to know you were not lost, but there were long periods where we saw no one else) was backpacking but it was very pleasant to not carry all that weight. It took a little over 10 hours to complete the trail - out just before 6 PM. Ripe blueberries everywhere. There were some bugs but not bad, especially since we kept moving most of the time. All snow is gone and the trail is rocky in places but well marked and well maintained. I was worried about doing such a long hike in one day but felt fine although the last few miles seemed very long. I am in reasonable shape but not a great runner and we are in our 50's!!!

Got started up the Sol Duc at 5:40 AM for a pleasant climb in the shade up to Appleton Pass. No bugs, no snow, trail in perfect shape. At the top I passed lots of campers near Oyster Lake as I walked east on the Cat Basin route, which is really a very distinct trail in places. The path disappears in the avalanche lily carpeted meadows but is easy to pick up at the pass between Schoeffel Creek and the Sol Duc. The route, which is now a trail, descends through woods on the Sol Duc side, and then climbs to a pass overlooking Cat Creek. Fine views are the rule as the trail contours southwest through open meadows on the ridge high above Cat Creek. Finally Cat Basin came into view and I opted to contour across a rockslide to Swimming Bear Lake instead of dropping way, way down to Cat Basin. One other party was at the lake, just beginning their weeklong trip into the Bailey Range.

After filtering some water and a bite I left Swimming Bear, heading south on the trail to the High Divide. It was a hot, sweaty climb from Heart Lake basin to the High Divide with no water available except at a tarn near the top. The views, wildflowers, green meadows, and an occasional cool breeze made for a very pleasant walk heading for Dear Lake, although the forest shade was welcome as I descended from the divide. After a buggy stop at the lake for water, I walked the final 3.8 miles to the trailhead, getting out at 5:50 PM. No snow or technical difficulties were encountered on the entire 24-mile loop. This has got to be one of the finest walks in the Olympics, well worth getting up at 3:00 AM for the early start.

This was a great hike. We went in with four folks with probably 45lb packs, including wine, beer, fishing gear and an inflatable raft for the lakes. Ate like kings. Didn't know how much snow to expect given the conservative statements of the rangers, but there is definitely no need for crampons or ice axes on the High Divide loop. We went counterclockwise on the 18 mile loop, starting and ending at the Sol Duc trailhead/parking lot.

First night, Deer Lake. No one there on a Wednesday, but we had reservations anyway. About 4 miles and 2000 ft elevation gain; arrived at 7:30p after a very late 5:30p start, but still plenty of light for fishing, cooking and exploring. Mosquitos are out. Some used DEET, others not, and long pants/shirts of some inpentrability or rain gear are necessary. Mesh headgear would be nice. But don't be too worried -- these are not the worst mosquitos I have seen in the NW spring/early summer.

Second day, hiked to Lunch lake, ate lunch, continued up the drainage into the lake, left side, and aimed for Morganroth Lake. Trail eventually gets snowy, but no big deal, and you can drop down a very steep and primitive trail to the lake. We also dropped the packs and did a quick jaunt up to the High Divide ridge since we had missed a view of Olympus and the Hoh valley by dropping down to the lakes before Bogachiel (sp?) peak. Morganroth was beautiful, albeit quite an effort to reach with full packs. We fished, spinners and a fly rod, with no luck. We are terrible fishers, however, and there were definitely some large ones lurking, visible rising for flies and even in schools through the clear water. Full or near full moon rose low and eventually hit the ridge to the left of Bogachiel some number of bourbons past midnight. Bear wire present at campsite on feeder lake to Morganroth, and a great view of the waterfall on the stream feeding it.

Third day, regained ridge easiest way possible, trail up out of lakes basin and then snowfields, soft and easy kicking, straight up to low point. Heading east you get more and more incredible views of Mount Olympus peaks and Hoh Valley to the south, from about 5000ft, and you see No. 8 lake at the top of the Seven Lakes basin on the north side. Did I mention the weather was fantastic? Truly a beautiful perspective. The trail eventually drops down into the next valley and heads north. We lunched late at Heart Lake and decided to push on for a trailside campsite (tied vote decided by a game of bear, ninja, cowboy). The lake was quite open and tree free compared to the others, and perhaps a little higher up. There were a good number of sites filling up with clockwise loop hikers as this was now Friday. Continued trail following Bridge Creek, steep down, to confluence with the Sol Duc river. Horse/group campground. Couple miles of gentler descent along Sol Duc, trees getting bigger, more firs, and forest opening up under a high canopy. Two wayside campsites near Rocky Creek were a welcome site. Beautiful, and no mosquitoes unlike while camping near the lakes. A short hike (half mile?) down creek leads to a nice place to sit and watch sun set through trees and the confluence with the Sol Duc. Great tasting water, another good meal, this time on to cheesy noodle with remaining veggies, all of our meat having been consumed in the previous steak and sausage evenings. Ate the last of our special cookies;)

Fourth day, just a few miles of gentle downhill trail to the car, with rain breaking out for the first time in just the last mile. Back to P.A. for a Mexican meal at Hacienda del Mar. Not great, not bad; wished I'd asked for whole beans; skip the mole as it is not very good -- too sweet, little refined smokey/chochlaty taste. Back in Seattle by dinner time, where the feast continued with sushi at Saito's for our guest from Maine.

Highly recommended. Expect lakes are more crowded from here on out, which is why there is a reservation system. I will defnitely be returning here early or late season, probably early. This year, I bet late June would have been better still, with fewer people and mosquitoes at the price of only a little more snow and slightly colder temps.

Listed as moderately strenuous in guide book. I'd say this is correct for most but mountaineers and fit or light backpackers, who might do it in a day or two to get their moderately strenuous exercise. For us with sixpacks it was 72 hours, with fast hiking each day for no more than 2-3 hours. Perhaps 22 miles including recommended detours.

We camp like lords. Organic decision making. Bring more wine next time.

p.s. Pack it out, and clean up for other slobs. Trail is in remarkably good and clean shape, so it'd be nice to see it that way at the end of the summer.

Even though it was our first hike of the year, we shot for a day hike (17 miles RT)up to High Divide via Soleduck River Trail. Mushrooms are starting, lots of Rosy & Shrimp Russulas, a couple of large caulifower & some early coral 'shrooms.

Well-maintained, easy trail glides from the rainforest up through subalpine meadows to the ridge. The view as we topped the ridge was stunning with clear shots down into the Hoh River valley and Mt. Olympus across the way. Moderate mosquitoes & black flies but no bites with 7%DEET applied just before our ridge lunch.

Stayed at Miller Tree B&B in Forks. Bill Brager,proprieter, grew up in the area and has extensive info about all the west side trails. With the clear, sunny weather, this hike was one of our most memorable.

If feelings of despair, frustration and hopelessness spank your crank, the Cat Creek Way trail could well be the one that puts you over the edge (physically as well as psychically). The trip to Appleton Pass, by way of Boulder Creek for me and up the Sol Duc for my travelling partner, arduous as it may seem, is straightforward (or straightupward) enough, and the masses (i.e. ""suckers"") find the camps clustered about tiny Oyster Lake to be a real slice, but if you've got a second wind to be caught, press on a feww hundred vertical feet further toward the viewpoint and find the lordly high camp from which to watch your neighbors first take drinking water, then wash there hands and faces, then jump in, then rinse their gear, then take more drinking water from poor abused li'l OyL. This castle in the air is the starting point for the way trail. Head upward to meadows (you don't have to go to the top) till you see a fairway stretching down the saddle above Schoeffel Creek and look for the trail in the woods at the left corner of the meadow. Though steep, slidey, and ungraded, it's true enough to get you across the steep headwall of the Sole Duck River, down steeply, then up steeply to spread eagle pass. Once over, the first of three basin traverses begins, the trail mostly obvious through all three. The serious problems begin upon exiting the third basin, when you are left at the wooded rim of an extremely steep side of Cat Creek Basin. All trails are the desperate treadings of the damned, each leading to its own exquisite flavor of hiker psychosis. Should one traverse the barren walls for miles in the hopes that yonder lake (Cat Lake) has a civilized escape route? None being visible from our vantage point, and the sun scorching every millimeter of the sheer walls, we opted for the headlong plummet to the basin floor where some clapped out coot claimed trails might be found. Not even hearing my hiking partner's sobs and moans as he tumbled down the slippery greenery, we found ourselves on a rocky outcropping several hundred feet below the rim, but what seemed like a fairly basin shaped basin had mutated into a lumpy, irregular, enclefted, beknolled, envaginated labyrinth, any objective visible from on high disappearing like a mirage as soon as we sank into any ravine or woods (of which there are gazillions-- truly championship hide and go seek territory). After each secretly vowing to waste the other as soon as our strength returned, we attained the old CCC horse camp looking like a pair of Shackleton's after barely five hours out of camp. The trails out were as prim and proper as Bundy in a pickup bar.

Left the trailhead at 10:15 am to do this trail as a long day hike. Proceeded clockwise through the low forest first before hitting Heart Lake.

Lunched a couple of times on the ridge, which had excellent views of Mount Olympus and the Hoh valley, as well as north to the Strait.

Some snow on the trail, but not an issue. Wildflowers were rather muted until after Bogachiel Peak, when they finally started to offer full colors. The sound of buzzing flies was with us on the whole divide, but nothing was biting.

Our weary legs arrived back to the Hot Springs at 6:30pm.

We spent three days in the High Divide area and had a wonderful time. There is still a lot of snow, particularlly on the Divide itself, but we didn't need an ice axe and found our way around very easily. The trails are all in good shape. Most of the tent sites at Lunch lake have melted out. The lake has melted. There was a little snow on the staircase but we didn't need an ice axe to get down into the basin. I suspect that the rest of the snow will be gone in a week. There was only one other group of 4 persons camping at the lake Friday night - in July!! The next day we hiked up to Silver Snag and over to Heart Lake via the Y route. Mt. Olympus was out in all her glory. The basin is still covered with lots of snow but the rangers have flagged the route. Silver Snag has melted out. Again, travel is no problem. All camping sites at Heart Lake have melted out. We enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at the lake. All sites at the lake were occupied except one. That evening we saw three bears looking for dinner on different parts of the mountain and ridge to the east and south of the lake. The hike down through Sol Duck Park was nice also. There is snow as low as Lower Bridge Creek and several parts of the trail have become temporary streams for snow-melt. The creek crossing at Sol Duck Park was slippery. (You would think they would put in a more permanent bridge there.) The bridge at Lower Bridge Creek is broken, but crossable. The trail is clear of trees and in good shape all the way to the parking lot. Bugs weren't too bad either, probably too cold at night still. The heather was blooming in many places. There were lots of flowers along the entire route from Deer Lake to below Sol Duck Park. The ranger expects lots of pressure once the offical trail report is changed sometime this week. Always a great trip!

With summer disappearing, world events plastered on the TV and three days between commitments, I headed for the mountains on my first ever solo backpack trip. Good weather was still holding so I thought to try the High Divide Trail.

I'd never been to the Sol Duc and was pleased to find such a beautiful valley. Starting out on the Sol Duc River Trail, I followed the very wide, heavily used portion to the falls and the old cabin, then diverted to the way less traveled up the river. The trail wandered up and down through elegant old growth forest for 4 miles until the junction with the Appleton Pass Trail. This section had about 5 - 6 marked campsites.

Beyond the junction, the trail crossed Rocky Creek, arriving at one of the larger camps, Seven Mile Camp. The route was climbing gradually in this section and began to break out of the deep forest cover into more open forest. It crossed the river on a high log bridge and got down to climbing. By another log crossing of Bridge Creek, the trail had come out to park, broken strips of forest and meadows of huckleberries and heather. Need I say that the berry fest was going strong. It took a lot of berry breaks to get me up the last section to Soleduck Park.

Soleduck Park had a nice camp, with 6 sites, one a group site. A summer ranger station is located there, which was due to close this week. I choose a nice site by the creek and set up camp, visiting with my neighbors while getting some water. I later joined them for a evening chat session. I must say that hiking solo did not mean I was hiking alone; I met lots of nice people on the way.

Next day, I started up to the High Divide, climbing up through Soleduck Park, which kept opening up into wide meadows until reaching Heart Lake. There was another nice camp at the small lake. A doe and two fawns wandered by while watched by curious hikers. The views kept improving.

At this time, I joined up with a young couple, Jonathan, who works for WTA and his wife. We hiked together on and off throughout the day. As we reached the summit, the massiff of Mt. Olympus came into view. Wow! I know it was rare to see the mountain at all and felt fortunate to be so close. We could see Cat Peak, the Bailey Range and what I thought was Mt. Fromm (Hayden Pass) and Anderson in the distance. The Hoh River was down, down, down in a hole. Interesting to be able to have a sort of bird's view of a climbing route.

The hike along the High Divide was a delightful ramble. The Seven Lakes Basin was soon in view, with more and more lakes becoming visible. It is quite a beautiful place. I can see why the area is so popular. From the scarity of plants in some areas, it was clear that snow can hang in late on the northern slopes of the basin.

We reached the knife-edge ridge junction with the Hoh Lake Trail. From the reports of a few hikers, I had heard that at least 7 bears, including a sow and two youngsters, had been sighted at the Lake. Fortunately I was headed in the opposite direction. As we dropped down into the Basin, Jonathan and his wife headed off to Lunch Lake and myself to a solitary campsite at little Round Lake. I had the place to myself, a great way to ground and gain some balance after the recent week's events. Nothing like huckleberry picking and listening to marmots and waterfalls to soothe the spirit.

Next day, it was out via the remainder of the High Divide Trail to Deer Lake and then back to the Sol Duc Trailhead. The Divide Trail traversed for close to two miles and then dropped through open country past some tarns. This section of trail was in the process of receiving some major construction work. I might add that the trails in the entire area were meticulously well kept.

By the time I approached Deer Lake the weather was closing in with a heavy on and off drizzle. I took some time at the lake, but did not linger and dropped down the rocky grade to the Sol Duc by mid-afternoon. The wet weather was not at all depressing; the forest was glowing with a soft light and life. My feet and I were glad, however, to reach the river crossing and zoom up the final stretch to the trailhead and my waiting car. Then it was to Port Angeles for some dinner and home. It was a great trip to a beautiful place. Also, by starting on a Sunday, I was able to miss the crowds of dayhikers who love the area on the weekends.

Happy hiking!

Trail conditions from Sol Duc TH to Hoh Lake via Deer Lake are excellent. Berries are abundant and sweet. Still a few wild flowers in the high country. Lots of bears at Hoh Lake. Saw 5 bears eating berries high above lake in the late morning. Saw a mother and two cubs sliding down the snow on south side of Bogachiel Basin opposite trail. Colors are beginning to show. Still lots of bugs, quite warm at night. Crystal clear days and nights. Water temperature at Lunch lake is still quite nice for an afternoon swim. Fishing is excellent. Anyone who spent the last week in Seven Lakes area had a real treat. Lots of hikers and backpackers taking advantage of great weather. Views from High Divide were spectacular. This won't last!

The High Divide loop turned out to be an ideal trip for our family. With side trips I estimate the length at 20 miles, but we took 6 days (5 nights) since our 3 1/2 year old has a hiking range of 3 1/2 miles, our 7 year old likes to have lots of time to play at the campsites, and we were also bringing our 12 year old nephew who is new to backpacking. We spent the first 2 days going up the Soleduck river valley, which was mushroom hunting territory as well as lovely old growth. Lots of chanterelles, hedgehog mushrooms, and boletes. The hike up to the subalpine scenery of Heart Lake was tough for the kids, but they absolutely loved it up there. The lowbush blueberries were fantastic, Little Heart pond was so full of tadpoles and frogs all you had to do was approach the bank and the water would erupt with splashing, the meadow was full of marmots, we watched two bears from a safe (') distance and saw a stilt catching tadpoles three at a time. The next day was spent along the High Divide--the adults enjoying the flowers and the spectacular views of Olympus and the Seven Lakes Basin and all enjoying playing on snowbanks and eating blueberries. We were surprised to find a fresh clump of King Boletes, never before having seen them in subalpine territory in the Cascades. The kids begged to camp up there but we dropped down to a lovely private campsite at Round Lake, where we had a delicious swim, and were visited by deer. The continual shrill whistling of marmots got rather annoying. That night was quite stormy and we were thankful not to be up on the Divide. Fortunately it stopped raining by morning but was very windy and 40 degrees and it was hard to keep the kids warm and happy until they started hiking. Saw another bear in the meadows above Deer Lake. We were the only campers at Deer Lake, although there are many campsites. After the spectacular scenery of the previous three days, wooded Deer Lake seemed nice but sort of boring. It absolutely poured buckets during the night and the next morning and we were content to be hiking out the next day. Deer Lake had risen several inches by morning and parts of the trail out had turned into a river. A visit to Soleduck Hot Springs was a great way to end the trip!

As for bugs--well, liberal applications of deet seemed to keep the mosquito bites down to a countable number but had little effect on deer flies. My 7 year old asked the Lunch Lake Ranger if the bugs were usually so bad and he laughed and said ""Bad' This is GOOD! It doesn't get any better than this!""

By the way, now that your IPO has collapsed, are you interested in a job with greater spiritual than material satisfaction' We discovered on our trip that novice back country rangers in the Olympic Nat'l Park receive a total compensation of $50/month (for food...lodging is free).

Be forewarned, this is the driest year the rangers have seen in recent memory. In hindsight, I wish the park personnel manning the RS at Soleduck had been a little more forthcoming with information regarding this trip as the rangers in the backcountry were surprised I was not aware. The fault falls on me for not asking questions I guess.

First of all, there is no water beyond Heart Lake until three streams are reached in the vicinty of 11 Bull Basin. Carry lots of water. High divide is dry, Cat Basin is dry, and the meadows beyond Boston Charlie's are dry. Snow patches people are accustomed to using simply are not there this year.

Also, the approach to Cream Lake has been made rather challenging thanks to an avalanche/windfall just before the lake. Travel is very difficult through all the downed trees. The logical choice is to go high!

The flowers are varied throughout the Bailey Range. In some places the lupine is fading out, while in other places it is still in its prime, being accompanied by Tiger Lillies, Columbine, Paintbrush, Aster, etc. I even found a couple of places where Glacier Lillies were in full bloom!

A large bear resides in the vicinity of 11 Bull Basin, and is very skittish of people (let's keep it that way!). He barrelled uphill over 1,000' vertical to get away from me and was still going at last sight, periodically looking back at me over his shoulder.

The goats are not so skittish!

I have posted many pics on my web site - www.mountainscenes.com. What a beautiful place to witness sunrise and sunset on Mt. Olympus!

Don

The goal of this trip was to do the Bailey Traverse from High Divide to Low Divide at the headwaters of the Elwha. I ended up turning around just past Mt Carrie due to poor visibility which made it difficult to find the route. Eleven Bull Basin was my turnaround point.

Some notes for people heading up into this area: - there is still snow up there, but the trail and traverse route along Mt Carrie are basically snow free.

- There is no running water between Heart Lake and Mt Carrie. There are snow fields and some stagnant pools (such as Boston Charlie's camp)

- There are places where the boot path is washed out by creeks and slides. The footing is precarious and exposed.

- There were some mosquitoes in Sol Duc Park, but I found very few on the high route.

This is a fantastic area. The weather cleared somewhat and the contrast of the rocky and snowy Bailey Range and Mount Olympus with the Hoh River valley is truly spectatular. The wildflowers were out in force and hummingbirds and dark eyed junkos were everywhere.

Saw two bears grazing on the hillside opposite Heart Lake. Lots of Goat hair along The Catwalk.

You really get the meaning of a ""cathedral forest"" while hiking up the Sol Duc. The trees there are big and tall.

If you're planning anything along the Bailey Range, be sure to read several guidebooks and trip reports on the web. I found route descriptions varied somewhat. Some aditional navigations tools such as a GPS and altimeter should complement your map/compass.

-Pat

Couldn't waste the one good-weather day of the week, so I headed for Sol-duc to do the high-divide loop. Having read (in WTA reports) of the mob that is attracted to this trail, i was not surprised to see several dozen groups of hikers on the trail, despite it being a Wed. sandwiched by imperfect weather! Most of them were camped near Deer & Heart Lakes though, so i'd wait a couple more years before installing the toll- booths. The trail has been amply described in previous reports; its snow free and in good condition; just couldn't resist dispelling the myth that the loop isn't feasible as a day hike: I found it quite manageable and enjoyable, even with side trips. The lack of real steep sections make the 19+ miles feel alot less strenuous than many W. Wa. hikes of half the distance. I hit the trail at 9, went clockwise (Heart Lake first) and returned at 6. This is probably the more aesthetic way; but for a day hike i would reccomend the opposite way, since the deer lake to solduc falls section is very rocky and less friendly to tired feet. Anyhow, this was a great hike, and i got some terrific views of Olympus rising above the low cloud deck before the fog thickened and ended my photo session from Bogachiel pk. on. Just missed a couple bears feasting along the trail near the peak. Im psyched for Sept. now!

Took an old friend of mine from Jersey on a 2-night trip to show him a sample of the wild Olympics. We hiked the Sol Duc trail five miles to the junction with the Appleton Pass trail. As expected, the Sol Duc trail is in top-notch shape and very busy with folks doing the Seven Lakes Basin loop. The Appleton Pass trail begins in O.K. condition as it climbs above the Sol Duc's valley bottom, though it deteriorates dramatically upon reaching the subalpine zone due to numerous blow-downs. Although most of the downed trees are not large, it seems that many of them are lying at the most inconvenient angles possible. Some have also splintered, creating tiny little crawl spaces that one must try to slip through. In a couple of places, it was easier to remove our packs, drop them over the downed trees, then hop over ourselves. I'm not usually the most vociferous critic of hiking fees, yet it seems as if Olympic Park's custodians are taking more of my money while the trails increasingly fall into various states of disrepair. As carefully illustrated by author Carsten Lien, the management history of Olympic is a shady one, so we'd do well to scrutinize their budget priorities. We camped the first night at Appleton Pass, near Oyster Lake (pond), in a cold, misty rain that finally broke near sunset. The rest of our trip was blessed with lovely weather. From Oyster Lake, we made our way to the Catwalk. Leaving the hordes of people behind at the pass, we climbed a bit through open meadows and snow patches. The way trail was fairly visible until where it begins to descend, probably a little less than one-half mile beyond Oyster Lake. It then pretty much vanishes in a large meadow, but can be easily picked up by going straight across the open area to where the tread begins again in the woods. The descent from there to a pretty brook is a steep one, and is followed by a subsequent ascent to Spread Eagle Pass (a nearby snowfield does indeed assume the appearance of an eagle). The almost gothic view at Spread Eagle was the best of the trip. On one side, we could see down the Sol Duc Valley for miles, while the other side offered a great look at the Bailey Range and the deep gash of Cat Creek. The Catwalk path stays high for a while from here as it heads south, mostly on the Cat Creek side of the divide. Views of Mount Olympus were full and frontal as we scooted along on the rough and narrow route. Rock slides are occasionally crossed. Poles or an ice axe are handy for balance. After traversing three consecutive cirques, we chose to stay high in order to reach Cat Lake, instead of descending to the lower portions of Cat Basin. Be warned that the final drop on the higher-up option after crossing the third cirque is extremely steep and rocky. It might be a better idea to go all the way down to the basin floor and then climb back up to the lake, but I couldn't say for sure. We camped the second night in the vicinity of the lake. An attempt was made to swim in it, but its ultra-chilly waters spat us back out in mere seconds. Marmots were everywhere here, and their whistling was almost nonstop due to the high density of bears. We saw probably four bears total in this area, though it was difficult to count accurately as they kept popping up again and again. They were far more interested in munching on their alpine salad than paying us any heed. Finally, on Day 3, we briefly followed a game/way trail from the lake to pick up the High Divide trail, which smoothly delivered us west to Sol Duc Park. A long descent from there, down the valley, and back to the trailhead concluded a swell venture.

High Divide is spectacular. The trail is snow-free except for a few patches east and west of Bogachiel Peak. We spent the night at Silver Snag and were treated to views of Mt. Olympus that will forever stay etched in our minds. All lakes, trails and camp sites have melted out. The wild flowers are out. The rock stair way to Heart Lake is impressive. The Lake itself is a gem. Although it's a pain, the reservation system really helps minimize the number of people in the area and preserve the wilderness experience. There is one large tree down on the trail above The Pot Holes. The Bear-Wire at Silver Spur is down. Water is difficult to obtain between the Pot Holes and Heart Lake. There is a small pond behind Silver Snag and snow can be melted for water. Enjoy this hike, the views are priceless.

Snow from Heart Lake to Bogachiel with few bare patches. Bogachiel to Hoh Lake quite treacherous with numerous steep and long snow fields. Run out on trees and rocks. Ice ax experience required!

Snow kept the masses away. Saw no one (except for a single ranger) from Sol Duc Falls to below Hoh Lake. Beautiful terrain/views.

Hoh Lake toilet is a gem! What a view! :)

""Party"" of three headed up Sol Duc Trail Friday morning June 2. Weather excellant, clear skies and 55-65 degrees. Bummed out when checking in with rangers that wilderness permits aren't free anymore ($17 for two nights). Also noticed that rangers had brand spanking new Dodge Magnum V-10 pickup truck with extended cab, electric winch, and snappy flashing lights. Anyways, trail in good condition and snow free until bridge crossing near Seven-Mile Camp. Bridge in good condition and snow-free. Snow OK for step-kicking. Put on skis and climbing skins after breaking out of trees at base of Sol Duc Park. Snow well- consolidated although some previous loose slides had occurred. Saw no slide activity during course of trip. Reached Seven Lakes Basin at 4:00 PM, established camp at Lake Number 8. Cocktails at 6:00 followed by dinner. Long daylight allowed for some evening skiing. Snow conditions primo for tele turns. Hansrolf really ""on"", Dobbs and I not doing too bad either. Back to camp for major rave-up, sacked out after midnight. Woke Saturday morning at 8:00 to sound of coyotes nearby, glad we hung food. Breakfast and chores completed, we headed up to ridge for some morning turns, excellant teleing down to Morganroth and No Name Lake. Lunch and then back up to ridge to explore High Divide. Trav- ersed above Sol Duc Park to eastern end of ridge. Weather still good with great views of Mt. Tom, Olympus, Hoh Valley, and Bailey Range. More tele turns back to camp and cocktails. Dinner, then up late again, sacked out and didn't hear Dobbs' or Hansrolf's usually horriffic snoring. Sunday morning still sunny and warm, left camp at 10:30. Skied Sol Duc Park with full packs no problem to treeline. Out at 4:00. All in all a good trip with no bodily injuries other than blisters, brain cells, and Dobbs' ears bleeding from listening to Filter remake of ""One"" by Three Dog Night at maximum volume on way home.

Hoh River-Mount Olympus Area-Bailey Range Traverse, 7/19-26/99 Three of us completed a traverse of three Mt. Olympus glaciers and the Bailey Range Traverse. We entered at the Hoh Valley Visitor Center and exited the trip by way of Seven Lakes Basin and the Canyon Creek Trail to the Soleduck Trailhead. Day 1 - Mon. 7/19 - Began our trip at 11am after our support team dropped off a car at the Soleduck trailhead and then us at the Hoh trailhead. We filed a trip plan with the ONP rangers at the Hoh with tentative campsite locations for the next seven nights. The trail along the Hoh is in excellent shape with minimal mudholes. The day was sunny and warm. We arrived at mile 12.4 around 6pm, Stove Hill Camp. We would be using a coated nylon-type tarp with bivy sacks for shelter to save the weight of carrying a tent. Day 2 - Tues. 7/20 - Left Stove Hill Camp about 6:30am for Glacier Meadows. Trail in good shape. Snow in open forest and meadows below GM. Flagged so could generally be followed without much trouble. No snow at cliffy areas just below GM. Rangers working on trail this side of last gully. Some branch-thrashing because of snow just before GM. 8-10 ft. of snow at shelter in GM. If had to, could just ‘slide’ down into the shelter from the roof line. Ascended to the moraine south of GM for first view of the Blue Glacier. Some crevasses showing but appeared, and found to be, narrow and filled in. Roped up and headed for Glacier Pass. Straight line route with no crevasse passage difficulties. Very warm sun. Cool and breezy at Glacier Pass. Descended to the Hoh Glacier just south of Glacier Pass. Didn’t have crampons so knew descending from here in the morning would be difficult, if not dangerous. Again, no crevasse problems on the Hoh. Traversed to Camp Pan on rock outcrop above the east flank of the Hoh Glacier. Rock was bare with a snow melt stream running for fresh water. Day over at 5:30pm. Day 3 - Wed. 7/21 - Left Camp Pan at about 8:30am. Sunny and clear. Ascended snowfield above camp roped with plans for descending the Humes Glacier. Reached Blizzard Pass in about 45 min. Great views to southeast and Queets Basin. No difficulties with the glacier. Toe of glacier completely blanketed with snow so a direct descent of the toe was accomplished over moderate snow without having to circumvent bare slabby cliffs normally present. Unroped here. Dropped down gully with avalanche debris (lots of tree debris) to 3500’. Ascended a steep, short snow finger changing to roots/rocks/mud to gain meadows/open forest above northeast side of gully. Easy traverse to Queets Basin. Crossed river on good snow bridge. Climbed to 4700’ level - Dodwell-Rixon Pass area. Established camp on bare ground just north of the pass overlooking the basin with a great view of the Humes Glacier and the Olympus massif. Camp set up around 4:30pm. Day 4 - Thurs. 7/22 - Left Queets Basin camp about 7am. Another sunny and clear day. Ascended to low area between Mt. Barnes and Bear Mt. Found water running through open area just below the saddle. Climbed to snow on south shoulder of Bear Mt. Traveled easily along spine of the range to Lone Tree Pass, just south of Mt. Pulitzer. Several bare ground sites available. Necessary to melt snow for water. Camp established about 3:30pm. Day 5 - Fri. 7/23 - Sunny and cool. Left camp about 7am. Climbed shoulder of Mt. Pulitzer and descended through Ferry and Upper Cream Lake basins. Gained low point of ridge southeast of Mt. Stephen for reconnaissance of possible route to basin east of Mt. Stephen. Decided to keep to west side of ridge (normal Bailey route) due to lack of knowledge of alternative and possible avalanche danger near shoulder of Mt. Stephen. Descended Cream Lake Basin to lake. Some difficulty finding route through the basin because of snowbanks along creek and the meandering nature of the creek itself. Set up camp around 4:30pm. Water dipped from lake outlet stream (Cream Lake Creek). Weather appears to be changing. Clouds of various formations at several levels forming. Does not appear to be an organized system. Day 6 - Sat. 7/24 - Woke to clouds and drizzle. Left camp @ 7:30am. Dropped to meadow area north of lake. Began ascent of avalanche gully toward Mt. Stephen to gain the 5300’ level for traverse of the ridge. Observed massive destruction of whole stands of trees. Several areas here had trees snapped off 15-20 feet above the ground. Snow must have avalanched all at once with a very heavy structure from the southwest faces of Mt. Stephen. One debris path reached all the way to Cream Lake (had to find our way through yesterday). The avalanche gully we climbed was filled in well and safe, although, steep. Had been ‘flushed out’ several times. Steps held well. Exited left and up through thinly forested area at head of gully. Reached 5300’ level in the clouds. Visibility is less than a 1/4 mile. Traversed all day through basins, over small shoulders, and some open slope areas. Expected to come across Eleven Bull Basin. Never could see well enough to know. Could have been disguised because of snow. Continued at 5300’ until we encountered large, deep gullies near Mt. Carrie. When we came upon a particularly deep and wide gully we couldn’t see across (except for a brooding shadow), we decided to climb above the difficulties. 1300’ vertical feet later we had climbed out out the cloud to a beautiful sunlit vista of Olympus and the higher Olympic peaks. Established camp at 8:30pm at the 6600’ level just south of the Mt. Carrie summit and at the head of the Carrie Glacier. Well-established bivy site complete with flat ground and rock windbreaks. Awesome views of surroundings as we ate a very late supper and watched the sun go down. Day 7 - Sun. 7/25 - Weather returns to sun and clear skies at our level but the Hoh Valley is blanketed with fog and clouds. Left camp @ 9am. Climbed the head of the Carrie Glacier to the summit area and bagged it. Descended the long, ragged ridge toward Boston Charlie’s Camp. Hard snow and chossy rock made the ridge time-consuming. Descended the climber’s track easily to BC Camp. Pond is melted out and one campsite available. Proceeded onto the Catwalk. Completely clear of snow. No particular difficulties except for the rough construction of this aréte. Lots of ducking, twisting, sliding, and cursing. Once we ascended the other side, we again descended looking for the way trail extension of the High Divide trail. We hoped with the southwest exposure that it would be melted out and clear but snow accumulation between trees in haphazard patterns made it clear this was going to take a lot longer than we hoped. We retreated and ascended the south spur of Cat Peak to the summit area. We dropped through meadows, brush, and thick trees to the snow-covered meadows on the divide south of Cat Basin. We had some trouble keeping to the divide at certain places because of spur ridges and contouring around knobs. We could most often find an open area to check our bearing since we could recognize the ridge that would lead us over an intersecting ridge into the upper reaches of Soleduck Park. Eventually, we found some water running in a tree well and replenished our low stock of water. We climbed the ridge south of Heart Lake on the High Divide, traversed to just above the lake and set up camp on snow at 7:30pm with no flat, bare ground to be seen anywhere. Day 8 - Mon. 7/26 - Weather is clear and sunny. Left camp at 7am headed ‘for the barn’ - the hot pools and grill food at Sol Duc Resort. Followed the High Divide route to above Seven Lakes Basin on snow shoulders on the north side of the divide. The cornice accumulations and snow banks on many of the north sides made for easy ‘highways’ for walking. Most were flat and large enough so we didn’t have to walk anywhere near the edge of the snow where a cornice collapse would catch us doing something dumb. We dropped into the easily recognizable Seven Lakes Basin. We descended to Lunch Lake, traversed the south side and headed for what we hoped was the normal trail approach to the basin. Everything is still snowed in and iced up except for Round Lake. Very little bare ground visible. As it happened, we hit the trail right on. We had hoped that someone had visited the basin recently so route-finding would be simplified but it was not to be. Our job was not done yet. As we all had been to this area many times before, collectively, we deciphered the short sections of trail that were exposed and found the long traverse above Bogachiel Basin. Through the trees was difficult because of the uneven melt out. The open slopes still had a couple feet of snow although in one section the trail was clear for perhaps a hundred yards. When it appeared that the trail disappeared around a spur and entered the forest for an extended period, we climbed to the top of the ridge to find a view of distant Deer Lake. We had heard Deer Lake was melted out, and we found that to be a confirming factor of this landmark. A direct descent to the lake was inadvisable because of thick woods and steep terrain. We dropped to the meadowland in the area of The Potholes on the High Divide trail and began to contour to the north which generally follows the structure of the trail. As we entered the forest, we found more exposed parts of the trail. From then it was pretty much following a gently descending contour and our noses to Deer Lake. We had finally returned to the fringes of civilization when the ranger popped out of the privy at Deer Lake with a “Where have you guys been'”. We had not seen another person (except for the helicopter travelers passing by Cream Lake) since noon last Tuesday when we saw climbers returning from the Snow Dome route on Mt. Olympus - six days. We proceeded down the Canyon Creek trail to Soleduck Falls and on to the trailhead where friends and family were there to greet us and celebrate our accomplishment. Notes - Route-finding: We found that four factors were extremely important in finding our way; 1) our previous experiences in these areas (we had all done parts of the trip before); 2) a use of map and compass for identifying landmarks mostly. We all knew how to do this so collective input was valuable. We generally all agreed where we were most of the time; 3) the use of an altimeter. We all had them and knew how to use them. We kept checking for any weird readings that may indicate reading changes due to weather, and we reset them as often as we could when an identifiable landmark was reached. Exact elevation was not super important but we were always within a hundred feet or so; 4) background information from guides and others’ accounts. We found guides are not always written with all the details you might need but landmark references are pretty accurate, route descriptions less so. Wildlife: We saw several bear. All kept a a very healthy distance from us, and if we got within a couple hundred yards they were taking off in the opposite direction. We also saw only evidence of cougar, elk and deer. Several adult and juvenile goats on the slopes of Mt. Carrie. They didn’t seem to care we were there but they kept an eye on us. Not as many marmots as we have seen before. Many dens are still covered with snow. Some have dug their way out and have made distinctive den entrances. We were glad to see that the wildlife was wary of us. We would much rather have them be free from human influence and interference. As such, we were always careful to not leave garbage or to leave food that may attract wildlife. As would be a fitting final understatement, it was quite an adventure. For further information contact Mike at mdraymond@waypt.com.

Ski loop trip--up to Deer Lake, through Seven Lakes Basin, down Hart Lake trail. Blow-down cut out on trail to Deer Lake; snow free to within less than a mile of the lake (maybe 3500 feet). Snow on trail as low as 2500 feet in the shady bottom of the valley of the Sol Duc. Blow-down over trail from valley of the Sol Duc to Heart Lake. Between snow on trail and blow-down, routefinding from Hart Lake to valley of the Sol Duc required constant attention. The bridge below Heart Lake is too covered with snow to use, and the snow bridge we used will be gone in a couple more days. Seven Lakes basin was under at least ten feet of snow and only Deer Lake showed any open water. The other lakes were completely covered.