Our group of brave souls completed a tour of the Hamma Hamma, Skokomish, and Duckabush drainages from August 16 thru 19. The Lama, Wild Bill, and the author started off in the company of my dad for the first leg of our adventure, leaving the Lower Lena Lake lot at 8:30 AM. The student was so wary of this hike that he went and got himself a job in Amsterdam to avoid any possibility of joining us. The first 4 miles of the morning went by smoothly on the well-traveled trail up to Lower Lena Lake. No wildlife to speak of, and the forest canopy limits the light so very few plants out, except the usual bunchberry, Indian pipe, and red huckleberry. A quick snack at that point, and Dad headed back down to enjoy his lunch at Lower Lena. We headed up, up, and up to Upper Lena. Lunch was in one of the many openings in the trees, and Mount Rainier was visible floating above Puget Sound and the Canal. The trail descriptions of the rough going on this section of trail are very accurate - it is steep and quite relentless, a great warm-up for the remainder of our 4 days in the Olympics. We were most thankful for the awesome maintenance work recently completed on the Upper Lena trail. Downed trees were cleared, puncheon placed, and brush clearance done. I would not have wanted to work any harder than I did in the 3900 + feet of elevation gain to the upper lake. Good work folks! The flowers were in full bloom. You name it, we saw it. I won't go into details except to say a plethora of beautiful flowers gladly accepted our sweat as we trudged upward. Our pace was consistent, as it was hazardous to stop. Hordes of flies, black and horse, were constant companions. They seemed to love the various bug sprays and repellants we brought. The Lama's soy-based product worked as well as my jungle juice. Wildman's DEET worked the best of them all (maybe 45 minutes as opposed to the 30 minutes I was getting!). Anyhow, we made it to Upper Lena (with only minor cramping from the Wildman) by 2:30 PM - not bad for a bunch of old guys. The back-country ranger was swimming in the lake - Ranger Tom is a brave guy. There were 2 other groups at the lake that evening, and the fly-fishing was not so great. But there was a whole lotta biting going on, as the mosquitoes were stealthy, ever-present, and numerous. They affected every meal we ate for the next 3 days! We retired to the tents to get some relief.

The next day dawned sunny and warm. The skeeters hastened us out of the site. We originally planned to head into Hagen Lakes Basin via the north shoulder of Mount Stone, but after talking with Ranger Tom we decided that a saner plan would be to ascend to St Peter's Gate, go past Lake of the Angels, and around the west side of Mt. Stone to Great Stone Arrow Pass. This utilizes a series of way trails that were alternatingly difficult to find at times and easy to follow once you found them. The trail between Upper Lena and Scout Lake is well described in Wood's bible on hiking the Olympics- beautiful meadows and stands of sub-alpine trees. The trails would be relatively visible thru the meadows, and easily identifiable entering and exiting. That is, until we reached the bypass to Stone's Ponds and St Peter's Gate. We missed the left branch (more appropriately, it disappeared after 5 steps into a meadow / rocky area). We headed another .3 miles toward Scout Lake until the trail got ugly and the area of hanging onto roots with 40 feet of exposure down the cliff came into view. We punted and headed back up to the left branch and found some small cairns and eventually the trail heading up the second small shoulder on the right. This trail was a good tread, only disappearing for 15 feet at a time, and led us all the way to the approach to Stone's Ponds. We side-hilled to maintain elevation and headed up towards St Peter's Gate over scree, boulders, rock, and snow. I actually got buzzed by a hummingbird about halfway up. The snow was good for kicking steps, and the exposure was minimal until we were within 50 feet of the top. Wildman took over with the ice ax and led us over the final section. Lunch was eaten at 2 PM with beautiful views out to Scout Lake and beyond. We relaxed and enjoyed the breeze (it kept the bugs at bay) and recharged. It had taken 5 hours to go that far (about 5 miles), and we had about that much more to go before we rested. The way down towards Lake of the Angels was very steep! The climbers' trail was difficult to follow, and we ended up side-hilling over towards the pass above LOA to save time. The Lama punched thru on a snow field and left some red snow behind. We rallied for the steep descent to the Skokomish drainage and worked our way on up to Great Stone Arrow Pass (west of Mt Stone, the entry to Hagen Lakes). We decided to camp at the pass for the night, hoping for some wind to keep the bugs away. A beautiful sunset colored Mt Stone a memorable shade of red, and the moon rose over the south shoulder of same. Water was available from snowmelt below the field at the pass. We rested well.

Day 3 dawned sunny and warm. We packed up and headed for the Elk Basin. We found the entry to the elk trails on the Skokomish side of the drainage that had eluded us 4 years ago in the fog. Smooth sailing was the order of the day as we hiked thru scree and meadows bursting with flowers. Elk droppings were everywhere, and we could even smell the elk, they had been there so recently! The Lama claims to have seen the herd, including maybe 6 with antlers. All the Wildman and I heard was a rumbling as a large group of mammals thundered away from us, and the queen momma stared at us before catching up with the crowd. We quietly made our way to Fisher's Pass for a rest, enjoying the view up to Mt Hopper. Next up was the HORRIBLE section of non-maintained trail known as the Mt Hopper Way Trail. We did this section in about an hour 4 years ago, but it was much deteriorated from that vintage. In general, the blowdowns were too numerous to count, and the trail completely disappears in 2 areas. Heading down the trail, the first time the trail disappears is in an area of major blowdown. Just below the blowdown, a seeming ""switchback"" turns and goes the other way. Do not follow this, as it dies at a stream crossing in a couple hundred feet. Continue beyond the blowdown, and one will find a big cairn reclaiming the trail. The second loss of trail (on the way down) is in a meadow that is gradually being reclaimed by trees and mountain azalea. After crossing a seep, a pile of blowdowns completely obfuscated the trail. A cairn marks that one must continue across the hillside, but from that point things were not clear at all. Finally, the Wildman headed down the hillside and in about 40 yards found the trail. It was near the bottom of the meadow and to the right (NW) side of the clearing. If headed in to this section, the easiest way of finding the trail would be to continue along the contour to the seep/ creek and head vertically up until encountering the rock cairn. From this point, we had only to put up with the endless blowdowns to clamber over. There were many ripe blueberries to eat in this area. Elk Basin is such a nice area to access that it is a shame the trail has deteriorated so much. Flagging would help in the lost areas. It was too bad that we did not bring any tape with us. We eventually connected with the North Fork Skokomish Trail just below First Divide. It was so nice to be on a maintained trail again! We were woefully behind schedule, having spent the better part of 2 hours going 2 miles! Lunch was at 2 PM (I sensed a trend here) besides Home-Sweet-Home creek. We were enamored of the lack of flies and mosquitoes. Only the slow ones were with us (piles of dead flies). Bill wondered where our next planned campsite was, and I did not have the heart or feet or legs left to tell him it was supposed to be at 10-mile camp on the Duckabush, 9 miles distant! We rallied the horses and enjoyed the plunge into the deep forest of the Duckabush above Camp Duck. We saw our first people in a day (frightening). The majesty of the huge Doug firs, Hemlock, and Cedar were inspiring, as were the forest carpet and padding they provided for our feet as we wended our way 1500 feet down to the Duck. A quick stop at Camp Duck and we were back on the trail (too many bugs there!). We did notice a palatial mansion of a tent set up, as some entomologists were busy along the trail (they claimed to not have any beer or wine, but I did not believe them) and river studying (I kid you not) the Olympic jumping mouse (?). I did not know such a beast existed, but oh well. We agreed to hike until 6 PM and take the first campsite we saw after that. At about 13 mile, our rest spot came into view, a lovely spot under the trees next to the river. Dinner (less soup spilled) and a really cold bath did wonders for the group's disposition and aroma. The best part of the camp was that there were no bugs! Dinner was enjoyable, and we collapsed as darkness arrived. 12 miles (5 with no trail) had done its damage on our bodies but not our spirits.

Day 4 found us thinking about getting a move on, but we did not get up until 7:30 and on the trail until 9 (par for the course). We had 13 miles to cover by 4 PM. Hiking in old growth is such a cool and somewhat humbling experience. I have heard it called ""gloomy"", but it is not gloomy at all to me. Passing by 6 foot diameter Doug firs that have survived major burns and are still alive and growing, or seeing a hugely buttressed cedar with the center burned out but still living are things to ponder. So is climbing up Big Hump after going 8 miles. That was a major workout. The 33 switchbacks on the way back down were painful on knees and feet. But in the end, it was all worth it as Dad and Mom were waiting for us on the trail, with Moose Drools for the participants, and comfortable shoes and clothes that did not stink.

39 miles, lots of vertical (up and down), great trails and maintenance, difficult trails and no maintenance, lofty peaks and deep valleys, this hike had them all. 4 days doesn't seem like enough time.