Planned a last minute road trip out to the peninsula to visit the rain forest for the first time. Hiked out to Deer Lake as a day trip - mostly because I had absolutely no idea there was so much backpacking to do in the Olympics! I must come back in the summer and do the full experience (goals to see Heart Lake.)

Late October, trail was in great condition. Sunshine was out, but it was very cold. Around the lake there were some areas that were a bit frozen. The terrain was a bit more rough than I was used to with it largely being rocks and roots. I used my poles the whole time - it's a killer on the knees.

Beautiful little out and back.

Hiked up to Lunch lake for an overnight hike.

Thursday's weather made for good views and a nice hike.  However that evening the weather turned and it started to rain. The wind made it hard to sleep, but it eventually died down on my hike out Friday morning.

The only snow I saw was on top of Bogachiel Peak, but it was completely gone after that evenings rain fall.

This was a two-night backpacking trip to Olympic National Park.  Due to campsite availability (recreation.gov) we hiked the counter clockwise Deer Lake loop via Mink lake and did an out and back up to Lunch Lake on day two.  

Day 1:  Parked at the SulDuc Hot springs Resort and headed up the 2.5 mile Mink Lake trail in light rain showers and clean air!  We made camp at Mink and enjoyed being able to use the shelter.   

Day 2: Woke to clear skies and 50F.  Had breakfast, packed and headed up to our second night's camp at Deer Lake.

The trail in between Mink Lake and Deer Lake (Low Divide Trail) has 6 or so blowdows to scale over or around and is generally under tree canopy (not real epic).  This segment of the Low Divide is a roller coaster on rocks and roots, pretty tough hiking honestly.  

We arrived at Deer Lake for lunch.  Afterward, we set up the overnight gear to allow it to dry and reduce weight for our out-and-back to Lunch Lake in the Seven Lakes Basin.  

The High Divide trail from Deer Lake up to Lunch Lake was epic and very scenic.  Only took us about 2 hrs. to make it to Lunch Lake.  Part of the trail crosses the really interesting aftermath from the landslide (near the Seven Lakes and High Route junction).  Thank you to the trail builders for re-building this segment of trail!  What a task this must have been.  We saw a bear grazing on the opposite side of Lunch Lake.   

We hiked back to Deer Lake and arrived just before dark.  We make dinner and had a quiet night.  

Day 3:  After morning routines and packing, we headed down toward SolDuc Falls (3 miles) then the Lover's Lane trail  back to SulDuc Resort TH (3 Miles).  The trail on this segment was in great shape with several segments recently worked and a couple of really nice new bridges.  Great work crew, thank you!

 Overall:  It was about 25 miles total with ~7,000 elevation gain in total.  Bugs were not bad.  Blueberries were copious and delicious.  The fall colors are just starting but not full on just yet    All the camps that we saw were in great shape with very little garbage left behind.  We were surprised to see only one bear and a few deer.  No Elk, marmots, and very few bird calls in the background.  It was almost eerily quiet the whole time. 

We did this fantastic loop setting off from Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort at 8:30 AM and returned around 4PM.  According to GAIA GPS, it was 15.4 miles with 2,950 feet of elevation gain with most of it in the first 5 miles to Mink Lake/Little Divide.  The trail was in good shape the entire way, with ~14 blowdowns on the trail between little divide to deer lake - but all easily passable.  There were perfectly ripe huckleberries throughout the hike...  yum!

It made for an excellent start to the long weekend and my wife's 50th birthday.  She handled the hike like a cheetah!  

I can say that this was a really good experience: I start the morning driving from Redmond to the starting point and didn't considered the ferry so I arrived one hour later than I wanted but it was summer and plenty of sunlight so that wasn't a problem. It was a long drive though.

After you pass the fall point (which is very crowded) you'll notice that only few people are in this trail which is a good thing if you want more space due covid.

I did this hike with people that wasn't used to do hikes but beside a couple of breaks for breath and water it was totally ok which tells me that this is suitable for kids over 8 y/o. 

The trail was in the best of the conditions and really enjoyable, every turn gave us energy to continue walking with amazing views and the more height we got the better the views. 

The lake was so peaceful and totally worth the effort.