This past week I made a trip up to one of my favorite places in the Olympics, Cedar Lake. I started the trip at the Slab Camp TH so that my wife did not have to navigate the Deep Park road, which she hates. I had originally planned to come out on the Dosewallips but changed plans midstream and ended up coming back out at Slab Camp.
The Slab Camp trail was in good shape. As was the portion of the Graywolf trail inside the National Forest. There were a number of logs down across the trail in the Park, but there is a trail crew started to clear them today. Other than logs, the trail was good up to Ellis camp where I spent the first night.
From Ellis I hiked on up to Falls camp. There were more logs and the trail was overgrown in places. Then up the Cedar Lake way trail to the lake. I have been up this trail a number of times, but it would be a bit daunting for a first timer. The trail is very steep in places and has had no noticeable maintenance in a number of years. The trail was mostly pretty easy to follow although there were a couple of spots below the ford that had turned into a muddy mire. The brush was intermittently very heavy and a few logs to navigate over or around. My feet were already a mess by the time I got to the Cedar Creek crossing, so I just forded it.
I got to Cedar Lake pretty early in the day and spent all the next day there as well. The two campsites at the outlet stream are in good shape. The bugs were thick, but long sleeves, pants, and a head net kept them at bay. The trout were jumping like crazy through part of each day. And I was able to watch a bear graze his way along the hillside. The way trail to the other end of the lake is pretty muddy, but that seems to be normal.
I had planned on going over the pass and on to the Graywolf pass. And I have taken that route before. But the more I looked at it the less inclined I was to tackle it again. There was some snow still and it looked steeper than I remembered. I watched a group inch their way up to near the top before losing them. A bit later a group camp through camp and headed down the trail. Don't know if it was the same group or not.
So yesterday I headed back down the trail, thinking to stop at the Graywolf campground. I got there about 11:30 and was eating lunch when the WTA trail camp down to set up camp where I was. I gladly surrendered it to them and headed down to Slide Camp a few miles further down. It is essentially a dry camp, but I loaded up with water at a little stream about 5 minutes before the camp.
Slide camp was very quiet, but peaceful. It rained a bit during the night, for the second night in a row. But nothing bad. Packed up early this morning and was at the trailhead by 9:30 this morning. All in all a very good and refreshing trip.
Comments