3 day, 2 night trip from Sol Duc to Olympic Hot Springs, over Appleton Pass. We car camped at Sol Duc Weds night to get an early start on Thurs, knowing that we had 3-4 miles of potentially difficult snow travel in the middle of this 13 mile hike.
We cruised the Sol Duc River trail and then slowed a bit as we climbed toward Appleton Pass. Snow patches over the trail began at about 4200, and in the pond meadows around 4600 we decided to put microspikes on. None of us had done this particular route before, so we took extra time to stick closely to the summer trail using Gaia as a general guide. There were no previous tracks. Snow travel up to Appleton Pass was generally ok, a little slushy in places but not terrible.
Descending from Appleton was another story - despite mostly clouds, the snow was extremely soft from the preceding hot days, and my taller/heavier friends were post-holing up to their thighs. I took a snow-surfing approach and had better luck. None of us had ice axes so we chose not to glissade, but that would have been a more efficient choice. We stuck to the summer trail except we stayed on the east side of South Fork Boulder Creek between 4400ft and 4000ft, opting for two tiny creek crossings instead of 2 across SF Boulder. Kept spikes on for a couple slippery creek crossings until about 3600ft. NOTE: on our return trip, we did not retrace our steps up the summer trail post hole section, and instead went directly up a short steep open snowfield toward Appleton Pass Camp. Temps were colder and the snow was perfect for kicking steps and it saved us an hour or more.
The rest of the hike to the hot springs was pretty chill, although we were pooped from the difficult snow. Some blowdowns and creek crossings (rock hopping and log walking). Friday we enjoyed a morning and evening soak and only saw a handful of other groups who had come in from the Elwha side. Pit toilet and bear wires in ok condition. Lots of sites to choose from. Hot springs were nice - there are a couple pools that are the most used and thus have the least algae, but all the pools would be really nice with a little maintenance. I scooped out a few handfuls of algae that were starting to encroach on our pool, and I hope everyone will do the same to keep them in good condition for others!
Hike out was similar to hike in, but with slightly firmer snow and more efficient snow route.
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