Tubal Cain Mine to Buckhorn Lake — Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

We hiked to Buckhorn Lake after spending the night just off the road towards the Grey Wolf trailhead. The trail is in very good condition, especially up along the steep last leg up towards the lake, where it's clear that recent work has been done to make the trail safer and more erosion-resistant. We didn't attempt to find the plane crash, but from the confusion and complaints of other hikers on the trail, it sounds like the junction off the main trail to the crash is a bit hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for. I highly recommend getting some GPS points loaded or taking along a friend who has been before. The mine shaft is visible and easily, if not steeply, accessible from the main trail - we didn't go in terribly far, as there are decent sized rocks that have fallen to the floor of the mine shaft and several more that looked like they might fall, but the cave has adorable harvestmen and a curious aggregation of moths, so it's worth exploring a little if you're the entomologist type! Unfortunately, the trail seems to have become a haven for loud, gun and target practice enthusiasts. Like a previous reviewer noted, it appeared to be a group of early 20-somethings, clad in old ROTC costumes, and in our case, headed out with BB guns and crossbows. They were polite and held their weapons correctly at the trailhead, but LOUD AS HELL and singing (if you can call yelling singing) as soon as they started up the trail. We booked it with our dog to put a good distance between us and them. It's such a shame that people are using this trail and the campgrounds as target practice, and being generally very impolite and dickish to fellow hikers who are trying to keep the noise-level low enough to see birds and other skittish animals. Also, trash. It will be there, including a nearly full can of soda, MRE package remains, and an empty container of chew up at the lake. Oh, the lake! It's there, but definitely very low and sad looking (although you can tell by the cracked mud under the surface, that it has been even lower recently). Keep this in mind if, like us, you googled the lake and saw that lush photo of green waters from around 2005. In spite of this, the forest sections are lovely and there are some great views of the Olympics from the exposed part of the trail along the canyon ridge. I would recommend trying this trail on a weekday when hopefully the weekend warriors are still in school (?) and doing some homework ahead of time to make sure you can find the plane crash. Good luck!