Spruce Railroad Trail — Sunday, May. 21, 2017

Olympic Peninsula > Northern Coast

Don't let the "TRAIL CLOSED" warnings stop you from enjoying the western 3-4.2 miles of this amazing trail. Drive west around Lake Crescent on US101 to the first right turn at the Fairholm area onto Camp David Road. The paved road ends and you slow for sandy/muddy road that's wide enough for two cars to pass in most places. In about 3 miles you reach the "Ovington" area at newly ADA-compliant pedestrian ramps uphill to the Pyramid Peak trailhead and the paved section of the Spruce RR Trail; park along the road or in the North Shore Day Use Area parking lot, which has a pit toilet. You can start your hike here, heading east along the SRRT's easternmost 1.6 paved miles and continuing on the dirt trail beyond. Or you could stay in your car for the last 1.6 narrow dirt road miles of Camp David road and shave that distance from your hike. The SRRT is high above the lake at Ovington and gradually descends to run lakeside. From the end of the paved trail section to the construction was about 2.6 mikes; signs declared that Devil's Punch Bowl (the swimming hole with steel bridge) was open, but that proved untrue. Nonetheless there was plenty of good hike available. At 1 mile from the end of the paved section, the not-yet-cleared eastern tunnel still requires a detour hugging the shoreline. We saw lots of multicolor sedum and a trilium or two along the way. On this warm and sunny Sunday, our party of 4+dog encountered 4 mountain bikers and 5 hikers during our 4-hour, 8.5-mile roundtrip. Glorious!