My buddy and I hiked a loop from the Herrick Rd trailhead for the West Elwha trail, to the Olympic Hot Springs Rd (closed due to washout), to a camp at Boulder Creek. We did a side trip up to Appleton Pass and camped the second night at Boulder Lake. Our third day, we hiked up to Happy Lake Ridge trial, to Happy Lake for a break, and back down to the road, where we camped on a wide spot. We returned to our car on the (short) fourth day.
The trails were in good condition throughout, including the east end of the Happy Lake Ridge trail, which we’d been told might be in poor condition. It did have some big blow downs, but all were passable. The top and bottom miles could use some brushing, but it was never higher than hip deep (tall huckleberry up top and salal below). Nowhere was the trail hard to follow.
The camps at Boulder Creek, above the hot springs, were excellent, spacious, and graced by large trees. Boulder Lake has excellent camping, too, as well as a good place to soak your feet. Happy Lake is pretty and has a couple of small sites. I don’t recommend camping along the road.
One last thing: It was hard to find information about the trailhead, which is on private land at the end of Herrick Road, the first turn south off the highway west of the Elwha River bridge. I was chagrined to find a "This is private property: Day use only" post-it on my windshield. How true it is, I don’t know, but I thought I’d pass this along out of courtesy to the folks who let us park there.
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