Black & White Lakes — Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022

Kids were with Grandpa and Grandma for the weekend. So my wife and I decided to do some backpacking. The plan was to spend 1 night in the Olympic National Park. We were seeking a bit of solitude – if we can find it! I wanted to avoid the crowds at Flapjack lakes -- a popular destination for sure! It was completely booked for the weekend. And so we headed up the trail less traveled to Black and White Lakes.

The first 4 miles were moderately graded. I was lost in my head for a while – enjoying the quiet – and the miles passed quickly. We reached Spike Camp – It’s there that there is a junction. Taking a right! We continued for about 3.5 more miles - passing waterfalls and creeks. No worries about finding water when you need it! Then we reached the next junction. A right takes you to Flapjack. NOPE! Let’s go left to Black and White lakes!

After the junction you're only 1.1 miles away from the lakes. From the junction, the map says this is a “primitive” trail. Pretty nice actually! Just steep! It can get a bit narrow – so watch your footing. As we got close to the lake, we entered a beautiful alpine meadow. In total we hiked almost 9 miles.

Once we arrived at the lake, we found at least three suitable campsites near the lake. We thought we found solitude… until the bears showed up! I was glad that I rented a bear canister, because there aren’t many tall trees near the lake for which to hang up your food. We had at least 4 separate instances of bear sightings. It was quite exciting actually. One bear decided to take a swim in the lake very close to where we were camping. Although, they didn’t seem interested in us… the bears seemed to be most interested in the blue berries that were ripe and prolific.

For more information please check out my vlog trip report on YouTube - https://youtu.be/tiCNq2ypLlY