Mildred Lakes — Saturday, May. 11, 2002

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

On a warm and sunny Sunday, Kar and I decided to reconnoiter the Mildred Lakes way trail with the two pups. The washout on the road looked little changed from our last visit to the Hamma Hamma, about two years ago. We parked there, crossed the washout, and headed up the pleasant, carless road - about a 3.5 mile trip to the trailhead. Violets, a red currant and a few paintbrush were out along the road, and we had fine views of the rushing Hamma Hamma, lava cliffs towering nearby, and snowclad Pershing and Jefferson as we neared the bridge at road's end. After lunch here we headed up the trail - again not much changed in the past two years, a couple easily negotiated trees on the trail. Until just beyond a mile we came up to the big avalanche chute full of knock downs. The flags on either side were easy to see in the midday sun, and with leashed pups we decided to descend to the boulders below to find a way across. It's not a problem with a little patience. There was snow on the other side and a returning party reported 3 feet of snow in the valley on the other side of the little ridge just ahead of us (still about 2 miles from the lakes) so we turned here and headed back. A most pleasant walk. Trillium and orchids were definitely out along the trail about halfway from the trailhead to the avalanche chute.