Mount Townsend, Silver Lakes — Saturday, Jun. 4, 2005

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

On Sunday, June 5th, my sister and I drove out to Quilcene, WA and the upper Mount Townsend trailhead. We arrived at around 8:30 a.m. or so and we were the only car at the parking area. A parking fee is required for parking at the trailhead. The hike begins in the forest above a creek and switch-backs up the ridge through trees and rhododendrons. It crosses a couple more creeks before entering the Buckhorn Wilderness at 3,500 ft. elevation. Two signs on trees to your right will tell you of this point. Keep following the trail as it eventually opens out into meadows below Windy Lake. Windy Lake is off the trail to the left, 0.3 miles before the junction with the Silver Lakes trail. Continue past Windy Lake until you arrive at this junction which is marked by a sign on a tree in front of you. Turn left here and follow the trail as it passes under jagged rocks lining the ridgetop. You will make this ridgetop in a few switchbacks and then the trail will drop down the other side of the ridge eventually arriving at a small creek. Another trail adjoins the path that you're on at this location but make sure to keep left if you want to make it to the lakes. The trail will gently ascend as it parallels Silver Creek before you arrive at the lake. The lake is set in a meadow under rocky peaks that may make good day excursions if you decided to camp at the lake. All said, the weather wasn't very conducive to frolicking at the lake for long with overcast skies and occasional light ice pellet showers. While the hike to the lake yielded us solidly overcast skies with light ice pellet showers and sprinkles, the hike back was a little more wet. Once we began nearing the ridgeline again on our return trip, the light ice pellet showers we were experiencing increased in intensity and eventually changed over to light snow. From the ridge down, the snow repeatedly switched over from ice pellets back to snow before ultimately turning to rain once we reached a lower elevation. I completed the hike with sweatpants, a t-shirt and a waterproof jacket for the most part.