I’ve been away from the computer since Saturday; out with the family.

I have embarked in lots of little adventures and have lots of pictures and some videos to share. I’ll be working on them once I get home.

Stay Tuned

On the north shore of Lake Crescent towards the end of Camp David Jr. Rd is an inconspicuous little trailhead on the lake. The trail traverses the hillside and after about 3.5 miles place you up on the peak overlooking the whole lake. (Driving directions to trailhead from Port Angeles)

There is ample parking and a privy, but no clean water, so be sure to bring your own.  Insect repellent is a must as well; under the cover of the trees the no-see-ums are thick enough to actually see-um. Also, don’t do this one alone. There is a washout on the hillside that is easily traversable, but in the event of an accident, you can be left in a world of hurt. Just to be completely safe, the buddy system here is vital. I say “washout” but it’s more like a landslide, which is a few years old now, and several hundred feet above the forest floor. A tumble here would mean a long mostly uncontrollable slide down a dusty, rocky near-vertical face. Regardless, hundreds of hikers have passed over its’ face in the previous years without incident, so a little caution goes a long way.

So, park in the parking area, no entry permit required, and make your way about a hundred feet back up the road the way you came. The trail begins on the uphill side and makes its way through the undergrowth and before long opens up into a Douglas Fir forest. Nearly the entire trail is on the south side of the mountain with occasional peeks down to the crystal green and blue waters of Lake Crescent. Across the lake, busy Highway 101 can be seen.

The bulk of the hike is quite generic, the exceptions being the landslide traverse and the destination. You cross a couple small streams in the beginning, but nothing to write home about. Approximately 1.5 miles up the trail is where you will encounter the first and only real obstacle in the path.. Officially, the trail is (reluctantly) closed at this point, but the park actually tries their best to keep a path dug into the 150 or so foot face of the hillside. On a nice dry day you can hear the hillside sluffing away and pebbles and sand sliding down into oblivion. Just be careful, don’t be an idiot and it really isn’t that bad. (Notice the big scar in the hillside, about the halfway point, in the picture below. Also, the map below states it is 2.5 miles: It’s really closer to 3.5)

Approximate route of Pyramid Peak Trail

Trails of Lake Crescent

Once across the slide, the trail begins to climb a little more aggressively. Up a few switchbacks you finally crest the ridge and begin the traverse to the peak. Off the your left you can see an old logging road: This section of the trail jogs in and out of National Park boundaries and actually, at times, into old clear cuts from days of old.

Before you know it, you complete the final push up the last hill and you immediately notice an old shack perched on the tippy-top if the peak. This was an old World War II enemy plane spotter station. Stepping past the cabin, you are rewarded with views of the entirety of Lake Crescent, nearly all the way to Port Angeles to the east and the Straight of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island to the north. Aurora Ridge to the south, across the lake, blocks most of the view to the Olympic Mountains.  Be careful exploring the area, there are loose rocky ledges all around. It’s a wonderful place for lunch, soaking up some sun, (if it’s out), and enjoying the scenery before beginning your descent back to the lake-side.

Once back at the car, just below the parking area is a perfect little spot for taking a dip in the lake. There’s a small dock on the water, perfect for diving, or just for relaxing in the sun.

I’ve been looking over my maps lately, trying to find any trails I haven’t yet explored. I know there are a lot of them, and a multitude of options really makes it difficult to decide on any one in particular. However, after much pondering and poring over my maps I decided on a 17 mile loop starting near the Olympic Hot Springs up to Boulder Lake, up the Happy Lake Ridge and back down. I’ve done more than that in a day and figured it would be a piece of cake.

Appleton Pass Trailhead

To get there, follow the signs to the Olympic Hot Springs. Take the Elwha River Road past Lake Mills and the dam up another 5 miles of narrow winding, rough road to the Appleton Pass trailhead.

The first 2.2 miles or so, to the hot springs,  is nearly all paved. It makes for easy walking and this area is extremely popular. When I got there at 7:30 in the morning, the parking lot was packed. I’m typically a solitary kind of guy, so seeing all the cars just made me nervous that I was going to be hiking with crowds of people all around me. Luckily that wasn’t quite the case.

I set off at 8:00 sharp and by 8:45 was at the hot springs. It’s kind of cool down there. The ground is bright green from the algae thriving in the sulphur rich water and if you like the smell of rotten eggs, you’ll be right at home here. The pools aren’t that spectacular, about the size of a large hot tub, but they are quite popular none-the-less.

Making my way past the springs, I saw where most of the occupants of the many vehicles at the trail head were; the campgrounds above the springs. There are quite a few great little tent sites. Flat grassy meadows are all around and there are several “bear wires” set up to keep food out of reach of scavengers.

Through the campground is where the trail really begins. Pavement ends and the narrower dirt path that I know and love starts. Shortly, I came to the Appleton Pass / Boulder Lake junction. The sign there said I had 2.8 miles to go before reaching the lake. I had studied the topo map before heading out and it didn’t appear to be that bad of a climb. It wasn’t too bad, but it was steeper than I imagined. The one good thing about it, though, is that it was nearly 100% smooth dirt trail. very rarely was there any root wads or rocky shelfs to step over.

Red Spotted Garter Snake

By now the sun was rising higher and I was enjoying the walk immensely. I was encouraged by the amount of wildlife that I was spooking off the trail. I figured I was the first to come through here in a little while. A good sized red-spotted garter snake shot off to the side of the trail and under a rock. He was gone before I could get my camera out. Then, about 20 feet up the trail, another, much smaller one moved out of my way. I was able to quickly snap a shot before he disappeared.

Shortly after this is when I met the first group of hikers coming down from the lake. I stepped aside to let them pass, as they were quite loaded down with gear… It looked like they all had enough gear to last a week, but they were just up there for the night they said.

Appleton Pass area

Up up up the trail climbed. I started catching glimpses through the trees of snow peaked Appleton Pass, and wished that I could play in the snow on my birthday. After traversing a couple downed trees along the way I met with another couple people. They, too, were loaded to the hilt. One guy had his hatchet strapped to his belt, and packs stuffed with what appeared to be 45 or 50 pounds of gear.  They too, were just up for the weekend.

It was amazing to see peoples varying styles. I remember growing up, my parents would take us out for a week at a time and we were quite comfortable the whole time, (as far as food and shelter, etc goes) with just 30-40 pound packs, and here are whole groups of people killing themselves with massive loads for an over-nighter.

At 10:45 I made it to the lake. About 1/8 mile before the lake snow patches covered the ground along the trail. I love it. The lake is nice sized, fed from the snow above and subsequently ice cold. Oh how good it felt. There’s a little peninsula jutting out into the water where I sat down and enjoyed the sun for a while. There were about 5 groups of people taking down tents and campsites scattered about.

Boulder Lake

There was a foot path leading to the back side of the lake where the stream comes down from Boulder Peak and feeds the lake. It was some of the coldest, freshest water I have ever dunked my head into.

Now, you know how parents use the bogey man to scare their kids into behaving? Well, growing up my bogey man was Giardia, or ‘Beaver Fever’. I NEVER drink wild water. I will pack a gallon of water on my back rather than risk getting sick out there. Well, today I broke that rule. I could pretty much see the water source, couldn’t see any sign of marmots or other wildlife in the area and figured “Why the hell not?” Oh man how good it tasted. By this time my Camelbak was warming up and just lacked that crisp refreshment. This snow creek was awesome.

Red Mountain Heather

Surrounding the lake were many types of flowers. Avalanche Lilies dominated though. Growing in the rocks around the lake were those pink evergreen Red Mountain Heather you see to the right here. If I’m wrong about the identification, please let me know, that was the closest I could come up with.

I brought my fishing pole with me. I bring it everywhere, you never know when it will come in handy. I hooked it together, tied on one of my favorit spinners and tried my luck at the mouth of the snow stream. After 15 minutes of casting with no luck, I called it quits. I didn’t really expect to get much if anything. I didn’t see any sign of fish, and it was high noon, just about the worst time to go fishing anywhere. I re-packed the fishing pole and set off back down the trail.

Avalanche Lilies

I said earlier that the plan was to do the loop up over Happy Lake Ridge. Well, I liked it at the lake so much, I had spent an hour and a half here, didn’t feel like heading up the mountain any more and I was kind of anxious to get home; the wife had promised to take me out tonight. Additionally, my back was acting up and starting to tell me that it wasn’t too happy with the days events. I really wish that my back would stop dictating the conditions of my activity. It’s starting to piss me off.

At 12:15 I was back on the trail. I met up with a guy heading out as well. We got to talking and discovered that we are in the (sort of) same line of work. He deals with psychiatric patients, many of whom do not wish to be where they are. We got to talking about working with crazy people, and the inmates too. It helped the time pass. After about a half hour he left me to my own. He had to take a break as he was packing quite a load and I only about 15 pounds or so. We parted ways and I was off again in solitude.

Descending a steep trail has disadvantages of its’ own. It’s not difficult like ascending is, but the dynamics are different on your body. Without good shoes and foot care, your toenails can start getting hurt. My nephew, once, actually lost his big toe-nails after a particularly brutal slog.  Gravity pulls you and without proper form, the jarring can really do a number on your back and hips. Keeping your knees bent to absorb the shock eventually your thighs begin to feel it. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but once you get back to the car, oh how you feel it. It’s a good kind of hurt, I think. A satisfying soreness that lets you know you did something good.

Well, I reached the bottom of the hill without incident. It took 30 minutes less to get down than up, imagine that. Back through the hot springs campground, most of the campers had pulled up stakes and left. Then back onto the pavement. For some reason, by this time my back was screaming at me. I had never hurt this much after a hike, in fact, normally I feel better after a hike. Not today. The last 2 miles was a pain. I kept going though. One foot in front of the other, and at 2:20 in the afternoon, I was back at my car.

When I’m out on the trail, I like to post Twitter and Facebook updates along the way. I like to let people know what I’m doing and show off this wonderful area in which I live. That was impossible today. From the trail head on, I had zero signal. I still took pictures with my phone and drafted updates to be sent once I could, and about a mile down the road, as I rounded a corner, poof, full service. I parked and uploaded all that I had. If this is something that you would be interested in, be sure to check out my Twitter and Facebook pages.

View the full photo gallery here

Difficulty:
Scenery: