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Wet in November! First hike in years, two sore heals, and I threw up after making the top! Mostly from my chew though?
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Connector from three o’clock down to lower dungeoness river trail: could probably park a car along the side and use as a jump in point. A bunch of bike tracks the day we checked it out. The trail wasn’t on gaia although well marked and maintained
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Trillium project to link Ellinor, Pershing, and Washington in a loop. This north side of Mt Washington is outta this world. Still gotta figure out the top section. Taped and cut trail for almost all of it. Will be complete in 2022.
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Excellent non-permit multi-day way into Olympic high country. Scramble up ridge east of Constance Pass. Camp on bench above Marmot Pass, shuttling water from Mystery Camp. Scramble Buckhorn for awesome views.
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Beautiful hike, rained hard first two miles.Ramped up the elevation after 1.5. Lots of flora and fauna and mushrooms.
Opened up to a beautiful clearing with great views a mile before you reach the pass. Once you get to pass it was stunning. The clouds parted but pretty windy and cold. We had the trail to ourselves. Started at 10am ended at 4:30. The sun came out for the very end to warm out backs.
Very strenuous, hard hike.
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Walked up through the clouds and it just got better and better- definitely a bucket-list hike!
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Great hike with a gazillion rhododendrons. Pretty flat for the most part. Easy to miss the Tull Canyon cut off where the plane is.
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Steep and exciting. Teens and parents all loved it. Stayed at the lake and scrambled above it on climbers trails. Stunning views, jumping fish, hard work. Worth it.
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Gorgeous hike, an abundance of huckleberry and unfortunately no views this time, but a great spot to explore the peaks around.
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As in the books and WTA website, this is a steep hike. It starts steep and only gets steeper as it progresses to the top. The trail is very well-maintained and has steps throughout most of its length and the vistas are beautiful.
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The hike to lower Lena is very easy, manicured trail. Easy for a day hike. We arrived full of energy. Leaving out of lower Lena heading up to upper Lena the first part of the trail is very nice. It is a pretty constant uphill garras that is tolerable. Beautiful views, and great walking through old growth forest. The trail at some point will start to get more difficult. With some small boulders to travers and some steeper grades to climb. It will continue to progressively get more and more difficult to the point that there are a few spots that the trail is steep enough that you have a tough time identifying the path (gps helps a lot). We found that there was one particular spot where we were not sure if the trail went left or right. There is a scurry trail to the right (loose dirt) that looks like it is a questionable side path, and to the left what appeared to be a dry waterfall. We chose to go to the right. We quickly found ourselves on the top of an open rock face with quite a drop off behind us. This was a bit scary, not for the going up part, I was nervous about the climb back down. Once we passed that point we came across the other path and could see that it was a bit more traveled. From there the trail is relentless in its upward drive. Small switchbacks
with some vertical climbs of 60 ft. or more in loose rock and sand. After about 7.5 hours of climbing my wife and I arrived at upper Lena lake. It was beautiful. The view is amazing. It is quite and very peaceful. We took a campsite close to the edge of the lake after realizing that the point we were at was day use only (the hand drawn map on the post is not very good). We loved the site with one major drawback, the only way in and out of the site was a 100ft climb up a dirt wall. The privy was at the top of this near vertical climb. This was one of those trips that I seriously questioned my decision to continue. Although I personally was good with the entire trip, my wife was not. I was unaware of the actual level of difficulty involved. We were prepared, and I am physically fit enough to make it with ease my wife was not mentally prepared for the amount of work it was going to take. It has been a number of days since we went to the lake, and I have heard her talk about it over and over again. She speaks of the trail and the hardships involved with passion and fondness. I think this trail is going to be the start of a very strong love affair for the backcountry for her. We are already talking about making on more trip to the area next year but breaking it up into a couple of days, and going to see milk lake.
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One of our favorite hikes was to Lower Lena lake, but Upper is a narrow path filled with a scree, rivers flowing through the path, unmarked pathways and straight uphill the entire time. It took about 1hr/mile.
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Pretty steep hike with minimal views until the top. Had a few issues with bees but no other bug issues. Great rewarding views on top on a nice sunny day. We got to the top just as the fog was breaking.
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Absolutely gorgeous hike and backpacking trip at royal lake. The road to the trailhead is full of potholes in a few miles. Good elevation with full backpacks. Great views of Mt Deception at upper lake. Did day hike there. Waterfalls, deer, bunnies and marmots. Sublime!
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The views of the olympics are amazing. Full 360° views of the olympic range from this vantage point. Had a large section of snow to climb which was pretty sketchy to down climb without an ice axe. Micro spikes were a must in my opinion for as late as mid July.
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Great backpack. Crowded holiday weekend but awesome weather. Trail by river is passable. Few wild flowers.
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Off trail for some bushwhacking, easy stream crossing and more bushwhacking with a few hundred feet of elevation gain to a steepening snow climb to the summit. Crampons very helpful for the last 500’ vertical or so.
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Bike the road up to the ridge for the GHCoHP and just go for it. Fun little hike and scramble with moderate veggie belay and route finding between cliff-bands but well worth it. Ensure you walk the whole ridge so you definitely get the HP!
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Perfect day and conditions were just right. With some traction and poles you should easily reach summit
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Lovely 6 mile loop. Conditions are great, trail is clear. Some packed snow in parts, easy enough to navigate through with regular light hiking shoes...
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An amazing hike! This loop trail is 4.5 miles long and well maintained with lots of bridges and waterfalls. I would consider this a moderate trail with a faster elevation gain going clockwise.
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This is horrible trip that I continue to repeat. No for reals, bike to trail head and then the fun begins. Fill up in water at the trailhead in summer, next water is at the wall where you meet back up with the creek. It’s just you against the mountain.
Enjoy,
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This is a beautiful wooded hike with several bridges that cross several different creeks. Look for the “troll” under one of the bridges. Also lots of fun mushrooms.
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I love this non-technical but rigorous hike! There is a steep trail with root climbing, rock outcrop scrambling, and a ledge system on the upper slopes that take you to an unbeatable view of the Olympics, Hood Canal, and the Cascades. Care must be exercised, particularly with an unroped descent. A slip and fall could prove fatal!
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Trail in poor shape, some bushwhacking required. No decent lake access. Subpar views. This should be treated as a conditioning hike only. Aside from that the value is solitude.
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Beautiful, but strenuous hike with long, steep ascents/descents, some through primal forest. Not as difficult as guidebooks describe, but not to be taken lightly. The upper lake is both the biggest and most scenic with stunning views of sun/moon rising on the Sawtooths. No biting insects at all at the end of September. Good fishing! The solitude and serenity were delicious!
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Close to main road for some quick out and back time. Lots of trash and old car parts on the trail
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A shady hike to go on in the summer. Lovely forest. Lots of ups and downs going to and from our 5 mile turnaround mark. Eating lunch by the river at over the 5 mile mark was absolutely gorgeous. Very very spacious lots of smooth rocks to sit on for everybody, the water was clear and beautiful.
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This one has it all. Abandoned mines, plane wreckage (side trip), a cold lake to swim in, boulders to climb, EPIC views. Even a 4 mile road walk! 😉
If you’re planning to camp at the lake, get an early start. There’s only one camp spot on the lake, with a few more along the trail approaching it.
I recommend going clockwise and getting that road walk out of the way first.
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Great hike! Trail is well maintained and going up we took the summer trail which is going left.coming down we took the other trail and thats not even maintained and you need to look for it
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I was the only one on the trail on the way up. Tough hike (moderate) with good footing. My favorite. The summit was socked on so no views.
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The wildflowers were spectacular today, each meadow with different varieties— was misty and sweet — no long views, but lovely day (Denise and Lori)
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This part of the trail honestly isn't that much of a trip on its own. Bring bikes to get access in deeper.
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Many sections almost completely overgrown, including downed trees. The trail needs work. Also not terribly scenic, not much open space or overlooks. River is pleasant when you get down to it, some nice open campsites.
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This is always a fun loop hike. We usually travel counterclockwise but this time we went clockwise which gives you the elevation gain of the trip in a shorter number of miles. We went to the viewpoint which is always great. One thing that is special about this trail is it is in a constant state of improvement. Every time we go here, something about the trail is better than the last visit. The trail crews are putting in a huge effort here. The Big Creek Campground was full for this trip due to increased usage due to COVID-19 as well as the Beast of Big Creek Trail Race that took place in the morning. Also, with the Hamma Hamma and Lena Creek Campgrounds closed, it is driving more people here. In fact, we ended up camping at the Staircase Campground in the National Park for this trip and got the last available spot. Oddly, there weren’t a lot of hikers here at 1:00 PM despite the very large number of people up around Lake Cushman and, what the locals call, “Party Rock.” It was busier than I have ever seen it and there was a line of cars to get into Staircase. Overall, the area was very crowded but the trail was being underutilized.
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It was a beautiful hike, the wildflowers were quite impressive, the weather was sunny and calm, the trail conditions were excellent although, as described, it truly is a steep trail.
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Beautiful hike through mature and recovering forest. In late June 2020, the rhododendrons were well past peak. However, there were LOTS of other wonderful wild flowers. Great rainy day trail!
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The trail is very steep first. Start slow. But it does get better and better. Views are great.
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Kick in the pants! Straight up entire time. Calves burn way down. Pretty views up top but there are people who drove up there so it takes away a little from the experience. Great workout!
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Good hike! Lots of switch backs and rocky but trail well maintained. Lots of hikers.
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Beautiful native rhododendrons in full bloom at lower sections of trail. Upper sections not yet bloomed. Rainy day.
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Nicely graded and maintained trail, but much of it is in the trees, so few views.
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Moderate is in the eye of the beholder. I found the hike to be VERY steep. We had an early start...100% trail ownership which is always extra nice. We were in heavy fog so the views were peak-a-boo. Will I do this hike again? Yes. The tree's are wonderful.
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Heavenly walk through the woods for the first 4miles. Mile 5-6 start to get your heart rate up, and the last 1.4miles is hard. I did also have an over night pack with all my gear, which that weighed ~30-35lbs. Make sure to start early to beat the heat and to get a good spot at the lake!
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An easy out and back hike. We went with friends and ate lunch at Camp Handy. We missed the first turn on the way out and had to backtrack. The turnoff for FS 2880 came almost right after going onto gravel.
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Beautiful trail with a lot of shade much of the way up. The Quilcene river still has a good water flow. Views at the pass are great.
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This hike was my first hike ever. It was indeed a difficult trail. Once you reached it, a good sigh of relief that you have seen how beautiful it is. Not for the faint of heart though.
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nice quality trails, elevation gain is comfortable, fishing is fun, lots of space for camps, try the upper basin.
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It’s an easy hike to beautiful Lena Lake. I really need to return here with the family. After that, the hike becomes much more strenuous and slow due to a great deal of obstacles on the trail. We made it from the trailhead to Brothers base camp in 4 hours.
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Easy trail (it's on an old road) through big woods, a dramatic canyon, a recovering burn, and past a big cascade. At 6.5 miles, you can stop at the old drive-in campground, cut off when the road washed out some years ago.
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This was an awesome sufferfest. Highly recommended for enthusiasts of self flagellation.
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Getting There:
Overall pretty straightforward. All roads are suitable for all vehicles. After Lords Lake Loop road, the road names used in Google maps do not match those in the trip description on the Washington Trails website. Most aren't signed, so I'm not sure which is right. In any event, either will get you to the trailhead with no trouble.
After you make the left at Lords Lake the road does get rougher, but it's not the potholes you need to watch. There are a few, as well as a couple short sections of washboarding, but all are easy to avoid. It's all the loose gravel that can cause issues, particularly on the curves. But have care and you'll be fine.
Got to the trailhead around 10 AM to find only two other cars in the parking lot. Five more cars pulled in as I was getting ready to hit the trail. There were still a couple of spots available when I got back to the lot after my hike.
There is a toilet at the parking lot stocked with TP (though not the best quality). No hand sanitizer.
Along the Trail:
The rhodies are in bloom all the way up to the top. Those near the trailhead are all completely open while near the top there are a few buds still left. There are also a few other flowers; bunch berries, columbine, a couple paintbrush and more. But it's definitely the rhodies that are the stars.
Trail is in good condition and easy to follow all the way up to the top.
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Great rhodies blooming for the first mile or so. Then steeper and steeper, wrapping around the mountain and stellar mountain views highe up. Phol Hall bench has great mountain view.
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This is a very nicely maintained loop trail with several bridges and creeks to cross. Traveling clockwise gets a considerable elevation gain completed early while adding the Viewpoint trail near the mid-point gets hikers a great vista of Lake Chapman and helps achieve a “destination” aspect to the loop hike. With the Viewpoint side trip, the hike ends up being approximately 7 miles with an overall elevation gain of roughly 1800 feet. Look for a troll under one of the bridges in the loop in order to add interest for little hikers. Overall this hike is a very enjoyable trip through the woods with nice visual elements along the way.
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This trail is very well maintained but heavily traveled. The view is incredible and getting to the lake is an easy to moderate ascent with a few roots and loose rocks to navigate around. Overall, this has been one of my favorite hikes this year.
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Had perfect fall weather, so we had awesome views of the Pacific Northwest! Mt.Baker, Mt Rainier, and the nearby Olympics peaks. We are two women in our 60’s and we had no trouble with this hike. We will do again and again. There are many people on the trail and also many dogs. Get there early for good parking
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