We spent three glorious days and two nights backpacking in Olympic National Park with some friends (at this point, we’re getting pretty good at social distancing in a group setting). My film scans from this trip just came back so I can finally post some pictures. They don’t do this area justice. It was a transcendental hike, easily in my top three PNW hikes I’ve ever done.
We drove up on Friday morning and hit the trail at Sol Duc Falls at around lunchtime, hiking through some head-high ferns and old growth forests until we got to the Sol Duc Group Campsite. Joanna and I set up our tent quickly and headed another mile or two up the trail for a sneak peak. The campground was literally a quarter mile below an incredible subalpine scene. Even in the fading light and misty conditions, we could see that this was an incredibly beautiful area. We spotted three bears, and an elk herd.
The following day was sunny and beautiful. We hiked up through the same area, past Heart Lake, and then along the wildflower-covered High Divide trail with wonderful view of Mt Olympus (my first time seeing it). A few miles in, we diverted down to Hoh Lake, where we were the only people. We ate lunch and a few of us went for a cold dip while two black bears foraged on the opposite bank. We would ultimately spot seven bears on this trip.
Climbing back up to the High Divide, we split into two groups with some preferring to head back to camp and the rest of us taking a more roundabout route that took us down into Seven Lakes Basin. We hiked by Lunch Lake, Mirror Lake, and then a handful of smaller lakes on our way back to the High Divide — all ideal camping areas if only we’d had extra time (and permits). I found this landscape was reminiscent of the Core Zone of the Enchantments. I could have easily spent a week up there. There was so much to explore.
The SevenMile group site (the only permit available for us on Saturday night) took us a few miles back down the trail past our original campsite, but we made it there only a few minutes after the first group. We scarfed down dinner and enjoyed a nice fire, and then hiked out the following morning so that we could make the long drive back to Portland (worth every mile!).