A hiking trip in the Olympics

Before I moved back to Minneapolis and grew soft amongst the pleasures of flat terrain, dairy-stuffed cuisine, and cushy desk jobs, I wanted to take a hiking trip in the Olympic Mountains. I yearned to breath the fresh, alpine air. I thirsted to drink from cool, glacier runoff. More than anything, I wanted to test myself against the elements and see whether I was stronger than the mountain. As it turns out, I was not. Though I did live to report the journey, and provide these photographs along the way. So I suppose that's some small victory.

Here's me and my friend Forest at the trailhead. Forest is from Minneapolis, but he travels to Seattle frequently, and we hatched the idea for a hiking trip during one of his visits last winter. This picture is just outside of Deer Park (there's a map at the bottom).

Day 1 was a short descending hike into the river valley, through misty forests.

And here's the Cameron River at the bottom of that valley. We camped next to this river on the first night, at a place called Graywolf Camp.

Day 2 was a long, slow climb along the seven-mile path that runs alongside Cameron Creek. We knew that we were heading toward Grand Pass, which stands at 6,450 feet. We'd started the morning at about 2,000 feet. The new One World Trade Center stands about 1,792 feet tall. Over the course of this day, we'd have to climb that height almost two and a half times.

The hard work wasn't without its rewards, though. As we climbed out of the river valley, we could see across to the forested hillsides and the peaks beyond.

At lunch we took a little detour back down to Cameron Creek so we could refill our water bottles and soak our tired, aching feet.

The views just keep getting better.

And better! Though I'm getting worn out. And we still have our toughest, steepest climb ahead of us.

Around 3 o'clock, we met the junction with the Grand Pass trail and began climbing the difficult switchbacks to the top. My goal was to complete 4 switchback sections and then rest for a few minutes. Then repeat. It was slow, tiring work, but worth it all to get to the top and see this beautiful meadow. We still had to get to the top of the rim, but it didn't feel quite so impossible when we saw this.

Forest made it to the top first.

And here's a panorama of the mountains we could see from the top of Grand Pass.

Once we'd climbed over the pass, we descended pretty quickly toward Gladys and Moose Lake, where we planned to camp for the night. Climbing down is a lot easier than climbing up, and we made it through this rocky terrain in about an hour, which was good because the sun was descending fast.

This is the view from our campsite that night (picture taken the next morning). This is Grand Lake, and a really pretty spot to wake up to the next morning.

The deer thought so too. They were brave and curious, especially the fawns.

Day 3 looked like a lot of this. Trails through rolling hills as we climbed back out of the Grand Creek river valley on our way up to Elk Mountain. The elevation gain this day is only 2,000 feet, though it still felt like a lot of work. That's a marmot on the mound in the center, and they would whistle to one another all over the mountains.

Another panorama as we approached Elk Mountain.

Much of the final climb to the Elk Mountain ridge was through scree fields like this. Once we hit this point in the climb, it felt like easy-going. We're still climbing (I think I took this picture as I looked back on the trail), but the ascent is more gradual.

6,700 feet at last! We took a well-deserved break at this point.

Once we'd reached the ridge, we turned east to follow the trail back to Deer Park. It's hard to see in this picture, but that's Puget Sound in the distance, and then Seattle is hidden behind one of the mountains on the right.

This was our final camp, at Roaring Winds. That night it was a little closer to Whispering Winds, as it wasn't too windy. But a beautiful spot to watch the sunset. Looking north from here I could easily see the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Canada on the other side.

Day 4 sunrise. This last morning is a pretty easy hike along the ridge, which was good because we were both sore, tired, and worn out at this point.

Just a few miles of following trails that looked like this.

At last! We descended into this forest, and then on the other side climbed up to Deer Park and the miracle of an automobile and paved roads. It had never felt so good to move without having to do any work.

And, finally, a map of the trip. All told, we covered about 27 miles. Started at Deer Park, then down to Graywolf Camp, southwest along Cameron Creek, up and over Grand Pass, down to Grand Lake, back up to Elk Mountain, and then along the ridge as we returned to Deer Park.

All told, it was a great trip. Forest and I had both hiked before, and we thought we might be able to cover 12 to 15 miles in a day. That's not uncommon on flatter terrain, but we quickly realized it was nearly impossible (at least for us) in the mountains. So we scaled our expectations back, and enjoyed the slow progress we were making. Next time I go to the mountains, I think I'll have a better idea what to expect!