Category: Hiking

A Surprise Panorama

View from Happy Lake Ridge Trail

I was going through and organizing photos from the film days and found that there were a couple of photos that I had taken that could be combined into panoramas. This one was from a hike along Happy Lake Ridge in the Olympic National Park. The view is across the Elwha River valley over to Hurricane Ridge.

The Happy Lake Ridge trail is seldom hiked … even less since the Elwha Road washed out adding miles to access the trailhead. It is a nice loop trail, the upper end dropping down to Boulder Lake and then out through the Boulder Creek Trail and the (undeveloped) Olympic Hot Springs. With the wash out of the road, there are several miles of doubling back to get to the parking lot… but it is still mostly a loop.

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Lake 22

Lake 22 in winter

Lake 22 in east of the city of Everett, along the Mountain Loop Highway. It is one of the most heavily hiked trails in the Cascades. It is also the location of my first backpack trip back in the early ’60’s. I remember having to carry out the wet canvas tarp we used for a shelter … it rained and the little hollow we had set up camp in filled with water. It was only 2 miles or so downhill, but my pack weighed over 70 lbs when I got home. But that was long ago and in the summer. Nowadays, there is no overnight camping allowed. And they have added a boardwalk around most of the lake to protect the meadow areas.

Ridge above Lake 22

(More found images from my Archive Catalog)

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Upper Hoh Lake Trail

Upper Hoh Lake Trail

The Hoh Lake Trail runs from the Hoh River Trail (the primary access to those climbing Mt Olympus) up past Hoh Lake and on to connect with the High Divide loop at Bogachiel Pass (Olympic National Park). We were camped in Seven Lakes Basin and took a day trip down to Hoh Lake. This was the trail near the top. I was concerned about the clouds … often an indication that the weather is changing … but it stayed clear for the rest of our hike.

On the return hike, I was rounding a rock spur and found myself about 6 feet from a black bear. We were both startled … I’m not sure who was more surprised. But the bear had quicker reflexes and was off the trail and down in the brush and trees before I could even think about raising my camera.

(another image from my Archive folder)

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Subalpine Forest Path

Subalpine Forest Path

This image is another taken from the area around Deer Park in Olympic National Park. The campground is at about 5400 feet (1646 meters), so you can enjoy the high country without having to backpack up to it … although the road is narrow, winding and unpaved. You can see the area that was burned a few years earlier. Fortunately, the campground was protected and not damaged by the fire. The ‘skirts’ about the base of the trees are distinctive.

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Fog Coming In

Fog Coming In

This photo was taken on my way up Mt Ellinor (see the previous post) on a day when the weather was deteriorating rapidly. It was a good hike anyway. The funny thing that happened was that when I returned to my car, I found that someone had decorated it with a bagel stuck on my radio antenna. (see below)

And no, I didn’t eat the bagel. (I was a little surprised that it wasn’t attacked by crows or ravens.

Bagel on Antenna

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