Category: Lakes

Water Quality in the High Country

Filtering Water from Heart Lake

Back when I was hiking in the ’60’s and ’70’s, we just drank water out of streams and lakes if they seemed like they were ‘safe’. We looked for running water, especially if it had enough of a drop to it to get aerated. We figured the oxygen cleaned it up. I had friends that kept that philosophy up through the ’90’s. I started filtering water much earlier than that … about the first that backpacking filters became available. These photos are both taken at Heart Lake in the upper Sol Duc valley in the Olympic National Park. The photo below shows how the lake got its name.

The Heart Shape of Heart Lake
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Hart Lake – at Risk

Hart Lake – at Risk

Regular readers may remember recent posts showing some of the areas that have burned in the Olympic National Park from the Bear Gulch fire. While burning primarily up the valley of the North Fork Skokomish, the fire has jumped across the Duckabush River valley and is burning a section of forest just east of the Hart Lake area. Since most winds in the area blow from the west or south, hopefully the fire will not spread over to the Hart Lake vicinity. (Fingers crossed).

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We Were Down There. We Were Up There.

We Were Down There.

Boulder Lake is in the Elwha River drainage of the Olympic National Park. We climbed up Boulder Peak (except for the last dozen feet or so that were blocked by a 6 foot wall of snow) and enjoyed the calm, sunny weather and the view back down to our camp … in the trees just to the right of the bare spot on the upper left corner of the lake. The photo below is looking back to where we were.

We Were Up There.
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Hart Lake View — North and South

Hart Lake View — South

Hart Lake is in the Upper Duckabush River area of the Olympic National Park. It’s quite remote, keeping the number of visitors down well below the number that visit the more accessible areas of the park (i.e. The High Divide). The image above shows the outflow of the small lake and the view across the Duckabush Valley to Mt Steel. The image below shows the view north from about the same location. I thought the clouds were wonderful.

Hart Lake View — North
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Martin Park Lakes

Martins Lake 1

Martins Park is located above the Low Divide between the Elwha and North Fork Quinault Valleys. It is a beautiful area that is protected (somewhat) by the 20 mile or more distance from the trailhead. Above is the view looking south showing Mt Christie and the access trail into the area. Below is another of the lakes (they are collectively called Martins Lakes). Late in the summer, the lakes can provide a very refreshing swimming experience … at least after the water has warmed up some after the snow has melted.

Martins Lake 2
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