Tag: Backpacking

Happy Hollow

Happy Hollow Shelter

Happy Hollow Shelter is located 26.3 miles (42.3 km) from the Whiskey Bend trailhead of the Elwha River trail (it is the last shelter along the Elwha trail). You can see from the overgrown condition of the trail that this area of the Olympic National Park doesn’t get a lot of traffic. The shelters are provided for emergency use only … and one should expect to share any shelter in the Olympics with a large population of mice.

Below is the Happy Hollow outhouse. I don’t think I need to provide any additional comments, except maybe privacy is not guaranteed.

Happy Hollow Outhouse

3

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).

2

Enchanted Valley Trail

Enchanted Valley Trail 1

The Enchanted Valley Trail runs up the East Fork Quinault River valley in the Olympic National Park. It is one of the most heavily used trails in the park. The big attraction for hikers is in the spring and early summer when they hike in to see the abundant water falls (some claim a thousand) flowing off the ridge to the north side of the valley as the snow melts out of the high country. In the summer, many hikers cross the Olympics using the North Fork Quinault trail up to Anderson Pass and then continuing on the West Fork Dosewallips trail. Below is one of the many stream crossing.

Enchanted Valley Trail 2
View from the East Fork Quinault Trail

0

N Fork Skokomish at Camp Pleasant

N Fork Skokomish at Camp Pleasant

At 6.7 miles (10.8 km) on the N Fork Skokomish trail in the Olympic National Park is Camp Pleasant, one of my favorite camping spots. It isn’t too large a space, but there are several campsites spread along the river bank. I have spent several 4th of July evenings camped there to avoid the noise of the celebrations. It’s just a beautiful, peaceful locations.

0

A Refreshing Break

A Refreshing Break

Any time you have a small (in this case, unnamed) creek crossing the trail, you have an opportunity to enjoy some natural air conditioning. Nothing is finer on a hot summer hike than walking through a cool breeze coming down a stream channel. This was the North Fork Quinault trail at mile 10 or so, in the Olympic National Park.

1

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑