2011 July - Creaky Knees # 53 (Dosewallips Road)

Today was a beautiful bluebird of a day.  I left home about 7:00am and after getting a starbucks and a scone I was on the road.  I crossed the beautiful Hood Canal and was on the Olympic Peninsula.  I made the trailhead at about 8:20 and started hiking by 8:30.

This trail was an actual road 10 years ago.  A washout on the road that was never fixed has slowly transformed this into a beautiful hike.  Its a lowland river hike up the Dosewallips River to what once was a car campground in Olympic National Park.  There's still a campground but its 5.3 miles from where you parked your car.

The first mile and a half is along the roaring river - after that the hike moves away from the river and starts to climb.  You pass over 2 or 3 streams and waterfalls that are making their ways down the mountains towards the river.  At about 3 miles you enter the Olympic National Park.  After another mile you cross Constance Creek as it rushes downhill.  Right past Constaance Creek is the steepest trail in the Olympics. It's the trail to Lake Constance and its just 2 miles long but its a 3500 foot elevation gain.

At 4.3 miles you hit Dosewallips Falls as the river roars down the mountain covering in just a few hundred yards the elevation I walked 4 miles to cover.  It was stunning. I had planned to stop here but I wasn't tired so I pushed on the extra mile and made the campground by about 10:30.  I found a picnic table and had a sandwich and enjoyed the sound of the river passing and the otherwise quiet and beautiful surroundings.  After a while I made my way back down the trail to the car and then home - a great day.

Total Distance - 11miles round trip

Here are the pictures...

2010 July - Upper Dungeness River (Creaky Knees # 56)

Today Eddy and I went to the Upper Dungeness River trail.  This is a classic Olympic Mountains river and forest walk.    The Dungeness is one of the great Olympics rivers.  The trail walks through the verdant forest all along the river bank. The crashing noise of the water is ever present.  The power of the water as it rushes downstream is amazing.  It was a beautiful day.  We hiked about 2.5 miles then crossed the river over a great bridge.  We continued on about another 0.8 miles to Camp Handy and had a rest in an open meadow and gravel bar right on the bank of the river.  We took off our boots and rested our bare feet in the cold water.  After finishing our sandwiches (peanut butter of course) we retraced our steps down the trail.

More Pictures...

2010 July - Hurricane Hill (Creaky Knees # 59)

I went to Hurricane Ridge on Saturday, July 10th to hike Hurricane Hill. Hurricane Hill is a fairly short (about 3 miles round trip) easy hike. But it is a beautiful hike. Since you've already driven up to Hurricane Ridge the entire hike is above tree line and the views along the way of the inner Olympics are spectacular. You hike up to where an old aircraft spotter tower sat. The views from here include Vancouver Island, Port Angeles, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Mt. Baker and others.

It is a popular hike and I definitely did not have it to myself. On the way back I veered off on the Elwha River trail but hadn't hiked 10 minutes before I ran into snow!

Also there were beautiful wild flowers all along the trail. Its always so neat to see these blooming in the summer after all the snow from winter has melted away.

The only mishap is that I fell when I got out of the car at the lodge and scaped my nose and knee. Scraped my pride too!

It was a great hike!  Pictures...