Looking for flowers and views we headed northwest (from Gig Harbor) to Sequim and then to the Deer Ridge trail head. It's an easy drive with all roads in good shape. Your legs must also be in good shape for this hike. It's a 5 mile trail to our destination and turn around point, Deer Park, with about 2800 feet of elevation gain and long, STEEP sections that will test your resolve. You start in woods but gradually begin to see the Gray Wolf valley views as you climb ever higher. Eventually you reach the true ridge part of the hike as the view totally opens up and there are enough mountains to count and identify to keep you occupied for hours. The trees become sparse just shy of 5000 ft. and then you can enjoy the high mountain meadows leading to Deer Park campground. We were fortunate to have a Sequim volunteer crew working on the trail ahead of us, their main goal to level out and further define this narrow but decent trail. We did see quite a variety of flowers but their numbers are still sparse as snow melt obviously occurred very recently. The campground is not yet open but we were greeted on our arrival and departure from the area by resident deer. The trail is clear but there is snow at the campground and the mountains across the valley all have thick, white blankets. Of course, what goes up must come down, so after a rest and lunch at Deer Park we headed back down the 5 miles of steep, knee thumping, toe jamming trail. Boy, do those sections of level grade feel good! This is a beautiful hike if you're ready for the workout. You might want to wait a week or two if your main objective is to see a flower show.

We try to hike this trail every spring before the Deer Park Road opens (allowing folks to drive to the top). We were concerned that snow would be a problem. It wasn't, we got to the summit of Blue Mountain. At the junction with the Three Forks Trail there's some patchy snow - easily negotiated. When we got to the campground and the trail became covered with snow, we headed up the ridge which was clear of snow to the road. Just keep going up till you see the solar panel and the road is right there. Ambled up the road to the top. Lots of flowers at the top, although the bloom has obviously just started. We had the place to ourselves. Along the trail up there wasn't a profusion of flowers but a few of everything. Rhodies, manazita, paintbrush, lomatium, violets, trillium, calypso orchids, avalanche lilies and many more. It's early but still great. Mist and clouds prevented the usual breathtaking vistas but the cloud parted every now and then to remind us what a clear day provides. Get there now before the campground opens!

I just went for a quick afternoon walk up the trail until I got too lazy to continue (it gets steeper than I remember!). There is some snow in the parking area, from the latest storms, but the trail is bare for the first mile or so. After that, the snow cover progressively increases, becoming 100% pretty quickly. I only made it up maybe 2.5 miles, not as far as the park boundary. The snow on the trail is surprisingly packed - still not a problem in warm weather, but some Yaktrax or similar would be useful higher up, where it is harder and steeper. Particularly if it was cold. The trail's in good shape as far as I went, with just one small (6") tree across it that's easy to step over. Lots of shooting going on along the road to the trailhead, but the road is in decent enough shape. Saw a number of grouse along the road, and heard one on the trail. Still only swamp lanterns blooming on the drive up.

About 4" new snow at the trailhead; a foot of new snow above the benches. Nice snowshoeing on the upper trail, soft snow. We turned around at about 4,900 ft elevation as we were tired from breaking trail in the new snow. Some sunshine and great views of the mountains to the south and west.

Deer Ridge Trail No. 846 Stats: (C. Romanos’ Day Hiking Oly Pen; pg. 212) Distance – 10.4 miles r/t Elev. gain/loss - 2800 ft/ high pt 5360 ft NOTE: there is only one creek at the beginning of the hike for water Fun - 100% Directions: South on Taylor Cutoff Rd for 2.6 mi.; bear Right on Lost Mountain Rd for another 2.6 mi.; Left of Forest Rd. 2870; Right on Forest Rd. 2875 continue for 3. 5 mi. to Slab Camp. The trail was in great shape. Hardly any mud and good tread for the majority of the hike. The elevation gain starts out gentle... and then gets a bit more serious as you continue up the trail. Most of the elev. gain is before you enter the ONP at about 3.6 mi.. I always use trekking poles, they were not "necessary" but helpful on the way up as well as on the way back to the trail head. Deer Ridge here we come: We were all very excited about the big bright thing in the sky – we were pretty sure it was the sun… The temperature could not have been better. The trail starts out meandering through a beautiful forest that is lined with Rhododendrons and several other wildflowers, a lot of which were in bloom – this truly is a beautiful forest and even those of you that might not like forest hikes, it is worth checking out. We came to our first view point which is a flat rock outcrop and enjoyed seeing views of the Oly Mt. range and Gray Wolf Valley. The trail starts to steepen here but is never too bad and I am happy to say that it was not too bad on the knees on the way down. As we are heading up, the other members of our gang kept talking about the “benches” that were right up the trail. Ok, in my mind I am thinking rocky slabs, maybe a fallen tree like I have seen before on hikes. But, I was surprised to see that these benches are quite literally wooden benches like you would see in a park. Not exactly why this seemed funny to me but they were a wonderful place to have a break and enjoy more truly fantastic views. After a nice break we were back on the trail. The photos really do not do justice to the expansiveness of the views on this hike and truly even a pano would not have come close to doing so. You could see not only the Olys but the views even included the Cascades… awesome !!! Off we continue with our ridge walk and then we come to my second surprise of this hike. This too struck me as a little funny. The gang explained to me that the trail ends at the Deer Ridge campground. In my mind (which seems to be the operative thoughts/words here) I am picturing a campsite at the end of the trail – you know like a hike in campsite so I was surprised to see… a drive in car camp grounds !! This also struck my funny bones. While I was taking the photo of the cars there was a deer off to the right of my shot. One of the gang asked me if I am taking a photo of the deer ?? I answered no… of the cars !! Ok, you might be wondering WHY hike a somewhat steep hike when you can easily drive to Deer Park ?? C. Romano gives 5 very good reasons on Pg 212. And… although it was funny to see the cars at our destination I have to agree with C. Romano !! We found a picnic table on the knoll for lunch and we enjoyed the views and after a nice lunch break we started our decent. Still in awe of the magnificent views. On the decent all we also got to see a peek a boo view of my old friend… Mt. Baker.… which totally rounded out this wonderful hike !! There were lots of wild flowers – several varieties that I have not seen before - blooming along the trail today. Some of the Rhodies that were not yet opened up on the way up had opened by the time we passed them again on the way down. Happy hiking…