Since clouds were lingering around the tops of Mt. Townsend, I opted for an exploration of the Dungeness River area. I accessed the area via the Palo Alto Road (off Hwy 101) west of Sequim Bay State Park and then drove up FS Road 2880, which becomes 2860 at some point, enjoying the views and the fresh pink rhodies blooming. The trailhead parking lot is clearly marked, but wasn't full which surprised me, but I guess the weather kept some folks away. I hiked up to Camp Handy, which makes a nice easy stroll along a beautiful forest stream. The wildflowers are just getting a start, with vanilla leaf, Oregon Grape, violets, Canadian dogwood, cinquefoil, columbine, salmonberry and valerian showing colorful faces. At the camp, there's a field of cow parsnip ready to bust as well. Views of the peaks are hard to find, but the forest walk is truly serene. The trail was in great shape with nary a blowdown or mud hole for entertainment. The bridges are huge sturdy logs with railings. It would make a great family hike for sturdy youngsters. At the camp, there is an unmarked trail that goes through the camp and apparently continues a bit up the river. The other fork climbs to Boulder Camp. All in all, a pleasant and easy day on the trail. I didn't hit the rain until driving out, which was great. Enjoy.

This trip starts out with a great drive on some scenic and slightly scary FS roads. At one point the road is hanging over a vertical cliff that must be 2,000 ft down at least. There were 6 cars at the TH on a Wednesday, but some of them must have hiked the lower Dung. trail as I only saw 3 other groups, one a lone camper at camp Handy. The trail is mostly flat, what elevation gain exists is so mild as to barely noticeable. There are some big trees, and many large moss gardens. Camp Handy is cool:there is a nice shelter, and a large grassy meadow going right to the river's edge. There are numerous good campsites along the whole trail. To continue past Handy, go back up to the main trail and follow it until you come to a junction where one trail is marked ""Marmot Pass"" and the other (to the right) is unsigned. This unsigned trail will take you on up the river to some huge meadows and more camps. It was nice to take a long break in the sunny meadows and listen to the hum of the insects and the rumble of the river. I made it about 4 1/2 miles from the car, taking my time and spending 4 hours to get there and another two to relax and picnic. I got back in 2 1/2 hours of pretty steady hiking. A typical hike for me: noon to 8:30pm. The elevation gain including ups and downs was about 8-900 ft spread out over 9 miles. This trail is perfect for horses, and people who want to see some good stuff without climbing anything.

Did my first overnight in the Olympics for the year Sat. night. Dungeness trail has a lot of wet spots, but none too bad. There was only one blow down, which hangs over the trail at about six feet high. Heather basin trail has multiple small creeklet fords, some of which are moving pretty quickly, but are easy enough to negotiate. The trail is blocked (at least to me) at about 1.5 miles by a series of multiple small blowdowns which seemed too much trouble to battle with. On my way out, Sumday morning, I saw a bear in the second meadow from the beginning of the trail, but I scared him off before I could get his portrait. What a thrill! I also saw three deer on my way in Saturday afternnon.

We rode the Lower Dungeness/ Gold Creek loop on 1/25/2003. The forest service road leading to the trails is washed out 3 miles from the Gold Creek Trail Head. This makes the total loop approximately 23 miles with 4200 feet of elevation gain. Our total time for the loop was 5 and a half hours, much longer than expected but there is alot more climbing than the 2000 feet stated in most of the mountain biking guidebooks. If your in great riding condition you could probably do it in 3.5 hours, maybe faster. The trails were in excellent condition and mostly dry. There is one large landslide about one mile up the Lower Dungeness Trail that is passable by climbing up to the road then dropping back through the forest to the trail, or by following the survey tape through the slide. There was no snow on either trail and the snow level in the immediate vicinity appeared to be around 4500 feet which is pretty amazing considering the time of year. We cleared 10 blowdowns from the two trails with only one large one remaining that is easily passable early on the Lower Dungeness Trail. All of the streams were easily forded by slippery logs. As a mountain bike loop, I highly recommend this almost year round and it rates as one of the best in the state, just be prepared to work for it. Also the first 3 miles of the lower dungeness were described as hike-a-bike by John Zilly in his Mountain Bike Southwest Washington guidebook, but in reality a strong (very strong) rider could ride the entire trail. It would be painful but techincally doable.

From the map it looked possible to do a day trip up the Dungeness to Camp Handy, cross the ridge to the west at Goat Lake, and return via the Royal Basin Trail. Fired up with enthusiasm for an interesting cross- country route, I arrived at the Upper Dungeness trailhead at 4:30 AM on a beautiful Saturday morning. Camp Handy on the Dungeness was reached in short order, where I tried not to wake the sleeping campers while I searched for a crossing to the west side of the river. It turns out there is a logjam and trail through the brush to a fine camp on the west side just downstream. The fisherman’s trail to Goat Lake was located by heading southwest through the woods to the stream draining the lake. The route to the lake is described in the second edition of Wood’s guide, and is a very distinct but steep trail to beautiful Goat Lake. After a snack and some photos I headed up to the obvious pass west of the lake. At the top it looked possible to descend a snow filled gully to a broad scree slope, then down to the lower meadow on Royal Creek. I decided that I would instead traverse the mountainside east of Royal Creek to upper Royal Basin. This route, requiring an ice axe, involved travel over snow, broken rock, very loose talus, and scree. It was taxing as significant elevation is lost working around a spur, which has to be regained to get to the basin. The upper basin looked about 50% melted out, but with no significant wildflower display yet. There were very few bugs out as well. Being Saturday, a lot of people were enjoying the sunshine and climbing the peaks. I picked up the Royal Basin Trail and descended the steep but snow-free trail past the meadows to Royal Lake. There were lots of hikers everywhere and a shortage of campsites due to groups without permits or reservations. The backcountry ranger found the last available site for a valid permit holder that arrived around 2:00 PM. No difficulties, other than mosquitoes, were experienced as I descended the Royal Basin Trail. All bridges are in place and the trail is brushed out. On the way out I met at least ten groups heading for the lake and wondered what the ranger was going to do with all these people. I finally walked up to my car at about 5:30, tired and sore, but with lasting memories of incredible scenery and a beautiful clear day.