We were looking for a convenient day hike out of the Port Angeles area and settled on a 13.8 mile in and back from the Sol Duc trailhead up to the ridge above Lunch Lake ~ a segment of the 7 Lakes Basin loop we had done about 30 years ago from the other direction. On that hike, we saw 11 bears and were hoping we could do the same this time.

We got a late start, not leaving the trailhead until 11:00am.  We expected the sun to set at 7pm (for Sept 27th); it was a beautiful day and we carried our head lamps thinking we might end up needing them, which we did for the last hour out.

The trail is a gentle but consistent up - it has a vertical gain of about 500 ft per mile over 6 miles, then it levels out and follows the ridge up to the High Divide. We were hoping for views of Olympus; and while you can see its peaks, it's mostly hidden by the range just north of the Ho River - we could see just the tops in a peek-a-boo view from the ridge.  

The hike itself is very nice, punctuated by waterfalls, bridges, a narrow gorge, Deer Lake, numerous tarns above the lake in brilliant fall colors (and perfect bear habitat), followed by a beautiful ridge, off-the-chart blueberries and huckleberries, a cool geological feature neither of us remembered seeing 30 years ago (as in, what the hell happened here?? see photo and link to the NW Hikers net forum), and a view of Lunch Lake, Round Lake and Clear Lake from the saddle (and if anyone knows more detail on what happened here, please fill us in!)  We knew we'd be hiking in the dark on the return, but the trail is in very good shape, and is well maintained, so it was fine. 

It takes about an hour to drive to the Sol Duc trailhead from Port Angeles - about the same to get to the Obstruction Point trailhead. While the parking lot at Sol Duc is packed, it tends to turn over quickly as so many people just head to the falls, 0.8 miles in.  A lot of people come here.  If it is packed and you wait 15 minutes, you'll likely find a spot.  We didn't find solitude here (and alas, no bears this time); but, the hike is well worth the effort.  

Easy jaunt. Worth it! The waterfall and narrow gorge are stunning especially when the sun is shining through. Bring bug spray!

Very nice hike through a beautiful wooded area. We arrived at around 3:30pm on a Saturday and got lucky with finding a spot in the lot. The bugs were very active and hungry but other than that it was a great hike and not too crowded.

Very crowded but to be expected on a Sunday in the summer.

It what is a fairly easy hike through a beautiful forest to the falls and you can get some great pictures from the bridge. If you walk around to the left, you can actually go down to the water is and  lots of people were chilling on the rocks

Day two of our family adventure in the Olympics. We started at the Spruce Railroad trail in the morning and walked out as far as the Devil's punchbowl. The majority of the trail is nice and flat and wide, and made for easy walking.

The short spur trail to the punchbowl was much more challenging, with roots and rocks, and pretty eroded in places. It was nothing too tricky compared to many of the trails in WA, but for my family visiting from the East Coast it proved to be a challenge. My mom fell in one of the eroded sections but thankfully was ok. If I had realized what the trail conditions would be, I would have recommended she wait for us on the main trail or honestly skipped this one altogether. The lake was beautiful but crowded. We checked out the tunnel after returning to the main trail, which was really fun. Just a reminder to please walk your bikes through the tunnel, a cyclist ran into my sister after losing control of his bike.

Afterwards, we headed out to Sol Duc falls. Parking was hard to find and we ended up parking quite a ways down the road. The trail to the falls is steep in some places, and rocky and rooty. My mom found it tricky in spots and we had to assist her in some places. The falls were beautiful but understandably crowded so we didn't spend a lot of time there. My partner and I walked back to grab the car and when we arrived back in the parking lot we were lucky enough to see some of the park's mule team coming out of the trail after a day of trail work. What a treat! The bathrooms at the trailhead proved to be in pretty rough condition so we drove a short ways down the road to the campground for a rest stop before heading back to Port Angeles for the night.

We got ready for the start of this year's Hike-a-Thon by wearing last year's T-shirts, and of course we brought along Miles the Marmot! #HikeaThon