High Divide - Seven Lakes Basin Loop — Tuesday, Jul. 8, 2025

We hiked the High Divide trail July 8-10.
Day 1: we hiked ~8-9 miles from Sol Duc trailhead to Heart Lake. The trail to Heart Lake ascends gently along the Sol Duc River for the first 5 mile or so. Then it ramps up over the last 2-3 miles, as the trail transitions from deep forest to alpine meadows. Heart lake was beautiful and the trail was in good shape all the way. 
Day 2: we hiked the High Divide trail to Lunch Lake. This is a beautiful section of trail, mostly between 4,800 and 5,200 feet elevation).  Unfortunately, it was cloudy and misty most of the day, so we did not have good views.  We arrived at Lunch Lake (4,400 ft) to set up camp, but the mist showed no sign and letting up, and began looking more like rain, so we decided to head down lower. We ended up hiking down past Deer Lake (3,400 ft), down to one of the Canyon campsites. Fortunately, all the Canyon campsites were empty, due to the marginal weather, so we had no problem getting an empty space.  Canyon Campsites are in a beautiful deep forest and very comfortable and calm.  
Day 3: we hiked back to Sol Duc, and stopped at the Sol Duc Resort hot springs for a relaxing swim and soak. 
Overall, this is a spectacular loop trail and the trail was in very good condition.