With the Olympic Hot Springs Road closed from the washout, we opted to ride our e-bikes the first 8.5 miles from the parking lot at the Maiden Falls Trailhead up to the Boulder Creek/Olympic Hot Springs TH to save that time, then lock them up and set off hiking from there, first to Boulder Lake, then Happy Lake, then back to the road, and finally walk back up the road 1.5 miles back to the bikes for the ride out. Total biking distance was about 17 miles; total hiking distance was about 18 miles. We opted to hike the route counterclockwise, given the likely-punishing elevation gain from the road up to Happy Lake (about 4,000 vertical over 4.5 miles); we were happy we did.
We fitted our bikes with platforms attached to the rear racks to carry the packs on the road and walked the lower, original bypass with our packs on. We've taken the new, upper bypass before with our regular mountain bikes, but found the lower route faster and more convenient, even though there are three spots that are a challenge towing the weight of an ebike - the first two have high roots that are hard to get over even with walk-assist on and took a couple of attempts; the third is a fallen log about 15 inches high that's had steps nicely chipped out. From there, the bypass is fine and takes maybe 15-20 minutes total to walk. Not a mile in, we lost a screw on one of the racks. We had a spare and re-secured everything; but it underscored the importance of bringing our tools and spare parts just in case.
Once the bypass was out of the way, the bike to the trailhead was very pleasant. The road is in good shape and takes about an hour on an e-bike. We locked our bikes at the trailhead and hung all our bike stuff on a line (helmets, gloves, shorts) to prevent critters from destroying everything, then we set off to Boulder Lake from there - a 6 mile hike past the Olympic Hot Springs up the Boulder Lake Trail. Quiet now, it's easy to see this area was heavily used before the road blew out - there are a lot of recovering, empty camp sites (and somewhere around here, we realized we were still carrying all of our biking tools left stuffed down in the bottom of a pack - a solid 2 pounds - anyone need a pump?)
The last 1/2 mile or so of the trail to Boulder Lake is getting overgrown, but the trail is still easy to follow. It's a peaceful lake, nestled below Boulder Peak at 5,627 ft - good habitat to watch for bears grazing along the ridge above, although we didn't see any. The blueberries and huckleberries were absolutely prime - the most we've ever seen anywhere.
We left the next morning to hike a short 5.5 miles to Happy Lake, using the relaxed pace to hike an additional loop to the ridge above Happy and hopefully spy the High Divide area to the south. Bear and cougar scat were common - at least 15 piles, both old and new, but no sightings. We did not find a bear wire at either lake (although we heard there was or used to be one) and were grateful for a canister. There were a lot of downed trees, like 30, across the trail; most were easy to pass but a handful required walking around.
The hike from Happy Lake back down to the road along Happy Lake Ridge Trail was only 4.5 miles, but it felt more like 14, with the 4,000 foot descent; it took a lot longer than we thought it would. Very pretty though - huge trees, steep green hillsides and peek-a-boo views to the south of Mount Fitzhenry to Olympus.
Once down, the 1.5 mile hike back to the trailhead to get our bikes was easy and the bike out super enjoyable.
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