32 miles of hiking • 10250' elevation gain • 4 nights
Left PDX around 3:30pm on Thursday and camped at Heart O' the Hills campground. The next morning we arrived at the Ranger station to pick up our permits and bear canisters. About 10 other ppl there with us. We drove another hour or so to the Sol Duck River Trailhead where the loop trail begins. There is a hot springs resort nearby and another campground.
It was partly cloudy and around 65 degrees, pretty humid. The trail starts out in a beautiful rain forest w/ large trees and along the Sol Duck River. After a half mile or so you come to a junction where you begin and end the loop. We went right and shortly arrived at Sol Duck River falls. (photo 1) Apparently this waterfall is the most photographed in the state of Washington. It's cool, but living near the Columbia River Gorge spoils you for waterfalls.
The trail begins climbing out of the drainage and doesn't stop for 7 more miles. There is a brief level spot near Deer Lake about 4.5 miles in, but continues climbing up to the High Divide trail. Once we reached the high divide, we almost immediately came to the use trail down to Lunch Lake, our camp for the next two nights. The use trail was about a mile, descending down steep steps to the lake shore. Continuing on you reach the camps, w/ about 12 sites nestled in and around the foothills surrounding the lake. One site to fit our 4 tents.
Day 2 we had perfect weather, clear skies and 75 degrees. It was a free day, and we spent it exploring the many lakes and lakelettes nearby. Some of us walked along the High Divide trail, some of us swam and took photos.
Day 3 we got up, broke down camp and set off for the next destination, Heart Lake about 4.5 miles away along the High Divide. Along the way, we climbed to the top of Bogachiel Peak (5,474 ft), then descended to Hoh Lake. There were thousands of tadpoles swimming in the lake. They were circling the perimeter in an unbroken chain. We also spotted a bear on a steep cliffside meadow way above the lake.
Heart Lake is a small pool with about 7-10 campsites scattered on the various hillsides near the lake. The flies and gnats were terrible here. They were bad all weekend, really. The day started beautifully, but by 5pm the clouds had made their way up one side of the divide and down the other and had us completely socked in. Strangely, we could see blue sky faintly through the clouds directly above so we must have been just barely covered. It stayed cloudy until after sunset, and then again the clouds were there when we awoke.
After breaking down camp, we descended 3 miles down to the Sol Duck River and then 5.5 miles more along the river back to the parking lot. Celebratory beers and burgers at next door gastropub in Port Angeles, WA.
