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Momentous Adventures-The Black Bear Traverse (part 3)

Posted by eriksoltan on Nov 23, 2014 in Uncategorized | No Comments

After enjoying a lovely breakfast in Honeymoon Meadows and get ready for a great day of hiking! Make a left at the La Crosse Pass trail and start the 6.4 mile trail up and over the pass. The 1900ft. climb leads to great views of the surrounding peaks Mt. Anderson and its glaciers, Mt. La Crosse and Elk Lick border the pass while the Duckabush Valley opens up in front you. Make your way down to the valley to a ford of the Duckabush next to scenic Upper Camp and make a plan to come back to visit the amazing La Crosse Lakes Basin, the source of river and perhaps the best spot in the Park. Your trail, however follows the Skokomish River Trail to the left up to Home Sweet Home and then follows the river downstream. Home Sweet Home is a quiet little valley under the shadows of Mt. Steel and Hopper, a great place to take a lunch break or to take in the falls behind the camps. Next, take the switchbacks a little less than a mile to the First Divide, the true saddle that seperates the Duckabush and Skokomish River Valleys. Begin your slow meander down to Camp Pleasant, your home for the night, 18 miles from Honeymoon Meadows Camp.

After a great night’s sleep, begin your day with an easy mile down to the Six Ridge Way Trail. This part is a bit tricky, after making a right at the intersection, the true trail cuts a sharp left to a ford of Seven Stream where you will see another sign for Six Ridge pointing up a hill to your right. Follow this trail as it relentlessly climbs through forests as views improve slowly as you climb and skirt the small knobs that make up the Six Ridge. The trail at last comes to a more alpine area area on the top of the ridge where a fallen trail sign points the way to Lake Success, located on a ridge spur to the right. Next, the trail passes a great camp that is not marked on Green Trails map before slowly traversing several small basins untill you reach the small basin that holds McGravey Lake. Set up camp in this subalpine wonderland and enjoy the solitude of this magical spot, your final night’s camp. If your energy allows you after the tough 10.6 mile day, you should climb the hill behind the lake and enjoy the sunset on hills and mountains all around you. After enjoying a lovely morning, begin the climb to Six Ridge Pass as it passes more lovely meadow bowls along the way. Drop down off the Pass, crossing several intersections while you remain on the Graves Creek Trail, always contouring right from the other trails. I personally thought that this section of trail was the roughest sections of the traverse, it has softball sized rocks and rough rooty patches that slow your progress. Finish the final flat mile as you once again reach Graves Creek TH and enjoy a leisurely 10 mile bike ride on good and mostly flat tread back to the starting TH. Enjoy a cold reward beer as you change into clean cloths and reminise over the past week’s amazing sights and your new found bond with the Olympic Mountains.