Timeless Trails-The Olympic N.P. and High Divide Loop

Heart Lake

My first backpacking trip was in the wild Olympic Mountains, we went up the Hoh River to Glacier Meadows and then backtracked down the river before climbing up to the High Divide. From then on, I started a love affair with this amazing range. The formal record of a proposal for a new national park on the Olympic Peninsula begins with the expeditions of well-known figures Lieutenant Joseph O’Neil and Judge James Wickersham, during the 1890s. These notable men met in the Olympic wilderness while exploring, and subsequently combined their political efforts to have the area placed within some protected status. Following unsuccessful efforts in the Washington State Legislature in the early 1900s, President Theodore Roosevelt created Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909, primarily to protect the subalpine calving grounds and summer range of the Roosevelt elk herds native to the Olympics.

From the High Divide you can see the 7,980-foot summit of Mount Olympus, the Pacific Ocean shimmers in the distance, less than 33 miles west. Between the highest peak in the Olympic Mountain range and sea is a jumble of rugged peaks, whose shoulders are decorated with meadows and lakes, like the lovely 7 lakes basin along the Loop. Below treeline, scattered subalpine forests give way to steep forested slopes ending in broad, U-shaped valleys. In all directions mountains and valleys radiate from Mount Olympus like spokes on a wheel. The isolated Olympic Peninsula harbors a unique community of wildlife, noteworthy not only for animals found only here, but also for species missing from the Olympics, yet found elsewhere in western mountains. Pika, ptarmigan, ground squirrels, lynx, wolverine, grizzly bears, bighorn and historically, mountain goats did not occur on the Olympic Peninsula. While unique species like the Olympic marmot, Olympic snow mole and Olympic torrent salamander are found here and nowhere else in the world! The High Divide Loop has all this goodness in a 18.2 mile trip, from Sol Duc Falls to the airy views on the High Divide of dozens of peaks and the Hoh River Valley, this makes a great beginners backpacking trip or one for you and your kids too. Hit up the Loop in a summer weekend, or take a longer trek and explore more remote areas like Cat Basin or Appleton Pass.

The Olympic Mountains from the High Divide

The 7 lakes Basin

Settle into camp in the Lakes Basin

Enjoying the sunset from above Appleton Pass