Less Crowded Hikes on the Olympic Peninsula

Jennie and Craig talk about their favorite hikes on the Olympic Peninsula with way fewer people than the most famous ones.

Our sponsor for the month of April is  the Olympic Peninsula Visitor's Bureau - thank you!

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Transcript

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 Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, 

and I'm your co-host Craig Romano.

Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners, and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun, and inclusive.

 



 Our sponsor for the month of April is the Olympic Peninsula Visitors Bureau. Craig and I are really excited to bring you some wonderful episodes about the the Olympic Peninsula this month, and thank you so much, Olympic Peninsula for sponsoring.

 Hiking on the Olympic Peninsula spans rainforest valleys, mountain ridges, rugged coastlines, and more families can find easy wooded interpretive trails while dog-friendly hikes offer shared adventures on select forest paths and beaches. Coastal hikes deliver beach exploration and dramatic views. Two shorter day hikes for fresh air or multi-day backpacking trips through lush river corridors, over mountain passes and along remote shores where nature sets the pace for beginning and seasoned explorers alike.

Start your planning today@olympicpeninsula.org.



 Hey Craig, how you doing? Good, Jennie. How you doing? Good. Well here we are in April and today we are talking about some awesome hikes on the Olympic Peninsula. That are less crowded. 'cause we all know, even though it's a great year round hiking destination, we've got some very busy months coming up over there.

So today we're gonna talk about one of our favorite things to talk about, which is less crowded options. 

And you know. I love the Olympic Peninsula. Me too. And my third edition of Day Hiking, the Olympic Peninsula is coming out later this year. 

Sweet. 

Is my number one selling book. Yep. ERs books. Um, you know, uh, people come to the Olympics from all over the country.

Yep. 

And one of the greatest things that I love. For me, writing the book is showing I have 136 hikes in this book. So it goes so much beyond Hurricane Ridge, the popular hikes, Lena Lake, all those, all these other great hikes. And I love sharing that with people so when they come up they can see, well, you know.

There, there are places I can get, I can get away from all the crowds in Olympic Peninsula. I think when you mention the Olympics, a lot of people, I think one of the first things that comes to their mind, rainforest,

Yep. And everybody wants to go to the home rainforest and you could sit in a three hour car jam waiting to get there on the weekend. So, um. You know, there are lots of great alternatives to the whole rainforest where you're not gonna see, and I know Jennie, we've talked about this in the past, the Boga Shield is, is the place to be to get away from crowds.

One thing Craig, agree with that when we're going through, let's make sure that we tell everybody whether we're talking about Olympic National Park or Olympic National Forest or somewhere else, because listeners, that's something that can be confusing. 'cause we talk about the Olympics. The mountains. We also talk about the Olympic Peninsula, and then we also talk about Olympic National Park.

I'll try to remember to make sure we're clarifying that with each one. So go ahead with the Boga shield.

One of the reasons, so, the Boga Shield is definitely.

A great alternative to the whole. So just to clarify, , the core part of the Olympic peninsula is protected within the Olympic National Park and there's also Coast Park and there's a Olympic National Forest that runs the periphery.

, Well the whole rainforest is, the trails are entirely within the national park, but the bog shield part of it is in the national park. Part of it is in the national forest. Uh, but still. It is a trail that gets a lot fewer people than the whole rainforest.

It's easier to get to. So if you're staying in forks, it's only a, you know, it's, it's less than 10 miles to drive there. It's a lot longer to get to the hope. Um, and it's a great place to go. In the wintertime, it's a easier, you meet, you're gonna see elk in, in this area.

You can bring your dog there. There's a nature loop. The Irish Spring Nature Loop, there's another loop you can do.. Then if you wanna go into backpacking or longer hikes, you can go up that bogus she, as far as you want to go. But there's also, uh, other, other areas, uh, one of my absolute favorite places between the Bogus Shield and the Ho is the Snyder Jackson Trail.

Mm. And the Snyder Jackson Trail. It's a historic trail that ran from the old guard stations before it was a national park. Uh, there's two segments of this trail that are, that, that are still, um, pable. There's the north and the south. The south the southern stretch goes from right, right before. You enter the, the national park on the whole river, on the whole rainforest road, and it goes over this ridge drops down, crosses the Boga shield.

You come out in the Boga Shield. So this hikes is incredible because the trees are unbelievable., You'll see nobody on this. I've hiked it several times and have seen nobody. I've seen giant bull elk on this trail. And you're gonna get a very different perspective too, is that you're going to be climbing out of the HU Rainforest, where the HU is mostly in the valley.

You're gonna be climbing up on this ridge with these big trees. There's some gaps. You'll get, if it's a clear day, you can see down to the valley, you can see Mount Olympus in the background. It is an amazing trail, an amazing wildness experience. I will, uh, caution that. Um, you can go up a couple miles on the ridge anytime of year.

If you're planning on doing the entire traverse, which is a long day hike, or a great backpack, you need to forward the Boga Shield River, which can only be done safely late summer, early fall. Okay? So that's one of my favorite places. Uh, if you're, you wanna escape the crowds for rainforest. Jennie, what about you?

Well, I think kind of sticking with your rainforest inspiration, I think, um. You know, we've, we've talked about different alternatives to the hoe different times.

But a couple that I think are good to mention here, one is there's a small trail system next to the store that's like, right, it's on the road into the hoe. But it's before you enter the park and there's a small store there and a small in like the Rainforest Cafe and there's a bunch of trails,, there that are wonderful.

So if you get there and there's a long line to get into the hoe, um, it's a along the hoe river. I mean that's really, that's something I discovered last spring and I was like, oh, this is pretty cool.

 I think another one. It's tricky because the area is crowded, but the hike is not so much is the rainforest around Lake Crescent and um, by the Lake Crescent Lodge. So that's a very busy area there by the Storm King Ranger station, but compared to the hoe, right? If you wanna see some huge trees and moss and stuff, um.

You know, you're not gonna have to wait in line to get in. And I have never found the trail to be super busy. Um, up to Mary, Mary Falls and like a long Barnes Creek there and there are some giant trees. So when it comes to trees, um, those are the two spots that come to mind for me. 

That's a great, great segue talking about Barnes Creek, 'cause probably one of the loneliest places in the Olympics.

Um, so if you're looking, this is gonna be outta the rainforest, but still big trees as long as is Aurora Ridge. Mm-hmm. And Aurora Ridge. Basically when you're driving it's Lake Crescent. It's that big long green ridge above you. So here's the irony. There are trails that come right off of 1 0 1 and when you go up the North Fork of the So Duck, so you're on the way to High Divide, which is a very, very popular area, you'll pass the first trailhead.

There might be one or two cars parked there. That's the beginning to Aurora Ridge and I've hiked the entire ridge. It's in my book. Um, you can break for day hikes, you can break it. Break it down, or if you can do car shuttles and you will be all by yourself. Uh, why is that? , For the most part it doesn't, it's not delivering those big wow views that you're gonna get, like the high divide.

But there are views along the way. There's, um, sourdough Mountain, which is , which is an old lookout site. , , You'll get views up there. You'll get views of Mount Olympus out. , You're gonna get this incredible wilderness experience because yeah, people aren't gonna be there just north of that trailhead is the North fork of the Salt Duck River.

So again, there might be a car or two parked there, like there. What de tears? A lot of people from that one. Well, within one mile you have to forward the river. 

Yeah. 

Again, you can't do that in some, 

we need to do an episode later this year about 14 rivers. 

14 rivers. Yes. Absolutely. I, they're a lot of fun.

I love Ford if it's, if it's done properly. So we gotta do that. So that's up. But once you get past that Ford, there's, there's several other Fords where they get easier. You just go up that valley nine miles and you're not gonna see anybody. And you're gonna see some of the biggest trees, um, the, the same height you're gonna see if you went up the Salt Duck River on your way, on your way to, um.

High divide. So, 

so how do you get to that trailhead, Craig, 

the north for, it's, it's same, same road you're heading to Olympic Hot Springs. You're heading to Yeah. The High Divide. It's gonna be your second trailhead. Uh uh You 

mean, you mean Souk Hot Springs, 

the North, yeah. Souk Hot Springs. Yeah. So North Fork of the Souk is, is So Aurora, Aurora Ridge, north Fork of the Souk.

There are two hikes in a very, very popular valley that are not popular at all. 

Yeah. 

And it doesn't matter how much I talk about 'em. They're not popular. 

Mm-hmm. 

So, 

yeah. So great one together. You know, there's a couple view hikes that I, you know, since you were kind of talking about some view hikes there, um, one in Olympic National Park and one out that I wanted to mention to you.

One is, deer Park in Olympic National Park. Now, listeners, I wanna just be transparent with you that it's not an easy drive up there. I mean, it, it doesn't, it's a gravel road. There's no cell service. It's kind of like one and a half lanes. There's some steep drop offs, but there's no reason you can't make it in like a normal car.

Like it doesn't require a Jeep or a truck or an SUV to get up there.. And, you know, there are people there. It's not complete solitude, but again, compared to Hurricane Ridge for a similar view, uh, it's really wonderful. And there's a couple places you can go. One is, blue Mountain, which is like a quarter of a mile.

Nature trail that has an amazing view. So you can almost drive right to it. And then if you wanna go a longer distance, you can go, along the, the ridge towards Hurricane Ridge that eventually, uh, you can walk to Hurricane Ridge. From there, you can also go the other way, um, from there, and, you know, those are trails with like beautiful views and wonderful wild flowers.

But, um. Way less crowded than hurricanes fraction of the crowds. 

Yeah, exactly. And again, this is, you know, most people are concentrating on hurricane and, and I should emphasize too, this is, and, and I just redid this hike not that long ago. And again, I, I was surprised even in Hurricane Ridge again, how popular that area.

A lot of people. Lake Angeles, one of my favorite hikes in that area. It's not an easy hike. Uh, so keep that in mind. Um, but you're just not gonna see the people up there is Heather Park. Mm-hmm. Heather Park is incredible. And if you're really adventurous, you can do this as a loop of Lake Lake Angeles, but if you wanna do it.

Uh, make it a little bit easier for yourself. Again, if you can arrange it with the bus or, um, a one way, uh, a shuttle is to hike up the switchback trail to Victor Pass, and then do that as a one way out. Yeah. Uh, I did that one year with a friend, and that way you're predominantly hiking downhill. But you're going to, there's some spectacular views.

You are looking out. Straight to Wanda Fu, a Mount Baker, Vancouver Island. The, the flowers are incredible. You can go scramble up first top. There's an old historic stoned hut, uh, the foundation, , that they were building before, before the park was established. And I mean, it's a long approach if you're coming up.

But boy, you will be rewarded. People are just not there even though there. Hundreds and hundreds of people just on the other side of the ridge at Hurricane Ridge. 

Yeah. Another place I wanted to mention for a couple reasons is, um, I've mentioned this hike on the podcast before I'm pretty sure is Mount Zion in Olympic National Forest.

It has a view. It's not as expansive of a view as some other hikes, but it's like on the northeast corner of the Olympics and. One of the, I mean, it does have a great view, but the thing that is really amazing about that hike in June is the wild rhododendrons. That's true on a lot of hikes on the Olympic Peninsula and Whidby Island.

I should like make that clear. But this one is, I feel like it just has a ton of our. State flower kind of in its natural environment where it's like tall and spindly and has those pink blooms. So, and I have never seen more. I've done that hike a lot and I've seen Max, like three cars at the trailhead.

Yeah. That you're just not gonna see the numbers there. No. And, and in that same area again, if you're going up,, the popular trails tub, tubal k mine, uh, Dungeness Trail, um. The, uh, Royal Valley, that area, um, the lower dungeon ness is another one that you're not gonna see the crowds. It, it is open to motorcycles.

, You won't see many in there. Uh, you don't have to drive as only half the distance up that really bumpy road to get there. Um, and you're gonna be going along the river. The upper parts of that, there are some really big trees in there. That's another great one to get away from. Crowds.

Gold Creek. On the other side of that, you can do a loop. That's a great trail run. Or if you're mountain biking, uh, same thing, you're not gonna see the crowds in there. And if you do up. The upper Dungeness trail, which is a wonderful trail, , but fairly popular, about a little less than four miles in there.

You get to the shelter, hike, the Heather Creek Trail that branches off from from there. That, trail is amazing and you will not see very many people there. Uh, some climbers will use it as an approach to get up into hike, but uh, it ends at the National Park boundary, so you can pretty much hike that whole, the trail with your dog up to the boundary.

Big trees, lots of ru rushing water. Very few people in there. 

Cool. That sounds amazing. I've never, it's one of those places, Craig, that I learned about from you. One 

of the many. Well, it's all in my book. It's all in my book. Yeah. And you know, it's funny, another place that a lot of people up the Elah, um, Elwa is not as popular as it used to be because the roads washed out and everything.

I know's 

such a bummer. 

It is a bummer.

Yeah. 

But if you're, if you're walking up that valley. A trail that gets very little use even when you were able to drive right up to the trail head by the old ranger station is Griff Creek.

, I know some, some people on the Olympic Peninsula, some multi like to call it Grief Creek. Uh, it, it's known to be steep. It is incredibly steep at the last part of it, but you don't need to do the last part. 'cause the last part's kind of anti-climatic. You do the first part and you get up to this view above the elwa.

You could see where the old. Lake Mills used to be the mountains across. Um, there's wild flowers up there. There's picture, and I've hiked this several times. Again, I have never run into anybody on it, so it's another one that you can do to be all by yourself. 

Yeah. That's awesome. Love it. Okay. Are there any other hikes we wanna talk about, Craig?

Yeah. The, the other area that gets, it seems it doesn't get the, the love and respect I've met. Same thing, I have friends in Port Angeles. They, they never even go down there. It's kind of like, you know. Like going into another country. Like I, we don't go, it's the South Flank of the Olympic Peninsula. 

Mm.

Mm-hmm. 

The South Flank has some of the best, the quietest trails along Lake Wino. Um, the, the Ucci. Lake. Valley. 

Yep. 

Now be careful in this area, 'cause sometimes these trails don't get the, the, the maintenance that that other trails get. But if they are maintained or if you're prepared that you're gonna be stepping over some logs.

There is a 12 mile loop around the lake. 16 if you, if you extend it and go up to Waterfall, there's Wynn Nucci Pass, which is a way you can, you can get into Sundown Lake up that area. Uh, church Creek. Love this trail. This was reopened by, the Olympic, the Olympian Mountaineers. It was a trail that had faded away.

They reopened it, it goes over a pass. Some of the biggest trees you've ever seen are there. It drops down into the SATs of lakes. That's a great hike. It's not a long hike, but it's, it's got a good little challenge to it. The upper fork., Of the upper sec of the lower, let me get this right, the upper South Mish river.

Okay. So a lot of people do the lower, uh, that's very, very popular. It's easy to get to, but the upper, it starts in the national forest. It goes into the national park. Um, boy, just any distance on that, a couple miles or go all the way,, to Sixth Ridge., You're gonna see very few people. , If you are backpacking, I'll tell you thanks to the WTA.

This was another trail that was fading away. Six Ridge is probably one of the loneliest trails in, , Olympic National Park. The mosquitoes will help keep it that way in the first part of the year. But again, um, 

oh boy, 

it, it's a great trail. Um, lots of surprises on that as far as dark skies and seeing peaks you'd never even seen before.

So that whole south flank. Um, is, is an area that I think people in Olympia know about it and, and, and people in Shelton, but it tends to get overlooked because, um, everyone's kind of heading into those, uh, the staircase area and, and to, uh, hurricane Ridge seem to be, , real popular in the whole rainforest, but so much to explore in the Olympics, um, if to, to escape the crowds.

I agree. There's so many. I feel like it's almost bottomless. We 

don't wanna give away your entire book, I'm think, edition of my book on this. I mean, it's just Exactly, that's the thing. There's just so much, so much to write about and I haven't even gotten, I haven't even gotten talking to about some of the county parks and some of the state parks, and 

I know 

we might have to revisit 

this extra.

I think we, we'll, I think we'll, yeah. 

Cool. Well, thank you Craig, and thanks everybody. We'll see you next week.

..

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