2008.8.30-9.1 High Divide - 7 Lake Loop. 19 miles, 4000 ft gain, 4 hrs from Seattle. Close viewing opportunity of black bears, peaks, lakes, flowers, waterfalls.

Day 1: cloudy. 8:45am ferry to Bainbridge Island. Only waited 20 minutes. Arrived ~12:30 at the trail head, end of Sol Duc Hot Spring Rd, elevation 1900 ft. Flat and pave-like 0.8 mile to the junction for Sol Duck Falls. Lots of people. Keep left, along Sol Duc River. Old growth forest, mossy, cool, MUDDY. Picked some baby chanterelles for dinner. About 1 camp site per mile. Gentle slope, can hear the roar of the river all the way, but cannot see it most of the time. At mile ~5 (3000 ft), passes Appleton Pass trail. Keep right, pass the last open fire camp site, 2 broken bridges. ~1.5 miles later (4 hr after the start), reached a small flat meadow: Sol Duc Park camp sites.

Day 2: cloudy. 1 hr of steep climb, 7.5 mile from start. Heart Lake area is nicer for camping: better view and water more upstream. 1 mile later, the ridge starts, and continue for 2 miles. Also bears started popping up. This is the best stretch of the entire loop. Great view south to Mt Olympus (Blue Glacier, Ice River Glacier), north to the 7-Lake basin dotted with tarns. A short climb to Bogachiel Peak (5474 ft) is worth the effort. Soon is the junction to the Hoh River Trail, and sure can see the river. Turn right and continue for another mile of flower and blue berry laden slopes. The berries are too small for me, but not for bears. At right about here, saw a group of 40+ Roosevelt elks S.W. in the valley below. A steep descent to the right leads to Round Lake and Lunch Lake (0.9 mile). Both are lovely. After setting up the tent, back traced 2 miles to Bogachiel Peak hoping Mt Olympus would be clear. Alas, the clouds stayed, so were the elks. Didn't catch any fish :( yet quite a few mosquito bites. Woke up by the ranger at night, because she wanted to check camping permit!

Day 3: sunny! Back up the ridge, briefly saw Olympus' peak. 3.4 miles' decent on rocky trail to Deer Lake. Saw a guy caught 3 trout. Another 3 miles of monotony along Canyon Creek (not as pretty as Sol Duc River) back to Sol Duc Falls and tourists. Same 0.8 easy miles lead to the huge parking lot. Before I could release my aching feet of the boots, a young dude in an SUV stopped by and checked camping permit. Such a turnoff.