September 16 - 17, 2017
My goal this summer was to revisit Seven Lakes Basin in Olympic National Park. Back in 2012 we hiked the High Divide Loop over 5 days, which gave us plenty of time to stop and smell the flowers. I had a draft post for that hike when I started the blog, but didn't publish it until recently since I hadn't written much about it.
So, with summer winding down we took advantage of perhaps one of the last sunny, warm weekends. Andy and I were prepared to do this in one day or two, depending on whether we could score an overnight permit at Lunch Lake. The ONP has a permitting system in the summer now. Where we wanted to camp (Seven Lakes Basin - Lunch Lake) 50% of the permits can be reserved, with the other 50% available up to 24 hours before the trip. There are other sites in the Park that can be reserved 100%, so one would need to plan ahead in that case.
We wanted to beat anyone who was looking for a walk-up permit like us, so we woke up at 4 am to catch the 5:30 am Edmonds-Kingston ferry. Google said the Port Angeles Wilderness Information Center (WIC) opens at 8 am on Saturday. Well, Google is wrong. They actually open at 8:30 am. We arrived at the WIC around 7:30 am, saw the business hours sign (8:30 am - 5 pm), got annoyed, then headed downtown to grab breakfast at First Street Haven, which I highly recommend.
We took our time enjoying breakfast and arrived back to the WIC at 8:32 am. There were already 5 cars in the lot and our chances were looking slim. Good news, though! The Ranger let us know there had been several cancellations due to the rain forecasted on Sunday, so we were able to get an overnight permit for Lunch Lake!
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| We took the Seven Lakes Basin Loop trail to the left (clockwise) |
Taking the clockwise direction starts you off in ~6 miles of woods before you get out into the open. We started this way to get the longest leg of the trip (11 miles) and all the climbing done on Saturday while the weather was nice, in case Sunday was a total wash out. We'd also be able take in all the sights on a cloudless day, as Sunday's hike would instead be a relaxing descent through the woods.
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| Andy making his way up on one of the many beautifully constructed log bridges |
As we climbed higher, the air became fragrant with blueberries. Bears were busy munching away and didn't care about us at all. It was amazing. We ended up seeing a total of NINE bears.
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| Hey Bear |
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| I am but a tiny part of this forest |
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| I am but a tiny part of this forest, pt. 2 |
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| Morganroth Lake |
A Ranger making his rounds on the trail gave us a tip about a shortcut to Lunch Lake via a split off just before Bogachiel Peak. We actually took this path 5 years ago while we were exploring and heading towards Morganroth Lake from Lunch Lake. We didn't see this split off 5 years ago because it was snow-covered and not yet marked with the small arrow sign that's there now.
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| Shortcut to our destination coming up |
It took us 5.5 hours to get to Lunch Lake from Sol Duc TH. Not too shabby. We set up at Campsite 9 and had a nice view of the lake.
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| Peek-a-boo Lunch Lake. The channel was bone dry. |
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| Campsite 9 |
The evening was gusty, but warm. We ended up getting plenty of rest and woke up at 5:30 am to tear down camp. We headed out by 6:30 am to catch the sunrise on our hike up and out of the basin.
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| Early morning selfie before heading out of Lunch Lake :) :D |
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| Andy pointing to the trail out of the Seven Lakes Basin. That's the trail up to the ridge. |
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| Looking back towards Lunch Lake and that early morning dewy glow |
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| Early bear gets all the blueberries at Round Lake. |
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| Sunrise towards the top of the ridge on the way out of the basin |
Once out of the basin, the remaining 7 miles to the trailhead was mostly through the forest. Andy and I stopped at a particular spot to take a few more pictures. We took a few steps forward and to our surprise a bear was about 10 feet away from us! Luckily we were talking and it wasn't as surprised as us. In the picture below the bear is standing on its hind legs wondering what all the fuss is about. He or she went back to munching on berries shortly after. So cute! So cool! I'm still in awe.
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| My favorite bear picture |
We passed by Sol Duc Falls on the last 0.8 miles out. It was of course beautiful.
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| Sol Duc Falls |
As we stepped into the parking lot, the rain began. The weather was on our side again this time.
