The loop starts about 0.8 mile up the trail, we went counter clockwise and crossed the bridge at Sol Duc Falls.
There were several streams that crossed the trail as we went up the switchbacks through the forest.
A short ways after Deer Lake, the trail goes through a meadow with some large pot holes.
The flowers and spiderwebs were covered in dew drops.
The white and pink heathers were in bloom.
another pot hole
We would walk through many fields of avalanche lilies, sign of recent snow melt.
The trail again enters the forest, gaining elevation before opening along a high ridge.
Here we saw a great variety of wildflowers in bloom.
The park warns about a section of the trail about 3 miles past Deer Lake: "One section of the trail near the Lunch Lake junction is in poor condition due to landslide of seismic activity. Though easily crossable, there are multiple narrow, deep fissures across the trail and unsteady footing in this area."
Shortly after this "rough" section, we reached the junction with the Lunch Lake Trail and headed down into the 7 Lakes Basin.
View of Round Lake as we descended into the 7 Lakes Basin.
View of Lunch Lake
The trail goes around the north shore of Lunch Lake.
I like these stone steps over the outlet at Lunch Lake.
Beargrass and heather along the lakeshore trail.
As the sun broke through the clouds, we saw this lovely shade of blue!
View of Bogachiel Peak across Lunch Lake.
We continued on the trail up towards the High Divide, bypassing Bogachiel Peak. View of Clear Lake below.
Deer in the 7 Lakes Basin
The trail heads uphill from the 7 Lakes Basin to the High Divide.
Nice patches of wildflowers in bloom along the trail.
This trail goes by several mountain tarns.
Love the pop of color from the wildflowers.
There are still patches of snow around some of the tarns.
We took a lunch break here.
The trail continues up through several tiers of tarns,
and a marshy area.
Up on the High Divide, looking down on some of the tarns we walked past.
Although it remained cloudy as we hiked the High Divide portion of the trail, and we could not see the Olympic peaks to the south, we enjoyed the variety of wildflowers in bloom along the trail.
View down to Morgenroth Lake and No Name Lake.
lots of arnica in bloom along the trail
another view of Morgenroth Lake 
We hiked slowly along the High Divide,
There were so many wildflowers in bloom to savor.
View of Lake Number 8 below and a distant Mount Appleton beyond the ridge.
Continuing on the High Divide and looking down to Lake Number 8.
large field of avalanche lilies
We were hoping the skies would clear and we would get a view of Mt Olympus today, but it was not to be.
We were more than satisfied with our meander through the 7 Lakes Basin and the fields after fields of wildflowers in bloom.
At the end of the High Divide, the trail begins its descent down towards Heart Lake.
View of Heart Lake from the side.
outlet from Heart Lake
shooting stars in bloom along the outlet
Bridge Creek cascading down the hillside
The east side of the loop has lots of creeks and water crossings and some wildflowers as well.
small pot hole in the meadow
waterfall under the bridge crossing Bridge Creek
Another water crossing
From Heart Lake to the trailhead is 8.5 miles, mostly in the forest, a good portion goes along Bridge Creek
We found a few ripe huckleberries at the lower elevations.
We also saw quite a few of this fungus
Near the end of the loop portion of the trail, a dow and fawn passed us on the trail.some of the many wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail today:
No comments:
Post a Comment