Spruce Railroad Trail Winter Hike

 When we hiked up to the Pyramid Peak trailhead today, we saw this sign showing the Spruce Railroad Trail as well. We hadn't planned on hiking the Spruce Railroad Trail, so hadn't brought that trail description. I remembered reading that the Spruce Railroad Trail was a fairly flat 8 mile roundtrip hike. So we thought why not hike this trail as well, thinking we were already on the trail and it would be less than the 8 miles.



This first section was a wide asphalt trail in the woods. We later discovered that this 2 mile section was taking us to the trailhead on the west side of the Spruce Railroad Trail. (We ended up hiking 12+ miles on this route today). I later read that   this trail will be part of the Olympic Discovery Trail, planned to extend over 100 miles from La Push on the Pacific Ocean to Port Townsend on Puget Sound.

There were no signs at the west trailhead, just an empty wooden box that sometimes has nature guides in it. At this point, the asphalt ends, and a nice forested trail begins.

On the "official" trail we started with some views of Lake Crescent and the Olympic Mountains to the south.

 Soon the trail was just above the lake, giving beautiful views of the lake and mountains

 Even with the clouds moving in and out, the views were gorgeous.

 Along the way, there are short branch trails leading to the old railroad tunnels. We took a look in the first one, it was very rocky with uneven ground.

 We continued on the main trail, enjoying the twists and turns along the lake shore.

 We frequently stopped to enjoy the view.

 Looking back to the other, smaller entrance to the first tunnel.

 There was a lot of variation on how this trail appeared. We did find lots of mud and mud puddles along the way.

 There were a couple of streams crossing the trail.

 The side trail to the second tunnel. We did not explore this one, as it was getting later and we wanted to reach the east side trailhead before turning around.

Wide angle shot looking across Lake Crescent

 One mile before the eastern trailhead, we crossed this steel bridge over a narrow, deep finger of the lake.

 The last short bit of trail to the eastern trailhead is a wide gravel walk way. There is a picnic area at the eastern trailhead, a nice place to take a break before returning back.

 A nice sign at the eastern trail head. It was fun knowing this beautiful lakeshore trail was along the southern  base of Pyramid Peak, which we hiked earlier in the day.

 As we headed back along the 6 miles we had traveled, we watched the full moon high in the sky. We did need to use our head lamps to find our way along the trail, but found this moon lit up the lake and gave us a look at the mountains to the south. It was a gorgeous night time hike!

Pyramid Mountain Winter Hike

 We headed up to the north shore road in Olympic National Park today, to hike up Pyramid Mountain on the north shore of Lake Crescent.
This is a great winter hike giving us 2,400 ft in elevation gain in 3.5 miles (and then returning for a 7 mile round trip hike). It is a beautiful diverse forest. I loved this old tree that looks like a teepee near the trailhead.

 There are lots of ferns, moss, and nurse logs.

 Trees towering over moss covered rocks and boulders

 The trail winds along the side of the mountain in the forest.

 Lots of plants to admire along the trail,

 and many interesting trees.

 So many things to catch my eye.

 Lots of water flowing down the steams today.

 We had a few peak-a-boo views of Lake Crescent and the Olympic Mountains to the south as the trail climbed. But the view opened up when we reached a steep, exposed slide area about 1.8 miles.

 There is a very narrow footpath across this exposed area. Although we were hiking in a light rain, this area seemed firm and stable. We took our time hiking across.

 Then the trail continued along a nice forested path, as we continued upward.


















As we reached the saddle and crossed over to the north side of the ridge, we found the area covered in low lying bushes.

 The trail then opens up to a ridge, where the wind was fierce, just before

 a short steep section leading to an old abandoned WWII plane spotter cabin. This was a nice place to take shelter from the wind and sideways blowing snow and rain while we ate lunch.
















Views from atop Pyramid Mountain as the fog and clouds moved around today.

Murhut Falls Winter Hike

Our sixth and final waterfall of the day was to Murhut Falls. This is a 1.7 mile roundtrip hike in the Olympic National Forest. The trailhead is located about 7 miles up the Duckabush Road off of Hwy 101 on the east side of the Olympic Penninsula south of Brinnon. 

Another lovely hike in the forest,

There is an overall elevation gain of about 175 ft. We had some peek a boo views of the local peaks through the trees.

 Water gushing downstream from Murhut Falls.

 The first view of the 153 foot falls is through the trees.

 It was difficult to get a good picture in the fading light. There is a nice pool at the bottom of the falls, but the foot path down is steep and very muddy. I did not want to go down in the dark today, so left content with this view.

Rocky Brook Falls

Our fifth waterfall was to Rocky Brook Falls a short 0.4 mile round trip walk on the local hydroelectric property. Trailhead and parking is 3 miles up the Dosewallips Road off of Hwy 101 on the east side of the Olympic Penninsula, in Brinnon.
This short walk goes along Rocky Brock up to the falls.

 There are lots of wet rocks and roots at the base of the 229 foot falls.

 lots of water coming down today!

Fall View Falls

 Our fourth waterfall today is located in Falls View Campground on Hwy 101, just south of Quilcene on the east side of the Olympic Penninsula in the Olympic National Forest. There is a very short 0.1 mile loop trail to view the falls at the day use area on the south end of the campground. We found the campground closed today, but it was a short walk through the campground to the trail. Nice second growth forest walk to the overlook.

 From one area of the view area, we could see the top portion of the 200 ft falls.

A short ways further down, we could see the bottom section of the falls entering the Quilcene Canyon.

Madison Creek Falls

 Our third waterfall today was to Madison Creek Falls in Olympic National Park in the Elwha Valley. This is a short drive off of Hwy 101 about 8 miles west of Port Angeles. A small parking area is located 2 miles south of the Olympic Hot Springs Road. The road is closed right after the parking lot because of road washout this winter.
We had great views of the Elwha River, looking south

 and north.

 An easy 250 foot paved path in the forest leads to the falls.

Madison Creek Falls is a 76 foot drop into a small pool.

 The wind and mist coming off the falls today was very strong!

 Although it is a very short walk, there was lots to see besides the falls, gorgeous old trees, lots of ferns and moss,

and an interesting old stump, hollow in the middle.