PJ Lake

Our second hike was to PJ Lake, a 1.8 mile round trip hike with an overall elevation gain of 1,000 ft. The trailhead is located at the Waterhole about half way along the Obstruction Point Road in Olympic National Park.

This hike is in the forest, but has some open meadows that were filled with wildflowers today.

The first part of the trail descends steeply for 700 ft. in a narrow valley. While traversing the open meadow, we could see the nearby peaks above us.

The meadow was filled with larkspur and Columbine.

view across to the other side of the valley

The trail crossed this meadow filled with the most columbine I have seen several times

There were several small streams to cross going across the valley, at the last creek is this lovely waterfall with a few avalanche lilies still in bloom.

The trail then climbs 300 ft to reach PJ Lake. 

view from the west side of the lake, we could see a waterfall coming down from Eagle Point.

We found a spot along the east side of the lake to take a break.

The hike back to the trailhead entails hiking back up the 700 ft we descended at the beginning of the hike, but we enjoyed going past the flowered filled meadows again.

As we drove back out along Obstruction Point Road, we stopped to enjoy this meadow filled with paintbrush and asters.

some of the wildflowers seen along the PJ Lake trail today: