Duckabush

We drove out to the Duckabush Trailhead in the eastern Olympics to hike up to 

Big Hump and back, 8 miles round trip with an overall elevation gain of 1,800 ft. As we were hiking up the trail we met a WTA work crew, who had spent the past 3 days removing 30 downed trees from the trail up through Big Hump. We thanked them for all there hard work and enjoyed a trail where we did not have to climb over and crawl under trees.  The trail starts in Olympic National Forest and enters The Brothers Wilderness at 1 mile (as one begins to descend from Little Hump).

We saw several small streams along the trail.

We enjoyed walking through this lovely forest, with lots of green moss and ferns. Along the first couple of miles we saw yellow violets, trillium and calypso orchids in bloom.

View of the Duckabush River from the trail

On the switchbacks up to Big Hump we saw lots of fawn lilies along with, chocolate lilies, paintbrush, monkeyflowers, blue eyed Marys and other wildflowers.

View of nearby peaks as we continue up the trail

a weeping wall

peek-a-boo views from near the top of Big Hump

 

When the trail began to descend down the west side of Big Hump, we turned around  and returned down to a rocky ledge with nice views to take a lunch break.

zoom of Saint Peters Dome to the west

zoom the the Cascades far to the east

another view of the Duckabush River as we returned down the trail

some of the wildflowers we saw along the trail today: