[Abert]

I walked the six miles to Boulder Lake this morning and took the way trail over to Three Horse Lake, went up to Everett Peak, more or less followed the ridge to Boulder Peak and then back to Boulder Lake for the six mile walk out. I used the Olympic Climbing guide and an old trip report from WTA for some guidance. The way trail to Three Horse Lake is in decent shape going up to the ridge above Boulder Lake but just kind of loosely falls down the steep slope to Three Horse Lake (assuming I was on the official unofficial trail and not just a game trail). The meadow leading to the lake is overgrown and boggy. There are a couple of substantial adjoining camp sites in the trees beside the surprisingly large inlet streams. From the campsites, I walked up the south side of the inlet stream, not really seeing any path, until I reached a boulder field coming off Everett Ridge and went up the left margin of the boulders until I could see the small basin and pass above to Blue Lake. If there is still a discernible trail to the pass I would imagine it takes a somewhat more direct route than I did. The summit register was damp with not many recent signatures. What I could see of the ridge to Boulder Peak looked doable if not all that attractive, so I decided to try it. I contoured above Three Horse Lake Basin to bypass the first high point on the ridge to the SW from Everett Peak. I found a decent line not dropping below 4960' and was pleased with myself when I quickly reached the 5150' saddle before the next high point on the ridge. Unfortunately, from there to Boulder Peak the hard reality of trying to walk a jumbled Olympic Mountains ridge slowed progress to a (temporal) crawl. I might as well have been on my hands and knees for the time it took to get to Boulder. It wasn't that difficult to find a way around the various obstacles, it just took a very long time. I tried to follow the reputed climber's path along the north ridge from Boulder Peak to connect with the Happy Lake Ridge Trail but it came and went in a manner that didn't inspire loyalty, so I just dropped down the steep hillside through the forest to Boulder Lake to conclude the off-trail portion of my day. Hike photos

Three Horse Lake

Pass to Blue Lake

Blue Lake

Route to Boulder Peak

Boulder

080

081

086

091

104

Three Horse Lake Basin

109