Forum Index > Trip Reports > silver lake, olympics, via way trail
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bobbi
stillaGUAMish



Joined: 13 Jul 2006
Posts: 8012 | TRs | Pics
Location: olympics!
bobbi
stillaGUAMish
PostSun Sep 09, 2007 10:10 pm 
i've been wanting to check out silver lake over the years, but it seems like i detour to mt. townsend instead. so, today, along with some friends we decided to hike via the way trail. christine and betsy, her bernese mountain dog, also a therapy dog, susie and i headed out around 9am. we took the forest back road, 2870 off taylor cutoff road/lost mountain road. i hate this dirt road! anyway, after an hour we make it to the way trail head. it's along the little quilcene road, 835, i think. right across it is a parking area enough for 3 or 4 cars. the way trail is mostly in the woods, uphill, rocky, rooty, and lots of downed trees. when you come to the main trail, hang right to the lake. we got to the lake in about 1.5 hours. it was gorgeous, warm, and very few bugs. there were some very small fish...i think mtnwkr mentioned this in his last TR. after eating lunch, we make our way along the lake and up to the ridge. a bit of a haze but if you walk down a bit on the grassy slope, you can see rainier and st. helens. on our way back, we reminded ourselves NOT to miss the turnoff. we did! a good thing susie realized that we were heading up instead of down along silver creek. we got back on the trail, laughing at how we totally spaced out the turn. none of us noticed the bleached out log along the trail that was to remind us that if we crossed it, we missed the turnoff. too much yakking. back to the car, back to civilization, back to making plans for another hike!
betsy enjoying a swim in silver lake.
betsy enjoying a swim in silver lake.
silver lake from ridge
silver lake from ridge
view of mt. rainier from ridge
view of mt. rainier from ridge
susie crossing the makeshift bridge.
susie crossing the makeshift bridge.

bobbi ૐ "Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
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Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore



Joined: 15 May 2003
Posts: 14152 | TRs | Pics
Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore
PostSun Sep 09, 2007 10:20 pm 
Wow, check out those downed trees on the "View of Mt Rainier from Ridge" photo. They fell backward against the slope, not forward. They must've been blown down...?! eek.gif Must've been some wind!!!!! By the looks of the branches on the live trees, it's a pretty windy spot anyway.

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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bobbi
stillaGUAMish



Joined: 13 Jul 2006
Posts: 8012 | TRs | Pics
Location: olympics!
bobbi
stillaGUAMish
PostMon Sep 10, 2007 5:50 pm 
the blown down trees looked like it's been there awhile. most of the new downed trees were in the way trail. i doubt clearing the trail is on the forest service priority list. betsy, the dog, enjoyed jumping over each and every one.

bobbi ૐ "Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
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RodF
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Joined: 01 Sep 2007
Posts: 2593 | TRs | Pics
Location: Sequim WA
RodF
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PostFri Sep 14, 2007 1:07 am 
bcfc53 wrote:
most of the new downed trees were in the way trail. i doubt clearing the trail is on the forest service priority list.
No, it sure isn't! They have never maintained way trails such as this at all (past the trailhead register). The Silver Lake way trail was last cleared two years ago by Don Stoneman of Sequim and Janice O'Conner of Bainbridge Island, both stalwart Washington Trails Association volunteer crew leaders. They did it just for fun on a day off, not as part of an official WTA work party. I was up there in July, recall only two trees on the trail that I had to step around, and couldn't just step over. They weren't significant obstacles, nor were there enough to make it worth carrying a saw in. Are there actually more now? I thought the first 1000 feet or so at the trailhead did need to be brushed; those young alder need to be limbed back regularly lest the trail get completely overgrown. Give us a report, we'll put it on the list. p.s. The trail maintenance budget for the entire Hood Canal Ranger District covers one full time employee and two summer interns. That's it. And their priority is "frontcountry" facilities: trailhead campgrounds, vault toilets, parking areas, footbridge replacement contracts, etc. ONF can barely maintain its roads, and not its trails. Most trail maintenance in HCRD is done by WTA and other volunteers.

"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir "the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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bobbi
stillaGUAMish



Joined: 13 Jul 2006
Posts: 8012 | TRs | Pics
Location: olympics!
bobbi
stillaGUAMish
PostSat Sep 15, 2007 10:01 pm 
on the way trail there were at least 10, one huge one.

bobbi ૐ "Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
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reststep
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Joined: 17 Dec 2001
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reststep
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PostSun Sep 16, 2007 6:51 am 
I thought I saw a sign there last year saying it was against the rules to do any clearing on that trail.

"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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