[Schmidt Altitude]

This is Schmidt Altitude's (made up of Jeremy and Tisha and the two whippets, Rowena and Kiefer) first trip report to the site, so we hope it doesn't suck ! Although the weather was a bit formidable, we decided to head out into the woods in hopes that we wouldn't get rained on too bad. As we drove up the Upper Dungeness road, luck was with us and we ended up above the dreary looking clouds. We had hopes of summitting Maynard Peak since it had looked relatively snow-free from previous vantages, but we have found it better not to count our peaks before they are bagged especially when it comes to off-trail. We parked the car just past Three O'Clock Ridge trailhead and headed up the ravine, following the game trails as they criss-crossed up the hillside. It was a veritable deer highway and more often than not found ourselves following the broken tread interspersed with deer droppings . At about 3900 ft, we reached an open, rocky spine of Three O'Clock ridge. From there, Tyler Peak and the Upper Dungeness drainage were visible.

Tyler Peak

Upper Dungeness drainage

Tisha and Tyler Peak

Kiefer on Three O'Clock Ridge

From there, it was fairly easy going on the nice ridge top. We headed roughly northwest and when it became too rocky on the ridge, we always headed down and around on the left side. Eventually we reached a saddle and the game trails became less distinct. After getting swallowed in the trees on a steep traverse, we headed up to the ridgeline again. We observed a rocky outcropping in the distance that Jeremy was sure was the summit, so we headed for it. After a steep climb up, we stopped to catch our breath as the clouds become ever thicker around us.

Cloud filled Dungeness valley

Jeremy climbed the rock to look around and saw the true summit off in the distance still up the ridge. The slope was much more gentle now and it was a simple ridge walk to the now obvious summit of Maynard Peak. We encountered a few scattered patches of snow, but only ones the whippets seemed to enjoy.

Rowena rubs in the snow

Jeremy decided a new summit cairn needed to be built while Tisha took pictures of the ever-increasing clouds. It seemed as if our hike back would be in the dense fog

Jeremy rebuilding the cairn

Cloud city

Self portrait on Maynard Peak

After a brief snack of yummy fruit snacks and Almond Roca, we retraced our steps, racing daylight and the ever increasing clouds. While we didn't end up right back at our car, we did end up within a few yards next to a tree mysteriously spray painted with a big yellow "E". We figured this stood for "Enter/Exit" to mark our way for next time...

Tisha and "E"

[TrailPair]

This is an area we have never hiked in. Is this hike in a guide book? Very nice trip report!

[Phil]

Love shots 1 & 2 ! Driven right by those "trailheads" numerous times. Easy to find? I've considered accessing 3 O'clock ridge and Maynard but via Baldy area.

[Quark]

Love the whippet and the swirly cloud photos. Only one whippet was photographed? The TR does not suck.

[Schmidt Altitude]

Trail Pair: Maynard Peak is not found in any guidebooks that we have encountered, and surprisingly no climbers books either (which we usually find to be great wealths of info). There is no trail to Maynard Peak, it is a definite cross-country use your navigation skills kind of trip, but we would be happy to share more info on how we did it if you were interested. Maynard Peak is a lower peak (5065 ft) in the Upper Dungeness area of Olympic National Park. Nearby are perhaps more popular destinations you've heard of such of Royal Basin, Mt Baldy and Tubal Cain. Hope this helps! Phil: We found it fairly easy to negotiate/find; we have definitely done more difficult cross-country routes. Of course, off-trail navigation skills were definitely needed . We found that the basic rule of thumb was head up and follow the ridge; if it was too rocky, we always went around to the left to reobtain the ridge when we could Quark: If you only noticed one whippet in most of the pics, it's because they were running around and getting into trouble more than usual ! We appreciate the comments!