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Eaglecadd
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PostWed Aug 05, 2015 9:53 am 
Just got back from a 7 day thru hike. We started at Dose trailhead where the weather was hot and sunny. The rest of the week was anticipated to be the same. As it turned out, we couldn't have timed this trip any better for sunshine and great views. Now I know lots of people have done this trip, or portions of it, but it was my first time so my enthusiasm was high. My friend, Mel planned it out and took the lead. I am almost 65 now so I move a lot slower than I used to, but that also allows me to take more time and take lots of photos. Mel still moves over the ground like a mountain goat...very quickly when he wants. Fortunately, he slowed down a bit this time to allow me to catch up once in a while. Our first day we went upstream to Big Timber for the night. Nothing spectacular about this part of the trail. The campsite was abandoned on a Monday night so we had it all to ourselves. It was very peaceful except for the sound of the river. Being next to the river kept it fairly cool that night. Next morning we planned to go up over towards La Cross pass and go offtrail to visit and camp at Dee lake. This is a pretty lake not often found by hikers but supposedly along an old abandoned trail down the South side ridge of the Dose. In our hurry to get ahead, we missed the place we intended to start over a ridge to find the lake. Once we got to La Crosse Pass, we realized our mistake and Mel climbed all over the rocky ridge looking for the lake to no avail. Since we were nearly out of water, we decided our best course of action was to go on down over the pass to upper Duc camp. By the time we got there it was near dark and we were worn out and a bit dehydrated...not a good thing. The camp was full with a large group of young people out for a backcountry training outing. We decided to camp back across the way so we could have a bit more privacy and a bit quieter. In the morning, we were going up toward First Divide. On the way, we met a nice older hiker who told us about a supposed old trail from First Divide over toward O'Neill Pass. This got our attention as we love to find obscure routes through the Olympics. We decided we would scout out the area. We continued up toward First Divide including the side trail to Home Sweet Home. At the old shelter there, we found it disassembled and apparently ready to be flown out by sling. Some of the old posts were still set out as seats with old name carvings still exposed. It is always sad to me to see these old beautiful shelters demolished and often never rebuilt. To me they are historic monuments which should be preserved whenever possible. After leaving Home Sweet Home, we climbed the switchbacks to the divide. We passed the way trail to Mount Hopper and found the abandoned trail the old hiker told us about. Off we went to see where it may lead. After a short distance, we came to a small ridge overlooking a big flay meadow below. We decided to leave packs there and drop down into the valley to get water. This is obviously a place where many animals had taken refuge earlier in the year as the ground was covered with scat. The area was very secluded, but clean water was hard to find due to the feces covering so much of the ground. Finally found a clean small pond where water had just emerged from the ground. We climbed back up to the ridge and decided we would set up camp there for the night. The next morning we set off for the Mt. Hopper Way Trail and the traverse toward Lake of the Angels. The way trail was good on the first part but harder to discern thru the Hopper Burn. Getting through the burn was not tough though. We even stopped to get some charcoal filtered water in a small stream along that portion of the trail. Once you get thru the burn and round the corner to the other side of Mount Hopper, the view opens up to the big meadow below. Man, the huckleberries there now were delicious!. So much of this area is filled with ripe berries early this year because of the low snowfall last winter. We kept wondering how this would affect the bears and other wildlife since they will be gone early. The other thing that became very apparent was the distinct lack of bugs! We had almost no mosquitoes or flies anywhere we went. What a pleasure! After a great snack on maybe a pound of berries, we continued on in the general direction of Lake of the Angels along the rocky ridge. Eventually, we came to a valley leading down to Hagen Lakes. We took the first valley down through the boulders, and talus rather than the second one most take as we planned to come up that way the next day. We like to see as much territory as possible without retracing the same routes. At the first lake, Mel just had to take a swim. I rested in the shade and took a short power nap as I often do along trails when it is really hot. After a bit, we went on over to the main lake and set up camp. We got into the cold water which is as clear and clean as any I've ever seen in the Olympics. Mel went for a float on his sleep pad to look down into the depths of the lake. It is so clear you can see the bottom clearly even in the middle of the lake. More berries! I just can'r get enough of them. The mountains around the lake are spectacular. I took so many pics. At evening the breeze calmed down which allowed for a most spectacular reflection of the mountains on the calm lake waters. In the morning we got moving early as we had a long day ahead. We climbed back to the ridge above the lake heading toward the Lake of the Angels. At the top, we found the Stone Arrow so many have found over a long period of time. I suspect many people have added rocks to it over time, but it still has significance none the less. The steep cross slope of the trail across the valley toward the SE is pretty. We found a lone Marmot sitting on top of a boulder watching us closely. We were in HIS territory. Near the "chute" to the ridge above the Lake, we encountered a mother and kid coming down toward us. We moved aside so as not to interfere or challenge them. They stopped for a bit so we could photograph them then they moved on. The "chute" was a bit of a challenge going up. I suspect it would be even more so going down. Once at the top, we stopped to admire the views toward Mt. Rainier, the very top of Olympus and down to Lake of the Angels. It is a nice area. Looking down on the lake we could see there were lots of people there so we decided not to go down, but rather head off toward St. Peter's Gate. The sun was blazing hot on the SE facing slopes here. Thought I would have heat stroke. I stopped at the mid point to the gate by a small clump of trees to cool off and get re-hydrated. I was so dried out I had to get some extra water from Mel. Rocks all along this area were so hot you couldn't even keep your hands on them. Once we made it thru the gate, we were surprise to find a steep ic field right over the edge. We hadn't anticipated that with the hot dry Spring and Summer. It was a real challenge to get down safely. We couldn't kick in steps as it was so hard. Eventually, we moved to the side and slid down over the talus on top of the ice to a safe plateau below. The rest of the way down was just rock and talus until we reached the milky lake below we think was Stone Pond. The ground all around the lake was mossy and wet. We did find a shelf well above the lake to set up camp for the night. In the morning, we set off toward Scout Lake. The meadows and tarns above the lake are very pretty. We scouted out as many areas as we could and finally dropped down to see the lake. It is a pretty steep trail down. We weren't sure where the trail on over to Upper Lena Lake was so we hiked all the way back to the top of the ridge above Stone Pond and traversed it in the general direction of Upper Lena. We passed several small to medium ponds along the terrace above Scout Lake and finally just bushwacked up over the ridge to find the trail. As we were getting closer to Upper Lena Lake, we found a beautiful meadow with a pond several hundred feet above Upper Lena and decided that rather than fight the crowds at the lake for a campsite on a Saturday night, we would set up camp above them and enjoy our last night in the high country. Once again we were all alone. It was so peaceful and quite. The solitude was inspirational. During the night, the winds changed and a cloud of smoke, presumably from the Queets fire, came over the camp. It was kind of spooky to smell it and wonder if it was from far away or possibly a new closer fire. Since we had been alone for so many days, we didn't know if anything new had started we didn't know about. By the next morning we were so sick of tasteless freeze dried foods we just couldn't stand it anymore. We suffered through one last bag of slop and headed down past Upper Lena, Lower Lena and down to a real meal. This was a wonderful adventure through some of the most scenic areas of the Olympics. The weather was great for all our days and we didn't suffer any serious damage to our older bodies. In all, another amazing trip of a lifetime.

Hike until you Drop!
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meck
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PostThu Aug 06, 2015 8:04 am 
Beautiful pics Eaglecadd! That sounds like a fantastic route. Do you think crampons would have gotten much purchase in the ice on that north slope from St. Peter's Gate? (I remember having brought and used crampons on a Upper Lena-LoA loop in Sept a couple years ago... but there has also been a nice 4-5" upper crust of hard snow too) An "old trail between First Divide and O'Neil pass" definitely got my attention... gonna have to go do some recon hikes later this year.

*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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Eaglecadd
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PostThu Aug 06, 2015 10:01 am 
Yes, Crampons would have made the icefield at St. Peters Gate very doable. We just never thought there would be ice there. Even all along the edges of the ice there was talus right on top of the ice so until you were on it, you wouldn't know it was there.

Hike until you Drop!
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RodF
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PostSat Aug 08, 2015 7:56 pm 
Thanks for sharing a great trip! And I completely share your sentiment:
Eaglecadd wrote:
It is always sad to me to see these old beautiful shelters demolished and often never rebuilt. To me they are historic monuments which should be preserved whenever possible.

"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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Eaglecadd
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PostSun Aug 09, 2015 7:53 am 
Thanks, Rod. Have you seen some of the new "rebuilt shelters? Some are actually surprisingly poorly designed and built. I am thinking of the one I think it was at Bear Camp up the Dose. It seems to have a poor structural design and steep roof etc. I wonder why they didn't just follow the original design? Seems they already had a perfect model.

Hike until you Drop!
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RodF
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PostSun Aug 09, 2015 10:58 am 
Eaglecadd wrote:
Thanks, Rod. Have you seen some of the new "rebuilt shelters? Some are actually surprisingly poorly designed and built. I am thinking of the one I think it was at Bear Camp up the Dose. It seems to have a poor structural design and steep roof etc. I wonder why they didn't just follow the original design? Seems they already had a perfect model.
Bear Camp Shelter is the sole surviving example of a completely unique low-slope roof design tried in the early 1950s, derived from a more compact shelter design from the 1930s. It was originally roofed with corrugated metal sheets rather than cedar shakes (hoped to require less maintenance). But that proved impractical (and I imagine not attractive). Its design history and pre-restoration condition are detailed in the Park's 2008 Backcountry Historic Structures Report, which includes this section on the roof:
Quote:
Roof: The roof slope of the Bear Camp shelter is much shallower in slope than previous shelters. Perhaps this stems from the original use of a metal roof or a construction alteration to make the shelter have more depth for protection. Whatever was the reason, it created a roof slope that is problematic for a shake roof. The minimum code slope for a shake roof is 4/12 with an under-layment membrane. The shelter has a slope of 2.3/12. Even double coursed, such a roof assembly will almost surely leak. In addition, if in a snow zone, it will never shed the snow, adding to structural loading, and have ice-damming at the eave. Most of the shake nail poles have broken off at their ends and must have originally extended out further for better protection of the sidewalls. The rear eave appears to have a reasonable overhang, but if ice-damming occurs significant moisture will fall on the back wall. The current shakes are in poor condition, with many missing. They were laid as a sound single course, with a second course spaced intermittently over joints. Recommendation: The shelter will require a new shake roof. As originally constructed, the shelter appears to have survived in reasonably good condition until the 1980's, or roughly 30 years. Given the shallow slope of the roof, some leakage most likely was occurring during that period from ice-damming and heavy rain. If repaired as currently designed, one would anticipated a certain continuation of such leakage. To reduce the leakage, or eliminate it, an alternate approach would be to vary from the original design. This would include doubling the number of shake poles to carry any snow load on the rake over the sidewalls, install a solid 1 x board deck and a water-proof membrane on the deck, and then apply the shake roof. This is introducing a new characteristic to the shelter, but one that would increase the effectiveness of the weather envelope and reduce deterioration from ice damming.
The restoration was done in 2012.

"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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Eaglecadd
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PostSun Aug 09, 2015 11:46 am 
Hi Rod, Wow, thanks for the history lesson. When I was there last year, it looked as though it had just been rebuilt. It seemed inappropriate for our weather and winters to me thereby prompting my comment. It is interesting to know how it came about. I can't imagine a tin roof out there. It would just seem more like an old time hunters shack. Thanks for the info.

Hike until you Drop!
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Ancient Ambler
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PostSun Aug 09, 2015 6:56 pm 
Thanks for the enjoyable TR and photos, Eaglecadd. Looks like you guys had a good time up there. Did you find any evidence that the abandoned trail near First Divide went any farther than the small ridge overlooking the big meadow where you looked for water? Now that you've had a brief diversion into the history of Bear Camp shelter, you might be interested in a photo I took of the Bear Camp shelter back in 1963, long before the deterioration that required restoration in 2012.

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Eaglecadd
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PostMon Aug 10, 2015 6:10 am 
Hi Ambler, No we didn't see any clear evidence of a continuing trail once we reached the meadow. It may have been possible to go over the ridge of the peak to the west of the meadow but the guy we spoke to was telling us the O'Neil group had mules or donkeys with them and we couldn't see anywhere they might have been able to get pack animals through. It is pretty steep terrain as seen from the pics below:
I think this must be one of those areas animals congregate in large quantities in Spring. I've never seen so much elk and goat scat in one place before. It would be interesting to see it when they were present. Have you been in this area? Have you heard about any such old trail? I am always trying to find new or old routes between common places in the Olympics.

Hike until you Drop!
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PostMon Aug 10, 2015 6:30 am 
Great story! up.gif

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reststep
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PostTue Aug 11, 2015 2:39 pm 
It sounds like you had a really nice hike. Thanks for the report and pictures. That is interesting about the trail from First Divide to O'Neil Pass. It sounds like it must head over toward Mt. Steel. Where did you pick up the trail? Was it after Mt. Hopper Trail junction? I have not been to Dee Lake but it is on my list. There are some ponds kind of northeast of Mt. Hopper at the headwaters of Crazy Creek I would like to visit sometime also.

"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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PostTue Aug 11, 2015 3:57 pm 
Hey Dave! Looks like you guys had a super epic trip. Thanks for sharing the great story and pictures.

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Eaglecadd
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PostTue Aug 11, 2015 4:21 pm 
The trail we went of of was below the Mount Hopper Way Trail about .2 mile.

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Eaglecadd
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PostTue Aug 11, 2015 4:22 pm 
Hi Theresa, long time no see. Have you been out hiking a lot as usual? Where at? Let me know if you want company sometime.

Hike until you Drop!
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Eaglecadd
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PostTue Aug 11, 2015 4:24 pm 
Crazy Creek comes out of Hagen Lake. Awesome place.

Hike until you Drop!
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