[Navy salad]

I'm planning a backpacking trip with my two adult sons for August 14-17 (Tues thru Fri). We haven't gone backpacking together for 10-15 years (both sons live out of the area), so I'm hoping for something memorable, but not too tough (youngest son is a bit out of shape). I know the High Divide/7-Lakes Loop (in Olympics) is an extremely popular hike, so I'm just wondering what the crowds might be like that time of year (pretty much peak season, even though it's mid-week)? I also know there are a lot of camps, so maybe there will be opportunities to get away from the crowds?

[SwitchbackFisher]

I'm guessing you already have your camp permits or are at least aware they are needed. It will be fairly crowded from my understanding even during the week, but I have never been.

[coldrain108]

Wilderness campsite availability This tells you if there are still in-advance reservation sites available. They will have a few walk-up permits available for many locations that have multiple campsites, like Lunch Lake or Sol Duc Park. Every camp spot is usually spoken for on any given day during the summer. The single occupancy sites are considered reserved, like a hotel room, but much nicer. In late August the Divide can be bone dry, if you do the route counter clockwise (from Deer Lake) you will need to carry a lot of water up from the Pot Holes area, as that will be the last water until Lunch Lake or Heart Lake...and those can be sketchy sources if everyone is bathing in them. If you go up the Sol Duc Park side last water is at Heart Lake.

[altersego]

We went early-ish August, Sunday-Wednesday with no advance permits. No spots in the basin that worked with our schedule so it went: Deer Lake (site are fairly spread out, but it was noisy as hell), Hoh Lake (peaceful but kinda out of the way), Cat Basin (same as Hoh). People we talked to said Heart Lake was way noisy on a weeknight. I think it's always crowded in the basin and at Heart Lake. So lose some elevation and go out of the way for peace and quite. Hope you have a great hike!

[Navy salad]

burck, coldrain and altersego: Thanks for the info. I did know about the advance reservations, but haven't made any yet. I'm inclined to choose another hike, given the logistical challenges.