Hiking Klahhane Ridge @ Olympic National Park
Since the start of the trip, Helen has been craving a long hike. We’ve done some good hikes, but nothing truly challenging. After some research Helen finally found the hike she was looking for—a 14 mile trail with 5,000 ft elevation gain. Best of all, we could walk to the trailhead from the campsite.
With the trailhead being so close, you’d think we would sleep in and wake up whenever. Instead, Adam’s day began with a delirious sleep-deprived Helen sticking her hand into the tent exclaiming “It’s a frog!” Then to no one’s surprise except Helen’s, the frog jumped. The frog landed on Adam’s sleeping bag. “No frogs in the tent!” Adam squealed. Helen decided this was probably a good rule and returned the bewildered frog to its home in the forest.
Now awake, Adam helped make breakfast and we made our way to the trail. Despite Helen’s inability to sleep the night prior, she set the pace and we moved rapidly through the dense forest on a well maintained trail:
We read an AllTrails review that said there were many water sources on the hike and thinking it’d be best to pack light; we decided to bring only a water purifier and a single 1L Nalgene. After a few miles, we found our first water source, a beautiful lake just off the trail:
We used this time to take a break, top off the Nalgene, and nom our PB&Js. We then continued our way up and were rewarded with an even more impressive views of the lake:
As we continued upward the trees slowly thinned and our trail was graced with wildflowers, each new species more exquisite than the last.
At the summit we found a good sitting rock, pulled out our sandwiches, and cheers’d to another beautiful moment. We finished our last drops of water (thinking another water source would be available soon), took a great shot of Hurricane Ridge road (the road we drove after setting up camp yesterday), and embarked upon the ridge crossing to the final descent.
The ridge line wasn’t as flat as we might have hoped; every time we descended we’d think — there was no way there could be another ascent. The terrain became mostly scree and loose rock. It was difficult to maintain our footing.
With each ascent in the 80+ degree heat and sun, our thirst for the basic necessity of water grew. We knew we were at a low point when cheery hiker going the other direction took a sip from her water bottle and said “don’t worry this is the last ascent” which was a dead giveaway that we did not look nearly as strong as we did at the start of our hike.
The happy hiker was right and it was only descent from there onward. We trudged through the hot rocky landscape debating if we should have asked the hiker for water. Mercifully, the vegetation changed back into the shady forest that brought us so much joy at the beginning of the hike. Then, maybe 10 miles in and 4 since our last drops of water, Adam paused; “Helen do you hear that!” he exclaimed. In the distance Adam heard the glorious whispers of a tiny stream trickling down the mountain. Like Beethoven discovering the crescendo or Lil John discovering the word “Yeah!”, in that sound we knew we had found our salvation.
Hydrated and rejuvenated we continued down the mountain. We eventually returned to the campsite, cracked open a cold beer, took our socks off and reveled in the feeling of a rest well-earned. We ate cheddar-filled brats for dinner and enjoyed a campfire until a nice early 9pm bed time.
