Marmot Pass - 8/11/2011

First day of vacation!  We arrived in Seattle around 2:30 PM on Wednesday 8/10/11 and spent the afternoon getting food and provisions for our weeks' adventures.  The plan was to head for Olympic National Park for 3 days, then spend a day in Seattle, then head for Mount Rainier National Park for the last three days.  The plan worked perfectly.

This trip was with Leesa, Zack and Nick.   After getting our supplies, we took a ferry to the Olympic Peninsula and drove to Quilcene and camped for the night at Fallsview Campground.  It was a quiet mid-week night at the campground and we chose a nice site and got set up just before dark.

Fallsview Campground

Campground Kiosk

Thursday morning, 8/11, we drove to the trailhead for the Big Quilcene Trail No. 833.  I had read in Craig Romano's "Day Hiking - Olympic Peninsula" book, that if you only got to take one hike in the Olympic National Park, that Marmot Pass should be the one (besides... I liked the name).  We had a great time.  The weather was perfect, low 60's and sunny.

Total Distance (round trip):  11 miles (including additional climb above pass)

Total Time:  6 hours

Total Vertical Ascent:  3900'

Highest Elevation reached:  6400'

Trip companions - Nick, Zack & Leesa

About halfway up...

 

The boys, standing in our 1st snow at Camp Mystery (5400')

Almost into the bowl below the pass

Beautiful Purple Lupines

Looking at the Pass from the bowl

At Marmot Pass!

Just starting to head down

Exceptional flower display

Climbing a little higher from the pass

The conquerers

Just beautiful

Buckhorn Mountain in the background

Zooming to the distant mountains

Marmot Pass really was a perfect hike.  It was our 1st hike in Olympic National Park, so we had nothing to compare it to, but it was awesome.  We returned to the trailhead via the same route and got back to the car mid-afternoon.  We then drove north to Port Angeles and west to Lyre River Campground on Route 112.  This campground had only one site left (and not the best one, of course), but we took it and got set up just before dark.  Our plan for the next day (Friday) was to get to the Pacific Ocean (at Ozette) and hike the Ozette Triangle.