for children and those wanting a brief road respite.
5BARNES CREEK TRAIL
Limited maintenance
Length: 9.5 mi/15.3 km
Access: US 101
Custom Correct Map: Lake Crescent / Happy Lake Ridge, Washington
Green Trails Maps: Lake Crescent, Wa. No. 101; Joyce, Wa. No. 102
Agency: Olympic National Park
The Barnes Creek Trail begins at the Storm King Ranger Station and Visitor Center on the delta of Barnes Creek, close to the south shore of Lake Crescent. This trail follows the stream almost 10 mi/16 km to its headwaters on Baldy Ridge. The path starts along the shore of Lake Crescent, passing the boat ramp and the ranger station, then turns southwest and crosses underneath US 101 to then parallel US 101 for 0.4 mi/0.6 km. At this point, the trail intersects with the Lake Crescent Lodge Nature Trail. This valley is especially beautiful during the fall when the enormous leaves of the maples and devil’s clubs turn golden yellow.
Beyond junctions with the Mount Storm King Trail (0.5 mi/0.8 km) and the Marymere Falls Trail (0.7 mi/1.1 km), the way narrows, becoming a typical Olympic footpath about 18 inches wide. The route parallels Barnes Creek through a narrow valley where the forest is primarily Douglas-fir and western hemlock, with a ground cover of ferns. Here the chatter of the stream is always present. During the first few miles, the undergrowth is luxuriant, and the path crosses numerous little brooks; thus water is always available.
Old-growth forest along the Barnes Creek Trail
The trail is not level; it goes up and down, but ascends more than it descends, crossing Barnes Creek on a foot log at 1.3mi/2.1km. The path then crosses a large tributary. Here it penetrates dense thickets of salmonberry and devil’s club.
The trail now begins to switchback up the mountain, and the creek roars lustily far below. Upon reaching a point opposite a slope where slides have occurred, the trail veers away from Barnes Creek, then levels out as it approaches Dismal Draw Camp (3.5 mi/5.6 km; 1700 ft/518 m), where a little brook flows down a dark and gloomy defile.
Despite its name, this is a pleasant camp. The silence of the deep woods is broken by the subdued murmur of the brook, the croaking of ravens, and the wind whispering in the hemlocks and cedars. The campsite is a tiny shelf below the trail, barely large enough for two small tents. As it ascends Dismal Draw, which is almost always in the shade, the trail crosses the brook and returns to the Barnes Creek side of the spur. Once again the stream can be heard, but it is muffled now and sounds like the clatter of a distant train. The forest is so dense that virtually nothing grows upon the ground except moss. The trees are small, the stands cluttered with dead broomsticks—saplings that perished in the struggle for sunlight. Scattered among them are many snags and a few large firs that were blackened near the ground by the fire which destroyed the virgin timber.
The trail climbs steadily as it makes a long traverse—where Mount Storm King is visible through the trees—then crosses an avalanche path. Barnes Creek is now hidden in the depths of its canyon, but the hiker can look across and up the valley to Baldy Ridge. Upon entering the forest again, the trail comes to a junction with the Aurora Divide Trail (4.0 mi/6.4 km; 1500 ft/457 m).
The upper Barnes Creek Trail continues to the left. All through this section the route traverses splendid stands of Douglas-fir. The path then crosses Lizard Head Creek (6.1 mi/9.8 km; 2200 ft/671 m). Beyond this stream the forest is mostly western hemlock, but as the trail approaches Happy Lake Creek, which flows in a deep ravine, the route again goes through stands of Douglas-fir. The trail crosses the creek at the site of an old camp (6.8 mi/10.9 km; 2700 ft/ 823 m). Four logs arranged in a square mark the spot where a cabin once stood.
The trail ascends a spur, then parallels the upper reaches of Barnes Creek. After crossing the stream, the path climbs sharply upward, then forks (9.3 mi/15km; 3600 ft/1097 m). The right branch ends in about a hundred yards in a stand of stunted western hemlock, approximately at the national park boundary on the divide between Barnes Creek and Hughes Creek. The left branch, commonly called Lookout Dome Way, climbs to Lookout Dome (9.5 mi/15.3 km; 3800ft/1158 m). The trail switchbacks sharply upward to the base of the dome-like rock, where one can look down Hughes Creek toward the Elwha River. Baldy Ridge, to the northeast, exhibits outcrops of barren basalt.
The trail goes left, around the rock’s base, then up the easy back side to the summit. Here a few sprawling juniper bushes have managed to survive, as well as a lone subalpine fir that stands like a sentinel, buffeted by the wind. The east side of the dome is a vertical wall about 300 feet high, and hikers not subject to vertigo can look almost straight down into the tops of tall trees growing directly below. The view includes the vista down Barnes Creek toward Lake Crescent, and the ridge to the south, but the eye is drawn to the rough cliffs of Baldy Ridge, where hawks ride the wind as they search for prey in the timber below.
6MOUNT STORM KING TRAIL
Length: 2.8 mi/4.5 km
Access: Barnes Creek Trail
Custom Correct Map: Lake Crescent / Happy Lake Ridge, Washington
Green Trails Map: Lake Crescent, Wa. No. 101
Agency: Olympic National Park
One of the most popular paths in the northern Olympics, this trail overlooks Lake Crescent as it climbs about two-thirds of the way up the west ridge of Mount Storm King, a peak composed of basalt.
The trail begins at a junction (700 ft/213 m) with the Barnes Creek Trail, 0.4 mi/0.6 km from Storm King Ranger Station. The path doesn’t fiddle around with tentative uphill starts but climbs sharply through stands of tall Douglas-fir, where the ground is covered with ferns and moss. As it switchbacks up the mountainside, the trail ascends to successive vantage points that provide ever-changing vistas of Lake Crescent, Aurora Ridge, and the valley of Barnes Creek. Fog often lies over the lake in the morning, but when the afternoon sun slants low, softening the shadows, the water loses its vivid blue color, changing to slate gray. Log trucks roar along the lake’s southern shore, their grinding motors breaking the otherwise somber stillness.
Upon gaining the western spurs of Mount Storm King, the trail ascends a steep hogback, switchbacking to several overlooks. The noise made by the logging trucks becomes pronounced, seemingly magnified rather than lessened by the increased altitude.
At one viewpoint a sign indicates the end of the maintained trail. The trail does not end here, but inexperienced hikers should not proceed beyond this point. Beyond the viewpoint the ascent of Mount Storm King involves scrambling up rotten rock on a narrow ridge. Two ropes have been installed to assist in the climb, but the Park Service strongly advises against their use because the integrity of the ropes is very questionable. The path becomes progressively steeper, then vanishes at a jutting promontory (2.8 mi/4.5 km; ca. 4265 ft/1300 m). Bordered by steep, forest-clad mountains, Lake Crescent sweeps across the line of sight. Pyramid Mountain stands to the northwest, Aurora Ridge to the southwest, with the valley of Barnes Creek lying at the foot of the mountain. Across the valley the mountainside is a series of uniform spurs between creeks that flow parallel to one another and at right angles to Barnes Creek. This is
