Pacific Northwest!!!!

Hello old friends and new ones!

I have had dreams about the Pacific Northwest for years.. June 10th-June 15th I will be taking a short trip to Seattle. I'm making plans to spend 3 nights at Lake Crescent Lodge and do some day hikes in Olympic and surrounding areas (I'm going to attempt to see as much as possible). Then the 4th day I will likely go to Rainier to perhaps do a short day hike if time permits. I will get a hotel in the city on the 4th day after leaving Rainer, so that I can sightsee Seattle.

So, before I book the Crescent Lodge, is there any others I should consider? If I stick with Crescent, anyone have day hike recommendations for this time of the year on this lovely looking peninsula? I would like to try to visit two national parks or one national park and a sweet hike somewhere like Mount. Si which i believe is in a national forest.

Normally I would do a backpacking trip, but since I'm going alone I wanted to just explore the region doing day hikes and sightseeing a city that I've always wanted to visit. If my hiking partner was tagging along I would be planning a backpacking trip in July, but alas it's just me rambling around Seattle and the rainforest looking for that elusive Sasquatch.

Any recommendations is greatly appreciated.

This is a big snow year. Hikes near Rainier will be total snow. Here is the Rainier web-cam.

https://www.nature.nps.gov/air/webcams/parks/moracam/moracam.cfm

Here is the snowpack depths for western Pacific Northwest

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/reports.h...ue&filter=0

There is 157 inches of snow at Paradise (web cam site) today- tht is 13 feet of snow! Snow still piling up. Doubt it will melt by the time of your trip.

As wandering_daisy mentioned, this has been a heavy snow winter. The chances of the weather turning hot in May and accelerating the melt-off seem very slender. A cool, wet springtime and a very late melt-out seems much more likely.

Crescent Lodge should be an enjoyable base from which to hike. If the upper elevations on the Olympic Peninsula are too snowy, there are low elevation trails in the river valleys and on the Pacific coast. The Sol Duc River is not far from Crescent Lake and I know it has some nice hiking trails.

The road up to Hurricane Ridge might be open and is always worth seeing, even if the hiking is limited by snow, but Mt. Rainier will be under a ton of snow in mid-June, probably covering everything from about 4000 ft on up. The road to Paradise will be plowed and therefore open. Even if you can't hike, you can go up there and admire the mountain along with the rest of the crowds.

Wow. I guess I can go to Olympic National Park for a few days. Is there any mountains I could hike in June in Olympic that has amazing views, and that doesn't mountaineering equipment? What about Mt. Townsend or Elinor? Or is it too early to tell at this point which trails be accessible?

I can assure you that if you've never been to the PNW, you will be very impressed by the lower elevations of the temperate rain forest of the Olympic Peninsula, even without the benefit of long-ranging views from high peaks. The sheer size of the trees and the abundance of life crowding every available square inch in every direction you look will amaze you!

One area usually accessible by early June, and a favorite June hiking area, is the Teanaway River area east of Snoqualmie Pass (I-90). Favorite June hikes include Navaho Pass and nearby Navaho Peak and Earl Peak. At any of these high points you get an awesome view of the Stuart Range directly across the Ingalls Creek valley. This area is east of the Cascade summit so gets less precipitation. It also has fascinating geology, being in a transition zone of metamorphic rock between volcanic soils ust south and the soid granite intrusion that forms the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to the north. Because of this, it has unique wildflowers found nowhere else. Even we accountants find it fascinating!

Normally there will be some snowbanks to cross but nothing requiring special gear. Of course, this year may be the exception! Keep watch on the trip reports on nwhikers.net (Seattle-area hiking forum) and wta.org (Washington Trails Association website).

As at nearly all trailheads on USFS land in Washington and Oregon, you'll need a Northwest Forest Pass for parking. (If you normally get a National Parks annual pass, that works in place of the NW Forest Pass.)

Mt. Si is always crowded because it's so close to Seattle and usually accessible year around. It will be worse before the higher elevations melt out. Especially don't try it on a weekend, when it's always a mob scene!

Sounds good, I can't wait.

Thanks everyone.

"Mt. Si is always crowded because it's so close to Seattle and usually accessible year around. It will be worse before the higher elevations melt out. Especially don't try it on a weekend, when it's always a mob scene!"

And, as many folks have found out, if you park where it says no parking (which many attempt since the parking lot fills early), you have a great chance of getting towed. They mean it when they say no parking.

I'm booked at Lake Crescent Lodge, so I'll be using this as basecamp to explore Olympic National Park. I'll be there on a Sunday through Wednesday. I will explore Seattle the days I'm not in sheer awe of the Olympic Peninsula.

HA! Thank you for much for this suggestion and providing those links!

I've spent some time on the OP but it's all been family time so I haven't done what I'd call any serious hiking there. Big snow year up there as mentioned and June is early there in terms of snow.

A few thoughts for you based on what I'm familiar with.
Crescent Lake Lodge is in a beautiful location. When I was there on a day trip, the weather was absolutely perfect and I wished we could've stayed. There's a nice, short, hike that starts near the Lodge to Marymere Falls which is pretty cool.

Another hiking option would be the Dungeness Spit, north of Sequim, in the Dungeness National Wildlife area. It's 5 miles one way to the lighthouse at the end of the spit.

Cape Flattery, at the NW corner of the peninsula, is another good option. A short trail leads to northwestern most point in the contiguous US. Again, if you catch the weather right it's an amazing spot. You are required to buy an inexpensive permit to access this spot which can be bought in Neah Bay. There are also some beaches south of the Cape that you can explore.

If you don't mind a drive there are lots of options on the west coast of the OP like: Ruby Beach, Kalaloch and the amazing Hoh Rainforest and river.

Seattle is another story. My favorite city! Lots to do there and lots of good food.
Hope you get some of the good weather for your visit!

Cool, thank you for the suggestions!

Enchanted Valley (on the Quinault in the SW corner of ONP) may be an option. In a normal year (not this year!) it's accessible by April. Keep watch on those trip report sources I gave you. I don't know if they've fixed past road/trail damage, or whether there has been more damage this past winter.

The Olympic National Park website (nps.gov) has extraordinarily good trail descriptions, unlike a lot of National Park sites, so is a good place to study.

I've noticed the snow level at Hurricane Ridge is still around 9 feet give or take.

Also, I saw this article today..... Two Missing Men in Olympic That's insanely freaky that two men goes missing within the same week in separate areas of the Park.. Or is this normal? I don't know much about where those guys are so I'm not sure to speculate that it was a force of nature, poor orientation, or a very hungry and bad kitty....

I've been on WTA website, and have read extensively on Olympic National Park website.

Edit: I found a couple hikes on WTA that really interesting to me, but I think the snow level may have other plans. I really wanted to do at least one hike with a nice mountain view. I knew i wasn't going to be able to do a 10k mountain hike as it's too early for that. Didn't think to check snow level at 6k feet prior to booking my flight and telling my boss when I wanted to go on vacation... Oh, well. I definitely want to check out the Hoh as well. I got 3-4 days to explore the Peninsula.