Mt Olympus Expedition

    Every year I like to take one great adventure into the outdoors.  This is the fourth year I've been successful at accomplishing this goal.  This year, myself and 5 friends took a 5 day camping trip to summit the highest peak in the Olympic National Park - Mt Olympus.

     Mt Olympus is not nearly as well known or popular as many of the behemoths of the Cascade range like Mt Rainier, Baker, Adams, or St Helens.  Lying in the heart of the Olympic mountain range, the peak is hidden by the mountains around it so that it is not visible from any town outside the national park, or from any trailhead.  Additionally, while those other more popular mountains have parking lots at or near their base, Olympus has more than 18 miles of trail lying between it's base camp and the nearest trailhead.  Finally, although Olympus' peak lies a comparatively meager 7968ft above sea level (Rainier being 14,411 ft), that trail head mentioned previously, starts at near 200 ft, and as such we would be hiking/climbing almost the entire 8K feet to the top.  

Summit Day: Sunrise on Blue Glacier

as viewed from the Lateral Moraine. 

Our trip would give us 2 days to hike though 18 miles of the Hoh Rainforest, one of only a few temperate rainforests in the world, to the base camp at Glacier Meadows.  The third day would be devoted to summating Olympus via glacier travel across the largest glacier in the lower 48, Blue Glacier.  We would return to camp that evening, giving ourselves two more days for the 25 mile hike north to Sol Duc Hot-springs.  

Snack break just below the "summit block" of Mt Olympus 

Group photo below the summit block.

Cravase jumping - Gabriel in action on our descent from the top. 

Day 5: on High Divide Trail.  The views were stunning. 

The bridge over Sol Duc Falls.  Hike complete.

No outdoor adventure is truly complete until you down 

an almost 2lb greasy bacon cheese burger...  Fat Smitty's, I think I love you.

The trip was a phenomenal success in most respects.  The biggest disappointment came with only 200 feet remaining to the summit when we were forced to turn back without obtaining the highest reach.  We had lost the trail and were unable to find our own which we deemed safe enough to continue forward.  We later learned our mistake was as simple as crossing the last snow patch to the north face, and scrambling up the rock face from there.  Our failure will no doubt give us motivation for future expeditions and adventures.  A great time was had by all and plans are already in the works for next year.

Between the 6 of us, we snapped over 1,000 photos on the trail.  I have pared that down to a meager 141 shots.  See them all on our Picasa page: Olympus Hike & Summit.