Buckhorn Lake from Tubal Cain trailhead

Early June 2024 hike to Buckhorn Lake in Olympic National Forest. This was a hefty hike. The All Trails app reports that I used 3767 calories. Add to that my >25 lbs. pack/stuff — it was a real workout.

It is a great hike! There is a place where a creek is right there at the trail, almost higher than the trail. This has multiple fallen logs all covered with moss — like a fairyland, the water meanders around logs, rocks, and stuff. My two trail companions were like kittens all over this little fairyland. A little further, you cross a creek and come upon another creek. You can hear both creeks, one in front of you and one behind!

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I had charted our route on All Trails. At one point, we came to a fork in the trail. Our charted path was straight on, but the well-traveled path was up to the right. Well, stubborn me, my charted route was straight-ahead, straight-ahead we went! And that despite a quick look at the route on the app showing that the more-travelled route was much less steep (switch-backs) albeit a considerably longer route that joined our route further along.

The straight-ahead route was the hardest part of the trail. Much of this section passes through a huge (steep) meadow. This photo is just a hint at how large and steep the meadow is.

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View route on All Trails