Lena Lake Trail

Following a “high-energy” breakfast in the fabulous Five Point Café, I and a couple of colleagues managed a day hike over in the Olympic Mountains. This trip was to be a recce., to find out how long it’d take to get to the Olympics, and to see find out what the trails are like.

It was a good journey just getting there; the ferry from Fountleroy to Southworth was a pleasing start to the trip, with fantastic, peaceful views across the blue waters of the Puget Sound. Once over the other side, we hit the trail-head after about 90 minutes driving along the coast, past numerous firework shops, followed by a short journey up Hamma Hamma Valley.

The track wound up from the valley floor through mainly pine trees with some interesting flora on the way. The number of switchbacks seemed a little excessive a times but it did mean it was never too much of a slog uphill.

The GPS was struggling in the steep valleys and dense tree cover, but I managed to get a lock for most of the route. It turned out to pretty pointless taking it. There is only one track, and it’s pretty much a motorway up to the first lake. Still, carrying that, my digital camera, SLR and two lenses, fleece, waterproof, food, spare batteries and two litres of water was good exercise.

I was thinking originally of uploading the GPS track for others to use as navigation, but frankly you’d be insane to use such wildly inaccurate data.

The lake itself was nestled in a very secluded spot, with the camping sites hidden up amongst the pine trees. It really made me wish I’d brought the tent - and swimming kit.

You’ll find plenty more photos in the gallery