05/26/03:
Didn't get very far today. Drove north on US-101 about 15 miles to the Hamma Hamma Recreation Area. Past Lake Lena Trailhead and several others and a NFS campground. Continued past the campground and the paved road turned to dirt. Stopped to investigate a couple of pretty cascading brooks and then saw a nice waterfall down below. Spent 20 minutes climbing down to water level and scrambling over mossy rocks to get a couple of pictures.
Several snow topped mountain peaks at the end of the road. Crossed over the Hamma Hamma River bridge to the parking area for the Mildred Lakes Trail. 4 miles and an elevation change of 1800 feet to the lakes. Started up the trail but the trail description at the trailhead claimed this was a difficult hike with lots of steep ups and downs. Will try one of the other trails tomorrow.
Hamma Hamma River at this point was a series of cascades and waterfalls. Steep canyon walls prevented these old legs from even thinking about climbing down for pictures.
05/27/03 Hiking Lower Lena Lake Trail(7 miles round trip):
Raindrops on the truck this morning but I didn't hear anything. Got to the Lena Lakes Trailhead about 8:30am. 3 miles to Lower Lena Lake and 7 miles to the upper lake. Nice easy switchbacks lead you up 1200 feet or so. A fair amount of moss on the rocks and some on the trees so I guess I'm still in a rain forest.
Lena Lake is 1/4 mile long and 100 yards wide. 30 camp sites surround the lake and there's even a toilet. Pretty setting with the lake at the bottom of several steep slopes. The lake is fed by a cascading stream. The small parking area was jammed with 20-25 cars yesterday, Memorial Day. Not a soul today.
Followed the signs to Jefferson Lake, 8 miles away. A smaller but still pretty lake. Then hiked 1.5 miles round trip to Elk Lake, an even smaller lake. These guys are really generous with the term lake. These are really ponds.
05/28/03:
Checked out Cushman Lake. Pretty lake with big, steep forested slopes but not much access or camping in the area. Just a $5 boat ramp at Cushman Campground ($16/night) and Recreation Area. I did find a WDNR campground 2 miles east of WA-119 and FR-24.