{"id":750,"date":"2015-07-10T12:38:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T19:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigromano.com\/blog\/?p=750"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:28:57","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T22:28:57","slug":"the-nastiest-trail-in-the-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=750","title":{"rendered":"The Hardest, Nastiest, Meanest Trail in the Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The infamous chasm crawl.<\/p><\/div>\n

What is wrong with me? What the heck was I thinking? I swore to myself back in July of 2006 never to ever do this trail again. I hated it. It was pure misery. I swore more times on it than I did watching (fill in your favorite team or politician) lose.<\/p>\n

It was back then while researching Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula<\/a> that I finally forced myself to hike to the Mildred Lakes. I was well aware of its reputation. And upon completing it I thought it would be once and done. Or so I thought!<\/p>\n

\"\"

A typical Mildred Lakes Trail scene.<\/p><\/div>\n

Here I am working on the second edition of that book and aside from adding new hikes-I am re-hiking all of the original hikes to make sure that you are getting nothing but accurate information in my books. So, I found myself heading back up to the Mildred Lakes\u2014and on one of the hottest days of the summer too. Mind as well really beat myself up!<\/p>\n

And what did I find upon putting myself in complete agony for the day? Nothing really has changed on this trail! It is still the hardest, nastiest, you-have-to-be-crazy-for hiking-this trail in the Olympics!<\/p>\n

Consider:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • It is only 4.5 miles to the lakes-yet it took me over 3 hours to reach them!<\/li>\n
  • Actual evaluation difference between trailhead and the lakes is a mere 1,900 feet. But real elevation gain is over 3200 feet with ups and downs.<\/li>\n
  • The trail was never officially built. The trailhead was-it is fancy with a picnic table and privy. Don\u2019t let those amenities fool you into thinking the trail is anything special!<\/li>\n
  • There is one section that climbs over 1,000 feet in about 0.5 mile. It is a nasty clamber up roots, rock and loose gravel. Those roots will be your handholds.<\/li>\n
  • There is one section where you have to almost completely vertically drop over 25 feet into a tight ravine. Once again-veggie belays save the day.<\/li>\n
  • You will skirt mud-go through mud (and this is a dry summer) and go up and over big downed logs.<\/li>\n
  • Your knees and toes will scream.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \"\"

    Me writing my will (just kidding) at the Middle Lake.<\/p><\/div>\n

    And the lakes? They are pretty and among the largest in the Olympics and many a hiker loves them and busts their rump to get to them. But at a price!<\/p>\n

    How about you? Have you hiked to them? Love the trail? Hate the trail? Never-been-there but now are interested? Never-been-there and now have no interest what so ever to go?!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is wrong with me? What the heck was I thinking? I swore to myself back in July of 2006 never to ever do this trail again. I hated it. It was pure misery. I swore more times on it than I did watching (fill in your favorite team or politician) lose. It was back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16,22],"tags":[97,163,245,275],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-day-hiking-olympic-penisula","category-musings","tag-day-hiking-olympic-peninsula","tag-mildred-lakes","tag-skokomish-wilderness","tag-trail-talk"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Hardest, Nastiest, Meanest Trail in the Olympics » Craig Romano<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=750\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Hardest, Nastiest, Meanest Trail in the Olympics » Craig Romano\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is wrong with me? What the heck was I thinking? I swore to myself back in July of 2006 never to ever do this trail again. I hated it. It was pure misery. I swore more times on it than I did watching (fill in your favorite team or politician) lose. 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