Hiking Mt Walker with
my wife (2805
ft), Olympic National Forest – (10-2-2010)
5 miles round trip with 2000
ft elevation gain.
This Album Background:
Mt Walker trail is a
strenuous family hiking for the beginners! It was the first time hiking to the
Mt Walker for all of us. For a long strenuous day hiker/backpacker, this trail
would be a good warm-up and keep oneself in shape. I carried about 30 lbs weight
of daypack to get some exercise: water for everybody (6L), water purifier, 10
hiking essentials and more, food, extra rain gears, etc. The hiking info says it
all, “2 miles hiking with 2000 ft elevation gain”. When a hiker hears the trail
information of 1 mile with 1000 ft elevation gain, the hiker knows that the
trail will be a very steep trail or maybe contain almost vertical trail. Mt
Walker (elevation 2840 ft) is located 5 miles south of the Quilcene town.
Quilcene is located about 35 miles North of Silverdale/Bremerton area. The trail
was not in the Custom Correct Map set. The trail info sheet downloaded from www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/r
Hiking summary:
Weather was foggy. 55-60F warm with almost no breeze.
It was little sprinkling for about one hour. We had ZERO views of the mountains
(Jupiter, Constance, Buckhorn, & Baker) at the summits or during entire
hiking due to thick fog. The trail was almost entirely on a forested trail
through hundred years old Douglas fir, rhododendrons, Salal brush, and Oregon
grape. I think that those alone were beautiful sceneries for the hiking
beginners. The 2nd growth tall trees along the beginning of the trail (1/4 mile
up) impressed me. Looking up those majestic trees felt good. One interesting
event was that one guy with two kids was picking edible mushrooms. He said that
he lives close by and has been picking mushrooms till November at Mt Walker.
In overall, Mt Walker hiking was excellent and convenient for family
hiking considering the fact that its trail head is close from
Silverdale/Bremerton and only 0.5 miles of dirt road driving. On a sunny day,
the shaded wood trail makes it perfect for family hiking and offers the
panoramic views at the both view points. We will definitely come back to the Mt
Walker on a sunny day for the expensive views.
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