BARNES CREEK TRAIL Length 9,4 mi/15,1 km (last 5.5 mi/8.8 km not maintained) Access US 101 USGS Maps Lake Crescent; Lake Sutherland Agency Olympic National Park The Barnes Creek Trail begins near the Storm King Ranger Station and Visitor Center on the delta of Barnes Creek, close to the south shore of Lake Crescent. This trail follows the stream almost 10 miles to its headwaters on Baldy Ridge. Only the first half is maintained; the latter part has more or less been abandoned. Together with a short side path leading to Marymere Fails, the first half mile of the Barnes Creek Trail forms a self-guiding nature walk that is popular with travelers who drive along the shores of Lake Crescent. This, section of the path is paved, and it is broad and smooth as it parallels Barnes Creek and meanders among giant firs and cedars. When hikers on the trail approach US 101, they will hear the noise made by vehicular traffic and regret the broken solitude. The trail crosses beneath the highway where a bridge spans the creek, and the traffic sounds are soon left behind and quickly forgotten. This valley is especially beautiful during the fall when the enormous leaves of the maples and devil's clubs turn golden yellow. Beyond junctions with the Mount Storm King Trail (0.4 rni/0.6 km) and the Marymere Falls Trail (0,5 mi/0.8 km), the way narrows, becoming a typical Olympic footpath about 18 inches wide. The route parallels Barnes Creek through a narrow valley where the forest is primarily Douglas fir and western hemlock, with a ground cover of ferns. Here the chatter of the stream is always present. During the first few miles, the undergrowth is luxuriant, and the path crosses numerous little brooks; thus water is always available. The trail is not level; it goes up and down, but ascends more than it descends, crossing Barnes Creek via foot logs at the low points. The path then crosses a large tributary. Here it penetrates dense thickets of salmonberry and devil's club. The trail now begins to switchback up the mountain, and the creek roars lustily far below. Upon reaching a point opposite a slope where slides have occurred, the trail veers away from Barnes Creek, then levels out as it approaches Dismal Draw Camp (3.5 mi/5.6 km; 1700 ft/518 m), where a little brook flows down a dark and gloomy defile. Despite its name, this is a pleasant camp. The silence of the deep woods is broken by the subdued murmur of the brook, the croaking of ravens, and the wind whispering in the hemlocks and cedars. The campsite is a tiny shelf below the trail, barely large enough for two small tents. As it ascends Dismal Draw, which is almost always in the shade, the trail crosses the brook and returns to the Barnes Creek side of the spur. Once again the stream can be heard, but it is muffled now and sounds like the clatter of a distant train. The forest is so dense that virtually nothing grows upon the ground except moss. The trees are small, the stands cluttered with dead broomsticks-saplings that perished in the struggle for sunlight. Scattered among them are many snags and a few large firs that were blackened near the ground by the fire, which destroyed the virgin timber. The trail climbs steadily as it makes a long traverse-where Mount Storm King is visible through the trees'-then crosses an avalanche path. Barnes Creek is now hidden in the depths of its canyon, but the hiker can look across and up the valley to Baldy Ridge. Upon entering the forest again, the trail comes to a junction with the Aurora Divide Trail (3.9 mi/6.3 km; 1500 ft/457 m). Beyond this point the upper Barnes Creek Trail, which continues to the left, has not been maintained, and the path-almost obliterated by young trees and windfalls-is often covered with moss. The experienced hiker will have no difficulty following the route, but the novice should avoid it. Many logs lie across the trail, and one is constantly climbing over or crawling under them. Alt through this section the route traverses splendid stands of Douglas fir. The path then crosses Lizard Head Creek (6.1 mi/9.8 km 1830 ft/558 m). Beyond this stream the forest is mostly western hemlock, but as the trail approaches Happy Lake Creek, which flows in a deep ravine, the route again goes through stands of Douglas fir. The trail crosses the creek at the site of an old camp (6.8 mi/10.9 km; 2075 ft/632 m). Four logs arranged in a square mark the spot where a cabin once stood. The trail ascends a spur, and then parallels the upper reaches of Barnes Creek. After crossing the stream, the path climbs sharply upward, and then forks (9.1 mi/14.7 km; 4800 ft/1463 m). The right branch ends about a hundred yards distant in a stand of stunted western hemlock, approximately at the national park boundary on the divide between Barnes Creek and Hughes Creek. The left branch, commonly called Lookout Dome Way, climbs to Lookout Dome (9,4 mi/15.1 km; 5090 ft/ 1551 m). The trail switchbacks sharply upward to the base of the domelike rock" where one can look down Hughes Creek toward the Elwha River. Baldy Ridge, to the northeast, exhibits outcrops of barren basalt. The trail goes left, around the rocks base, and then up the easy backside to the summit. Here a few sprawling juniper bushes have managed to survive, as well as a lone sub-alpine: fir that stands like a sentinel, buffeted by the wind. The east side of the dome is a vertical wall about 300 feet high, and hikers not subject to vertigo can look almost straight down into the tops of tail trees growing directly below. The view includes the vista down Barnes Creek toward Lake Crescent, and the ridge to the south, but the eye is drawn to the rough cliffs of Baldy Ridge, where hawks ride the wind as they search for prey in the timber below.