DOSEWALLIPS TRAIL Length 15.4 mi/24.8 km Access Dosewallips River Road (FS Road 2610) USGS Maps The Brothers: Mount Deception: Wellesley Peak Agency Olympic National Park The Dosewallips Trail begins at Muscott Flat (1600 ft/488 m), where the road ends, and follows the river to its source, then climbs sharply to Hayden Pass, on the Elwha-Dosewallips Divide. Throughout its length, the trail crosses creeks (a dozen are named) and chattering brooks; thus, obtaining water is never a problem. The cold, clear streams temps the backpacker, especially on a hot day, to pause often for a drink. During spells of warm weather, when the snow melts rapidly, they become brawling torrents. Near the trailhead, an alternate route, known as the Terrace Trail, branches to the left. This parallel side path, less than a mile long, traverses a bench above the river, then ascends to join the main trail, which climbs up and down between Muscott Flat and Dose Forks. Both paths meander through fir, hemlock, and cedar, with undergrowth of salal, rhododendron, and vine maple. During early summer the rhododendron blossoms add vivid splashes of pink to the somber forest. The trail divides at Dose Forks (1.4 mi/2.3 km: 1800 ft/549 m). The left branch is the West Fork Dosewallips Trail. The main trail goes right, climbing by Soda Springs, where animals are attracted to the mineralized water that seeps from the rocks. The path now contours high above the Dosewallips, which flows through a deep canyon for several miles. Again the trail forks (2.5 mi/4.0 km; 2182 ft/665 m), with the Constance Pass Trail branching to the right. The main trail goes left, still traversing high above the river, and crosses Upper Twin Creek just below lovely Calypso Falls. Diamond Mountain can be glimpsed occasionally, and from a spot opposite Hidden Creek one has a distant view of Hatana Falls. After negotiating a recent blow down for about a half-mile, the path crosses Deception Creek (7.8 mi/12.6 km: 3156 ft/962 m), the largest tributary coming in from the east. Good campsites are located on the streams far side and at Camp Marion, a half-mile beyond. The trail then climbs over a steep spur and enters a valley of great beauty, where it meanders alternately through open country and stands of sub alpine trees. Wildflowers bloom profusely. Columbia lily, broadleaf arnica, bear grass, cow parsnip, and columbine are abundant, but many other species are also present. The vegetation often grows waist high, and on warm summer days the fragrance of the plants is pronounced. Beyond the junction with the Upper Graywolf Trail (9.2 mi/14.8 km; 3600 ft/ 1097 m), patches of sub alpine forest, mostly silver fir, alternate with meadows. This is primarily open country, and sweeping vistas arc present at almost every turn of the trail. Massive peaks loom darkly above flower-filled meadows: Wellesley Peak to the south; Cameron Ridge to the north; Lost Peak, Mount Claywood, and Mount Fromme up valley in the west; Mystery and Little Mystery down valley to the east. At Bear Camp (11.0 mi/17.7 km; 3850 ft/1173 m), a shelter stands near the trail. Two waterfalls in the river at this point constitute a barrier to trout moving upstream: thus fishing in the Dosewallips ends here. The path then goes through dense stands of sub alpine forest to the junction with the Lost Pass Trail in Dose Meadows (12.8 mi/20.6 km; 4450 ft/1356 m). This lush meadowland, covered with grasses and wildflowers, sweeps upward to the high peaks and ridges. The naked cliffs of Mount Fromme, crowned with snow cornices until late summer, enclose the meadows on the west; Lost Peak pokes above the mountainsides to the northeast. The river, now little more than a creek, plunges through a gorge lined with evergreens. Columbine and shooting star brighten the streams banks. Wildlife is abundant. One is sure to see and hear marmots as they sun themselves by their burrow entrances. Deer arc remarkably tame, and elk may be observed, though rarely. Bears sometimes prowl around the campsites at night, looking for edible items. More often heard, however, are the "river voices," accompanied at times by the scudding sound of boulders moving on the river bottom. Frank O. Shaw coined the term "river voices", when he and Richard Baldwin camped here in 1932. The men mistook the gurgling sounds made by the Dosewallips for the indistinct murmur of voices in the distance. They looked up; expecting to see a troop of Scouts coming up the trail, only to realize the river had deceived them. The trail now trends toward Mount Fromme, and then abruptly turns south. Again entering sub alpine forest, the path crosses a footbridge spanning the river, then switchbacks and climbs to Camp Number Three (14.5 mi/23.3 km; 5300 ft/1615 m), which was established by The Mountaineers in 1920. The camp is hidden on a terrace above the trail, just north of a little brook, but it is seldom used because most hikers arc unaware of its existence. One can leave the trail at this camp and travel cross-country, going directly up heather slopes to the northeast, to reach an outstanding example of sub alpine meadowland. The so-called Thousand Acre Meadows-actually they are about half the size the name implies-occupy a glacial cirque shaped like a mitten, complete with thumb. The meadows are believed to have been named by Captain Lloyd B. Hunt, skipper of the Hurra, a Puget Sound freighter. The attractions here are varied: gorgeous displays of wildflowers brighten the slopes in summer; later, dwarf huckleberries ripen to delicious sweetness. Two brooks, sustained by melting snow, flow across the open country, then down through the forest to the Dosewallips. Beyond Camp Number Three, the trail half-circles the sub alpine basin north of Sentinel Peak. This basin, the source of the Dosewallips, is noted in midsummer for fields of avalanche lilies blooming alongside melting snow banks. Near the streams, pioneer violets, glacier lilies, and buttercups mingle together to form bright splashes of yellow. During late summer, lupine laces the meadows with patches of intense blue. The trail crosses the river again-now so small one can jump across-and switchbacks up to Hayden Pass. The steep slope is often covered with snow, and until midsummer, a cornice on the summit ridge may confront the hiker. This sometimes makes the ascent difficult. Hayden Pass (15.4 mi/24.8 km; 5847 ft/1782 m), the low point between Sentinel Peak and Mount Fromme is merely a spine of rotting shale that supports a few wildflowers and stunted trees. The eastern flanks of the peaks, facing the Dosewallips, exhibit pronounced concavity, the result of glacial sculpting. The western slope, leading down to the Elwha River, is much less abrupt. The name Hayden Pass honors General John I. Hayden (1866-1936), who commanded Puget Sounds harbor defenses early in the twentieth century. Lieutenant Joseph P. O'Neil and Private John Johnson traveled through the Hayden Pass area when scouting toward Mount Anderson in 1885, but the first party to cross the pass from the Dosewallips to the Elwha was probably a group of five prospectors who started on Hood Canal in the summer of 1890. O'Neil named Mount Claywood (6836 ft/2084 m) for Major Henry Clay Wood, Assistant Adjutant General, who published the orders that directed him to reconnoiter the Olympics in 1885. The Mountaineers named Mount Fromme (6655 ft/2028 m) in 1920 to honor Rudo L. Fromme, then Supervisor of the Olympic National Forest, who accompanied the outing and obtained the assistance of the Forest Service in building a trail. (The party thought the lower peak, closer to the pass, was Mount Claywood, therefore mistakenly named the higher one Mount Fromme, but the names are reversed on today's maps.) The view from Hayden Pass is outstanding. High peaks outline the Dosewallips Valley to the north and east. Beyond the Bailey Range, on the western horizon. Mount Olympus thrusts skyward, but closer at hand, to the south, double peaked Mount Anderson rises above flower-strewn meadows. Cross-country hikers can approach the mountain by traversing south, along the flanks of Sentinel Peak, then following along the Dosewallips side of the divide. The route becomes progressively more difficult but eventually emerges onto the meadows along Silt Creek, below the Eel Glacier. Beyond Hayden Pass, the path is known as the Hayden Pass Trail and continues to the Elwha River.