A great winter hike up Jefferson Ridge in the Olympic Mountains. Thanks to Bob and Steve for joining me and being patient with my leg cramp issues I was having.
The Olympic Mountain Trail Guide (Wood's Guide) has info on this trail but it must predate the road as it describes the hike starting at Elk Lakes. While there are remnants of the trail down by Elk Lakes, the Forest Service must have abandoned that portion since their website describes the trailhead being further up the road, past the Elk lakes trailhead. We drove up the road in my car quite a ways toward this trailhead. The road is pretty rough and really steep. When we found a good place to pull over, we did, and road walked from there. Ironically, the road was actually in pretty good shape between the spot we stopped at and the trailhead. If you are reading this, I don't recommend driving the road in a low clearance vehicle (like I did), but if you do, keep going past the wide spot in the road and just park at the trailhead. I was unaware of the lower portion of the trail until after the hike, otherwise I might have tried finding the lower route and just starting from Elk Lakes.
The trail itself is pretty straight forward. It switches back and forth across the mountainside for about a half mile or so before popping out on the road again at a crossing. After the crossing it switchbacks some more before finally just heading straight up the ridge. The trail crosses through a couple clear-cuts and a few spots with some large timber. Lots of rhododendrons up there that I imagine would be in bloom in late spring or early summer. At the top of the ridge are the remains of an old lookout. Bits of glass and other debris that were never cleaned up still litter the place. Trees now grow up around the perimeter of the old lookout hiding what must have been at one time a marvelous view. The best view to be had is looking across the Hamma Hamma River Valley over to Lena Lake and the Brothers. Mts Deception and Mystery can be seen way off in the distance over the saddle above Lena Lake.
Even though the views are limited, Jefferson is still a worthy hike, and you are likely to have the place all to yourself.
Moss Walks has some good information about Jefferson Ridge on her page.
