Hiking the 5050 Pass from the Dosewallips Road (The Hard way) (11-6-2011) --- 6.6 miles with 4500 ft elev gain.
It was an excellent day hiking this short tough trail after having fun paddling the Stravis Bay on Saturday. Its trail was rated as "Extreme" on the "Day Hike !" book authored by Seabury Blair Jr. To me, this book is a must to have for the Olympics hikers (The other book is the Olympic Mountains Trail Guide by Robert Wood). There are only 4 hikes in the book rated as "Extreme" out of 71 day hikes. He has 5 ratings: easy, moderate, moderately difficult, difficult, and Extreme. My goal of this hike was to get some exercise and cross out the trail as I hiked. Last year, I hiked the 5050 pass from the Northern trailhead (9.5 miles 2450 ft elev gain) that was my first hike with the PWC members sponsored by Megan Thompson and the Kitsap Outdoors. I sponsored this hike listing on the PWC calendar more than a month ago. It was a decent day that the trail was relatively dry and light snowing when we reached the destination. All of us were happy to see a decent amount of snow in the upper area, and it was sort of surprise that the place was already near in the winter wonderland above 4500 ft elev.
The trail was in excellent condition as the Washington Trail Association (WTA) volunteers cleared all the down trees on 23 October. No scrambling was required but it was just steep. Actually, I did not realize how steep it was until we were descending. On a gentle slop or flat trail, we could hike out 3-4 miles per hour, but on this slop, it took us 2.5 hours to descend the 3.3 miles !!! If I compare its trail with another trail, it is close to the Mt Walker trail (5 miles roundtrip with 2000 ft elev gain) in the forest but a lot steeper since it's 6.6 miles with 4500 ft elev gain. When descending, 100% attention was required (just like the Mt Washington hike) to avoid injury by slipping. All of us returned unscathed. Craig used yak tracks, and I had a traction device shared with Aleta. By the way, as a trip sponsor, safety has been my #1 concern for all participating members and friends. One's physical condition, body agility, and proper gears are important factors for avoiding possible injury.
Temp was 34 at the trailhead, and probably in low 40s. It was freezing with slight breeze at the 5050 pass where we took 30 min lunch break. It took a long time to get both hands get warmed up. We left the trailhead 0905 and returned back at 1455.
I say that it's an excellent trail to check out one's physical condition. It had some views to the West such as Jupiter Ridge, the Dosewallips valley & delta, and the Seabeck area (that I just paddled on Saturday) across the Sound. At the Pass, I think that it offered the closest view of the Mt Constance to the NW if the sky was blue. When we were on the 5050 Pass, the clouds just moved in that obscured the Mt Constance views. It was also snowing lightly. All of us were happy to see a near winter wonderland and the light snow in the fall.
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