The Lake of the Angels (elev 4888 ft) in the Valley of Heaven! Its title says it all. In my opinion, for the scenery, this Alpine Lake indeed beat the Royal Basin that I rated the best (day-hiked in August). In fact, some people say that this area is THE MOST beautiful place in the Olympics. This beautiful alpine lake is nestled between Mt Stone (6612 ft) and Mt Skokomish (6434 ft) in the Southeastern edge of the Olympic National Park, just above the Mt Skokomish Wilderness. Geographically, the Lake is located about 5 miles Southwest from the Upper Lena Lake (that I hiked 3 weeks ago). Hikers/backpackers called this trail the Putvin trail where Carl Putven (with spell 'e') family lived there in late 1800 to early 1900. He was an early pioneer, trapper, and explorer. He died at young age of 20. Along the Putvin trail, another popular hiking trail is the Mildred Lake (8.8 miles with 2100 ft gain) which is named after Carl Putven's daughter-in-law.
I was hesitant to day hike this trail since this trail could be an overnighter or a stop-by for multi-days backpacking to see a lot more of the interior of the Olympics (to the north/west is La Crosse Pass/basin, St Peter's gate (Mt Stone), Anderson Pass, Flapjack Lakes, and First Divide, to the east is Duckabush, Dosewallips, etc).
After seeing some beautiful pictures of this trail posted by a PWC member, Barbara, last week, I wanted to day hike this trail before the rainy season starts. I was planning on hiking solo but ended up hiking with my friend, Aaron, and a friend who just moved here. Aaron and I day-hiked a bit together this summer. Some of the highlights were the Royal Basin (16 miler with 2500 ft gain), the High Divide Loop (18.8 miler with 3700 ft gain), and the Grand Pass (13 miler with 4600 ft gain). Those were simply amazing high country day-hikes (excellent exercise and fantastic views) and I am planning to hike those trails again next year.
Hiking Summary:
8.5 miles with 4100 ft gain. It was very chilly (30s-50s) at the trail head on the Hamma Hamma Road (4 miles past the Lena Lake trailhead). To the trailhead, a high clearance vehicle should be used due to washed out road. My van scraped the bottom at both locations. Difficulty of this trail was rated as "EXTREME" by Seabury Blair Jr. (the author of Olympic Peninsular Day Hike Book). Yes, indeed it was very strenuous. For the first time, I temporally suffered cramp on my thigh and calf since I have been hiking 3 months ago. It was mainly due to its rugged trail and the lost trail that ended up going toward the Mt Stone. We hiked up 700 ft above the Pond just below the St Peter's gate (5200 ft) and realized that we were on a wrong side of the mountain (we lost 1.5 hours and lots of energy). We crawled about 500ft under the tree branches! Came back down to the Pond. It was my careless mistake that did not pay attention to the different trail. Back to the Lake of the Angels trail, after about 1.3 miles from trailhead, it was up, up, and up on a very steep rocky and full of tree roots trail. Then just over 2 miles, there were two consecutive headwalls (about 15 ft) that required careful hand and foot use. The hikers call it "scrambling." After the headwalls, one will notice that the trees are shorter that looks like the Bonzai trees indicating that we are in an Alpine level. I didn't consider those headwalls were dangerous (since we were not craging Rocks or Ice) but, for sure, one needs to be agile, physically fit, and not afraid of the height. After those headwalls, the trail is not done yet. Pass through the Pond of the false Prophet and stay left. RIGHT IS THE MT STONE TRAIL (we saved two hikers going up that way !). Another good 0.7 miles with 900 ft gain lead right to the Lake of the Angels. Then, finally, as our reward, the Lake of the Angels was one of the most dramatic backdrops in the Olympics.
We left the trailhead at 0820 and arrived at the Lake at 1245, and met up with the Pennsular Wildenss Club backpackers (Dong and company). It was such a joyful moment seeing fellow hikers/backpackers after tough hiking. We took a couple of pictures and wished them safe descending. I wished I did the overnigher to explore the surroundings and summit the Mountains (Mt Stone and Mt Skokomish). I had a stove to cook the lunch but we did not have enough time. Left the lake at 1315 and arrived back at the trailhead at 1545.
This was indeed a challenging hike and very strenuous or EXTREME difficulty. The best part was that all of us including the PWC backpackers were just fine returning home unscathed.
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