Olympic National Park
Perhaps nowhere is the punishment as great and the rewards as high as on the park's remote Skyline Trail.
The heart of the Skyline is a ridge trail that weaves, sometimes imperceptibly, along the crest of the divide between the North Fork Quinault and Queets rivers, two of the wildest on the continent. The Skyline travels through what is considered the wildest part of the Olympics that can be visited on an official trail. It is managed by the National Park Service as a primitive route, with one gritty stretch marked only by cairns.
At 46 miles for the complete loop, with a total elevation gain of about 9,200 feet, this is not a trail for casual or inexperienced hikers. We will be doing 4 miles of additional hiking to get to 50 miles- this route should be spectacular.
0.0 North Fork Ranger Station (500 ft. elevation)
16.2 Low Divide (3550 ft.)
23.9 Lake Beauty Jct (5050 ft.)
38.7 Three Lakes (3200 ft.)
45.2 Junction with North Fork Road (500 ft.)
