Trail Running the High Divide Loop

DATEs HIKED: 9/15/24

TOTAL MILEAGE: 19 MILES

TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 4,600’

A few weeks ago Alex and I had a three day weekend planned with the intention of climbing Luna Peak, a mountain I’ve been dreaming of climbing for years now. As our trip dates approached the forecast grew increasingly wetter, with possible snow forecasted for the summit of Luna. That trip was off the table so I looked around the region hoping to find someplace with a more favorable forecast, but everywhere I looked I just found more wet weather. It looked like we weren’t going to be able to do a backpacking trip after all, but Sunday was looking clear, especially in the Olympics and I got the wild idea that maybe we could squeeze a traditional backpacking trip into a day trip.

I have been wanting to backpack the famous High Divide Loop in Olympic National Park since before Alex and I even moved to Washington. I’ve even had permits to hike it a few times, but each time those trips rolled around the weather turned sour and I dropped the permits and looked for other options. Sound familiar?

This summer, Alex and I have been running more than ever before, and we’ve even been dipping our toes into trail running in some local city parks. The High Divide Loop is 19 miles with about 4,600’ of gain if you don’t take any detours, and this length felt like the perfect opportunity for us to try our first real trail run in the mountains. We had hiked 19 miles in a day before, and even backpacked 18 miles in a day before, so I wasn’t worried that we wouldn’t be able to complete the trail. However, I did have some nerves about running through the mountains for the first time and how that would differ from hiking.

As it turned out, the key theme for the weekend was uncertainty. Another thing we weren’t sure about was how long the run would take, but we conservatively estimated that with breaks for snacks and photos, we would go about two miles per hour, which meant a ten hour day.

Wanting to get an early start to a long day, we drove to the peninsula on Saturday night and slept in our car near the trailhead. We decided we wanted to hit the trail by 5AM. We initially had planned to hit the trail a tad earlier, but a recent trip report from August noting a curious cougar left us a little wary of running through the forest in the dark, so we pushed our start time back. Turns out we weren’t the only ones who thought 5AM sounded like a nice start time. As we geared up in the parking lot, three other groups also arrived and started getting ready.

Just after 5AM we were on the trail. We decided to walk in the dark (because of the cougar), and also to give our legs a good chance to warm up. We headed out on the trail counter-clockwise, which is the direction I’ve seen most day trippers recommend as it gets the big elevation gain out of the way early and then you get a long, gradual descent back to the car once you hit the high point.

We quickly passed Sol Duc Falls in the dark, I tried (and failed) to take a night photo of the falls. We took this quick stop as an opportunity to delayer and were passed by a speedy solo trail runner who whizzed by, never to be seen again. By us, I’m sure he made it back to the trailhead in an unfathomable time.

After Sol Duc Falls the trail gained about 2,000’ up through the forest. Alex and I tried to keep a fast hiking pace and I was pleasantly surprised to see that we consistently were clocking 22-23 minute miles in this section. It was my first inkling that maybe we would go faster than expected.

Just as the sun was beginning to illuminate the sky, we made it to Deer Lake. The morning had a sharp chill in the air and low clouds danced along the still lake surface. It was a beautiful scene to come upon in the early morning and we stopped to take photos.

As we climbed above the lake the sun rose. There weren’t many clouds in the sky, but if there had been the meadows above Deer Lake would have been a beautiful spot to watch the sunrise. We also ran into our first bear of the trip there. It was up on a hill, chowing down on the plentiful berries blanketing the meadows. We made noise as we neared it, but it didn’t so much as lift its head, too content eating its fill of berries to pay us any mind.

Once we made it to about 4,500’ the trail became more gradual and we started to run to undulating sections, and I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed the experience. I’m so used to being weighed down by a heavy overnight pack on most trips to the mountains that I couldn’t imagine moving quickly through the the terrain, but carrying a ten pound pack completely changed my perspective.

We passed the turnoff to Seven Lake Basin after about three hours, but opted to continue on without going turning down the trail. Again, we weren’t sure how long the trail would take and we weren’t sure how our legs would feel with all the running, so we decided against adding any detours and hoped that the views from the ridge looking into the Seven Lakes Basin would be sufficiently pretty enough. (They were.)

As we approached Bogachiel Peak we got the famous and oft-photographed view of Olympus and Mt. Tom from the trail and my jaw dropped. Olympus looks so impressive from the trail—a massive face of glacier and rock looming over the Hoh Valley far below. It was so cool to know that just a few months prior I had been standing on the summit of Olympus, absolutely shrouded in clouds, but on the summit nonetheless. If it had been clear that day I could have looked straight across the valley to the ridge that we were running along.

The views from the divide kept getting better and better. As we continued on we peered down into valleys to the north and saw multiple bears foraging on berries, by the end of our trip our bear tally was six! And to the south, the views of Olympus and Mt. Tom kept getting better, with the Blue Glacier even coming into view. It was just a week or two too early for the fall colors, but in the peak of fall this ridge must glow with oranges and reds.

Heart Lake came into view just before ten o’clock. We passed a group of backpackers who had strewn their gear out in the sun, trying to dry it all before their hike out. They said the day before it had endlessly poured. Standing in the sun, with barely a cloud in the sky, I was grateful for the conditions we were experiencing.

From there it was about eight miles back to the car, and it was nearly all downhill or flat. I was surprised by how good I was feeling, we still had a ways to go but I felt great!

We ran as much of the downhill as we could, fast hiking only when the trail was too rocky or rooted to run. The miles continued to add up on our watches and there were some sections in the forest that I truly relished. Cruising through the trees on soft duff, gaining momentum on the banked trails, I felt as if I was soaring. I’m not sure if it was a runner’s high or a mountain high or a combo of both but I was having fun. Alex was too! We were both grinning from ear to ear and could not stop remarking about how amazing the trail was.

We made it back to the junction near Sol Duc Falls and found the trail abuzz with hikers. We made a quick detour to the falls to see it in the light and then we ran back to the trailhead, which was tough given how many hikers were on the trail. We got back to the trailhead just after noon. We had fast hiked/trail ran the loop in 6 hours and 47 minutes, I was shocked at the time, it was hours faster than I had anticipated and I still felt amazing. It was a Type 1 fun day, pure mountain bliss.

I had been bummed when I finally accepted that I would not be climbing Luna Peak this year, but I’m so glad that we got to run the High Divide Loop instead. It feels as if a new mountain skill has been unlocked and it was so fun to experience the mountains in a completely new way. This certainly will not be our last trail run. Alex and I both talked about doing more trail runs in the future, working our way up to even bigger days!

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