Day 99: With my eye set on the summit of the peak known only as "Pack" on the map, I was less than five minutes out of the parking lot when I found myself faced with a big orange sign stating that the south loop of the 1000 Road was closed for logging operations. I didn't want to chance sneaking past it to try to get to the Hugo Peak trail, leaving only one other option: take the north loop and add an extra mile each direction, i.e., a ten-mile round trip instead of eight if I also completed the 2000 Road loop like I'd intended. Pack Forest is a maze of roads, the 1000 and 2000 being the two main lines, meeting at Kirkland Pass to form a figure-8. Motorized travel is prohibited to the public on all of Pack Forest's roads, but when a road closure is posted, it also applies to foot, bicycle and horse traffic.
Fortunately, the north 1000 Road was open to Kirkland Pass where another sign warned walkers not to proceed. At this point, I realized that I might have been able to take the Hugo Peak Trail after all, but since I'd already come one extra mile, I decided to complete the 2000 loop and go back down the way I'd come. Hugo Peak is a popular destination, but the view of Eatonville, once unobstructed, is now limited to a narrow window in maturing evergreens. The peak of Pack affords a much better vista which on clear days may include the Olympic Mountains to the west. Today, they were visible but hazy, with clouds mounting behind them along the coast.
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