Pack Ramble

Day 3: The trail to Hugo Peak is one of the most popular hiking routes in Charles L. Pack Experimental Forest and most people you encounter along its 2.5 mile length will tell you that's because it takes you to "the top." In point of fact, that's incorrect. Hugo Peak's elevation is approximately 1745 feet, almost three hundred feet lower than the high point (ca. 2035') indicated on the map only as "Pack," signifying earlier placement of a survey marker now long gone. Technically unnamed, I refer to this spot as Pack's Peak, a play on words you could hardly expect me to resist.

Pack's Peak offers something else Hugo no longer affords: a view. Twenty years ago, you could see the town of Eatonville spread out in the valley below. Now the trees and brush are too tall, and Pack Forest staff only maintains a narrow "window" onto the scene. Here on Pack, you miss Eatonville, but on a clear day looking westward, you'll be treated to a chain of Olympic summits. Admittedly, there are no panoramic vistas from either high point, but Pack gives you a broader slice of the distant landscape.

For my Pack Ramble, I climbed the trail to Hugo, picking chanterelles along the way, then descended to Kirkland Pass, a five-way intersection of dirt roads not publicly accessible by any means but foot, horse or bicycle. Leaving the pass, I made the circuit of the 2000 Rd. which brought me to Pack's Peak (shown in the photo). On my return to the intersection, I was faced with several options: one, go back down the Hugo trail; two, walk down the west side of the 1000 Rd.; three, go down the east/north side of the 1000; or four, take the wooded Reservoir Trail. I opted for the Reservoir Trail, and thus completed a lopsided figure-8 loop of approximately 9 miles in just under four hours, including time out for photos, lunch and mushroom-picking.