I can never remember hiking a mountain trail on which I did not make the intended destination. I'm sure that in the hundreds of hikes in my lifetime there must have been one, but I don't remember it. .... until yesterday! Esther, Bjorn, Markus ,nephew Zach and I attempted to hike to Upper Lena Lake in the Olympics. I have never been to Upper Lena, but have heard good things about it. We gave ourselves a relatively early start. It was a beautiful day and we made Lower Lena for lunch overlooking the lake. The reported trail conditions for Upper Lena were muddy with an ice-covered lake. Not to be deterred, we plodded up the steep and rough trail. We started to meet returning hikers who said it was impassable, but we still needed to try. About less than a mile to the lake we lost the trail, and came to dead ends of cliffs and rushing streams. Not having been there before, we decided against bushwacking it. So disappointed and exhausted, we made the long nine miles back down. Today we are resting our aching muscles.
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