Hike of the Week: Lake Constance

A rough hike leads to tranquil beauty at Lake Constance

Lake Constance

Northwest’s steepest trail still attracting determined hikers




by Craig Romano
photo by Craig Romano
produced by Michael Fagin

August 4, 2006

Quick Facts
Location: Dosewallips River Valley, Olympic Peninsula
Land Agency: Olympic National Park
Roundtrip: 12.0 miles
Elevation gain: 4,000 feet
Access: From Brinnon (one mile north of Dosewallips State Park), turn right following the Dosewallips River Road for 9.7 miles to a washout. Park along road.
Green Trails Map: The Brothers, WA-No 168
Notes: Dogs prohibited; trail is extremely steep requiring the use of hands in one section.



The hike to this secluded tarn tucked high in a cleft on Mount Constance has long held a reputation as being among the toughest climbs in the Pacific Northwest. And thanks to a winter storm in 2002 washing out the access road to the trailhead, it’s now even tougher! But despite an arduous ascent (3,300 feet in 2 miles) required for reaching this pretty little lake; throngs of people make the trip each year. But the washout that now adds 4 miles of road walking each-way has thinned them out somewhat.
And while hikers, conservationists, land agencies, and everyone else and their mothers argue whether the road should be reopened or converted into a trail-if the road is to be reopened-it won’t be happening anytime soon. So you might as well take advantage of the thinned numbers. But while road-to-trail backers extol the virtues of this new de facto trail (the washed out road), except for the first mile along the river, it’s a pretty boring slog to the Constance Lake Trailhead. Bring a mountain bike to expedite this section, leaving you with more energy and time to make your way to Lake Constance.
From the official trailhead, the trail wastes no time in testing the laws of gravity.
Head straight up an extremely narrow valley cut by Constance Creek. Giant firs tower above and anchor the hillside from slumping into the valley below.
Giant boulders litter the forest floor, including a couple of “mini Rocks of Gibraltar.” After gaining 1,600 feet in just under a mile, the trail grants you a brief reprieve, flattening out for a hop, skip, and a jump. But as the valley now closes in, the trail has no choice but to head right up the creek bed. It’s a rocky, brushy, affair, and depending on water flow-wet, too.
The route then leaves the creek ascending straight up a steep wall and the hardest part of this hike. With help from your upper body, scale the abrupt slope. At the brink of exhaustion, on what is probably the two hardest miles this side of New Hampshire’s Huntington’s Ravine, enter the hidden basin housing Lake Constance. Its beauty should take what little breath you have left, away. Walk .3 mile on trail along the eastern shore to an open area of talus and boulders for a good sunny place to sit above the lake. Recharge your batteries, and refit those knees for the descent.