Last weekend my buddy Jens and I ran 20 miles on the Dosewallips River Trail. Great run for sure, enjoyed the 60 minutes driving there and back just as much. Nice to catch up with Jens...needed some laugh time and Jens is ALWAYS good for that.
The Dosewallips River Trail is located in the Olympic National Park. It is one of many trails in a mountain system filled with trail running possibilities. The downside of the Dosewallips River Trail is that the road is washed out 5.5 miles from the Dose Ranger Station. We parked about 6 miles from the ranger station and ran along the forest service road the first part of our run.
The run to the ranger station is beautiful with many reminders of the stark ruggedness of the Olympic National Forest. At one point we ran through the remnants of the Lake Constance fire that was started by a lightning strike last July. As we neared the ranger station we started to run through a bit of snow, this was a harbinger of things to come.
Once we hit the main trailhead, we stayed on the main fork toward Gray Wolf Pass. We ran as far as we could until the snow was so deep that we couldn't call it trail running anymore. At that point we turned around, ran back to the fork, and checked out the west fork trail.
All in all we were on our feet about 4.5 hours or so. This was our last long run before the 50 mile trail race we are running together a week from now. I am fortunate I am running with Jens, as he has many ultra type endurance events under his belt.
CHECK OUT THIS MAP: Olympic Mountain Trail Map This will give you a great overview of the trails in Olympic National Park. I plan on checking them off one by one!
How to get to Dosewallips River Trail: Take Highway 101 South to Brinnon, WA. Take a right at milepost 306 and follow the road.
PICTURES POSTED ASAP...
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