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Trip Report    

Day Hike - Eunice Lake & Tolmie Peak Lookout

Six Olympia Explorers (9-11 years old) on their first outing of the year - A 6.0 mile/1,450 ft gain hike to Tolmie Peak

Paul Kallmann Paul Kallmann
October 04, 2021
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • The road up to Evans Offroad Recreation Area is developing potholes and ruts.  As the rains come, expect further deterioration on this section.  From there up to Mowich, the road is satisfactory with minimal potholes and ruts.  A sedan could make this trip with no problems

Our first activity for the Olympia Explorers was a hike up to Tolmie Peak Lookout Tower.  We had six excited Explorers ranging in age from 9-11 and their parents.  There was some light rain as we were coming through Puyallup and Bonney Lake, but when we arrived to the trailhead, we had cloudy skies and patchy fog.

Our Explorers group headed up the Tolmie Peak trail with the youth rotating leaders.  We took some breaks to scramble up some boulders along the way and then we arrived at Eunice Lake for a lunch break.  The huckleberry bush leaves have turned to beautiful yellows, oranges, and reds which was worthy of photos especially with the lake in the background.

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We continued on up to the Lookout Tower.  The tower itself was unmanned and locked but we could still see through the windows as the NPS has not yet shut the tower down for the winter.  The sun was trying to break through the clouds and we had some views of Tolmie Peak to our east and Eunice Lake below.  Since it was fairly breezy at the tower, we did not spend too much time there, but we took pictures, had our snacks, and started back down to Eunice Lake and back to the trailhead.

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There were surprisingly quite a few people up there despite the Mariners and Seahawks games that afternoon.

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Our Explorers are very excited for a fun year of adventuring!