Appleton Pass-Cat Lake Traverse,  Olympic National Park,  Sep 8, 2008 - Sep 12, 2008     page 23 / 71

After breakfast, we packed our gear and began the traverse we had looked forward to. The hike from Appleton Pass to Cat Basin, and subsequently to the High Divide trail is sometimes considered the northern section of the Bailey Range. There were certainly similarities in the hike of this five mile section of terrain with the longer trek Tom and I accomplished in 2007. The trail is not a maintained path, but only a boot beaten route through rugged terrain, with outstanding views along its entirety.

We returned to the meadows east of the lake, quickly joining a trail likely to take us where we wanted to go. We dropped down along the ridge, then briefly into the trees. Here the trail steeply descended into a bowl northwest of Spread Eagle Pass. We dropped to 5000 feet, perhaps a little lower, then began a climb of 500-600 feet into the pass. Much of the brush we passed was loaded with fresh huckleberries. We picked these berries several times during our brief rests.