Hike to Mildred Lakes in the Olympic Mountains -- One Challenging Trail

At 8.4 miles round trip and a total elevation gain of 2500 feet this is the most challenging hike I have yet to be on in the Olympic Mountains. It's not the distance or the elevation gain so much that makes this hike strenuous but just the more raw nature of the trail itself. It is pretty steady work, at least I found it so. I think they guys I was with were part Mountain Goat and seemed to readily welcome the challenge. This trail has a reputation for its difficulty and fully lives up to any descriptions I have read about it in Washington Trails Association or any other guides. It's not one of the more well traveled trails in the mountains and the more experienced hikers I traveled with this day refer to it as a "way trail". It's not just a trail that isn't maintained very well but one that possibly can't be. The trail at times becomes a bit vague and though there are telltales marking the way they can be hard to find as well. A couple of the guys had GPS's and those really made a difference. Even the first two miles, which are described as "relatively easy" has an abundance of slippery rocks, boulders, and roots that call for steady and increasing work to get to the lakes. There are two streams to cross which were easy probably because it was late in the summer and they weren't running hard. There were also two well established nests of yellow jackets along the trail and myself and one of the other guys in our group managed to get stung a number of times. We did pretty good time for a 50 yard dash with packs on. You'd think with all that wilderness around they would find another place to build their nests than right on the trail. Once the streams are crossed you then get to ascend a little over 1000 feet in about a half mile to the rim of a mountain range overlooking Mildred Lakes. Well, it would be overlooking the lakes if there hadn't been so much growth up around the lakes below. But it still provides beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. It's then about 200-250 feet down to the lakes. I was seriously tuckered out at the end of the day though I did raise my bar quite a bit by this hike and am grateful. One should not take the description of this trail lightly if thinking about hiking it for the first time. Don't get me wrong; it was fun and a real workout with a number of different ways it was challenging.