2025 Northern USA & British Columbia Road Trip: Lena Lakes Olympic National Forest and Park
The lower and upper Lena Lakes and Milk Lake became my first overnight backpacking adventure in the Olympics. It is stunning. 
I planned for a three day two night backpacking trip and decided to stay at the Lower Lena campground as my homebase for both nights. The campground is first come first serve and I had no issues finding a spot on a Wednesday. Overall, it was a well trekked site with mostly family groups and friend groups, and going on a Wednesday meant for a quieter trip. It is a beautiful location and fantastic cool water to swim and explore. There were even a few floating logs that acted as rafts or lounge spots over the water.
My food tasted so good that evening, sitting out looking out onto the lake. Filtering my water and boiling it. I also forgot my utensils with so I crafted some chopsticks!
More beautiful wildflowers and view points.
While enjoying my snacks this little butterfly took a break on my wet sandals. In my family, we always say a butterflying landing on you is a blessing of good luck.
Back at camp and it was dark so no pictures, but I got back in time to go swimming with my camp neighbors, (who hiked up with a pool floaty!!!) and enjoyed the lake and dinner with my new friends.
A few hours later I made more new friends who gave me much needed snacks (I did not pack enough food). Yay! And the original new friends, with the pool floaty, invited me to stay at their home for the next few days, which I of course... said yes. The kindness of strangers is one of the best tastes of travel!!!! Follow your gut, use common sense, tell trusted people where you are and have a safety plan, and then have fun!!!
There was also time to explore the surrounding area and listen to the running water feeding the lake in addition to watching the sunlight change throughout the afternoon and evening hours.
And here was my tent set up!
Relaxing on a log while the sun faded.
My food tasted so good that evening, sitting out looking out onto the lake. Filtering my water and boiling it. I also forgot my utensils with so I crafted some chopsticks!
I slept well and the next morning I ate breakfast with this as my view. I found a nice shady spot under a fallen tree overhang and wow, what a beautiful place.
After breakfast I packed my bag with day hike essentials and left my sleeping gear behind. I trekked up to Upper Lena Lake and then navigated through backcountry to Milk Lake.
The hike up was strenuous but steady with some stream crossings, outlooks, and wildflowers!
I stood at this stream crossing for so long. Listening to running water is such a sensory treat!
More beautiful wildflowers and view points.
At this point was the overlook of Upper Lena lake. This lake was a much lighter blue, colder to take a dip into (oh but what a great swim), with mountains and snow patches hugging the lake. It was also much quieter and I only saw two other people here who left shortly after I arrived. I had this beautiful spot to myself to enjoy for sometime.
And then to look out at this scenery... traveling and seeing breath-taking nature makes me realize the responsibility of protecting our beautiful world and its life.
And here I started to navigate to Milk Lake. Lush wildflowers, meadows, and snow-melt streams took control of the environment as the trees thinned with the elevation gain.
I lost sight of any trail and I saw no other hikers my trek up to Milk Lake and back. Downloading a trail map was essential to finding my way on the snow covered trail and some route finding was required.
After a last few steps up the snow I reached a muddy path leading the Milk Lake. As it's name sake it was milky light blue in color. The mosquitos were biting me alive here, otherwise no bug issues the whole trail. I spent about 15-20min here enjoying the view due to getting back to Lower Lena before the sunset and the bugs.
I'd say this picture best captures the hue of the lake I saw with my eyes.
As I walked around this lake the hues would change depending on how the sunlight reflected the surroundings.
And then back down to Upper Lena lake, I didn't spend much time here on my way down, I was trekking down with the sun at a comfortable pace.
Back at camp and it was dark so no pictures, but I got back in time to go swimming with my camp neighbors, (who hiked up with a pool floaty!!!) and enjoyed the lake and dinner with my new friends.
The next morning was a mystical fog. It is really magical to just watch fog roll into a landscape. It is such a dynamic way to watch how quickly environments can change.
A few hours later I made more new friends who gave me much needed snacks (I did not pack enough food). Yay! And the original new friends, with the pool floaty, invited me to stay at their home for the next few days, which I of course... said yes. The kindness of strangers is one of the best tastes of travel!!!! Follow your gut, use common sense, tell trusted people where you are and have a safety plan, and then have fun!!!
