Mount Storm King Trail

Start on the wide, mostly level Marymere Falls Nature Trail and pass beneath Highway 101. At about half a mile, a boulder and sign mark the sharp uphill turn for Storm King. Watch for it on the way out; the easier path continues toward the falls. On the return, take the signed turn back toward Marymere and the ranger station.

The lower Storm King trail climbs through damp forest on steep switchbacks. About half a mile above the junction, the grade eases briefly before the trail traverses a drier slope among large cedars and hemlocks. Higher up, madrone and manzanita appear among the trees. Openings give intermittent looks into Barnes Creek valley and across Lake Crescent, then close in again; this is not a long open ridge walk. The route gains about 2,000 feet, and the same steep tread makes the descent tiring too. Pace the climb and leave time for a deliberate walk down.

At the signed end of the maintained trail, a rocky shoulder looks through trees toward Lake Crescent and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is the mapped turnaround and the clearest maintained-route photo stop: keep the rough tread and trees in the foreground with the lake beyond. The familiar summit outcrop lies past the End of Maintained Trail sign, on an exposed, loose-rock climber path. That continuation is outside this route. Ropes visitors sometimes install there are not maintained by the park and may be unsafe; do not count on them or include the scramble in your plan.

Lake Crescent fills a valley carved by ice and reaches 624 feet deep. About 7,000 years ago, a massive landslide separated it from nearby Lake Sutherland. The isolation left the lake with two trout found nowhere else, Beardslee and Crescenti. You see only slices of the water from the maintained shoulder, but those glimpses are the payoff for the climb.