I'm not really sure how neither my husband nor I had ever done this hike before. It's so beautiful, even in the clouds.

The trail along the Big Quilcene winds through lush, beautiful forest with trilliums at the trailside, and then the steady climb begins and continues all the way up to Camp Mystery where we set up camp before continuing on to Marmot Pass and Buckhorn Mountain. The snow near the trail is completely gone. We brought our ice axes for any lingering snowfields on the way to Buckhorn Mountain but we had no need for them. Just a quick use of hands up to the summit closest to Marmot Pass, which our mountaineering guide lists as the tallest of the arêtes.

The trail is in amazing shape, and the steady climb isn't steep, which was a welcome to our knees on the way down.

And, upon our return, our adventure cat Hobbes demanded to know why we didn't bring him. He's pictured at the bottom hiding in our rain fly.