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Olympic Hikes

Cloudy Peak & Charlia Lakes Peak

These two mountains are easy scrambles located on the east side of the Olympic Mountains. They are not as recognized like their taller neighbors Constance, Warrior and Buckhorn. What makes these two peaks appealing is a nice trail that reaches the saddle between the two peaks. From the saddle, it is all alpine wandering with great views. The access trail is the Charlia Lakes Trail, which is not on all maps for some reason. Even the trail split off the Constance Pass Trail is not signed, but the split is very obvious, about a 5-minute hike south of the Boulder Shelter. The peaks could be done in a day from either trailhead but an overnight is more common.
Access:
Cloudy Peak: 6,974 feet,
Charlia Lakes Peak: 6,599 feet
The easiest route is from the Upper Dungeness Trailhead but you could also come in over Marmot Pass. Both access points will require 8 miles or so to reach Charlia Pass.
Route:
From the pass, for Cloudy Peak, just follow the ridge up to the summit rocks. Go left around the cliffs up a wide dirty gulley. This puts you in a comfortable spot on the backside of the summit rocks and a very short class 3 scramble gets you to the top. For Charlia Lakes Peak, follow the ridge, looking for obvious paths, weaving on each side of the ridge until you reach the highest point. A class 2 hike.
Boulder Ridge Buckhorn Mountain Charlia Lakes Charlia Lakes Peak charlia lakes cloudy peak map Cloudy Peak cloudy peak Cloudy Peak Constance Pass Deception Basin Charlia Pass cloudy peak cloudy peak volcanic knob Warrior Peak Zee Spire mount constance
Looking South from Cloudy Peak
Route up Cloudy Peak from Charlia Pass
Charlia Pass Trail
Tarn in route to Charlia Pass
Cloudy Peak from the pass area
On the ridge of Cloudy
Rock knob at Charlia Pass
Smoky view, looking West
Summit of Cloudy Peak
Looking North to Buckhorn Mountain from Charlia Lakes Peak
East ridge of Warrior Peak from Cloudy Peak
Charlia Lakes Peak from the pass
Zee Spire and Alphabet Ridge from Cloudy Peak
Boulder Ridge from Charlia Lakes Peak
Charlia Lakes from above
Constance Pass in the distance
Mount Mystery and other Deception Basin peaks
Yellow is trail, blue is climbers trails