Oly,
Since no one has yet jumped in on your inqury, I'll give it a shot. It's been five or six years since I did the traverse. Here's a few thoughts FWIW:
olympicwanderer wrote: I will not be carrying a GPS
Unless you are dead-set against it, I would encourage you to bring a GPS. While there is much open country that lends itself to dead-reckoning, if you get a weather system that comes in or cloud cover, the dead-reckoning goes a bit out the door. I think there a some off-trail sections were it would be useful to have a GPS as a double check. Especially: the section SW of Mt. Carrie to Cream Lake > to getting back out of timberline moving towards Mt. Ferry. Ditto for possible cloud/fog sock-in on the glacier travel areas: Humes Glacer/Hoh Glacier/Blue Glacier. As a side note, we had really great weather when I did it (about the same time you are planning), so didn't really run into navigation problems due to weather (we did bring GPS).
olympicwanderer wrote: descending the snow finger
We didn't actually descend the Elwah snow finger on our route, though I understand that snow finger route is an entry/exit for the traverse. We moved from the north>south down towards Bear Pass and camped in the basin just west of Mount Barnes and north of Dodwell-Rixon Pass (that basin was loaded with snow and really scenic).
olympicwanderer wrote: and in the Mt. Carrie to Cream Lake area.
If I recall correctly, this section was the toughest part of the trip. By this, the game trail(s)? seemed to dissipate as you descended from the sparser timberline below Mt. Carrie on the
quest to get to Cream Lake (that might explain the lack of a trail description come to think of it). There was some bushwhacking and a bit of cursing. We moved from Boston Charlie camp to Cream Lake in one day. It was a bit of a bitch. I remember thinking if everyday is going to be like this one, we are in for a Hell Hike.
Rest assured, the XC travel gets better. Also, a GPS unit might help you find the lake easier on this day.
Other thoughts:
I would bring two trekking poles for this trip.
Not sure if you are into peak bagging/what your climbing skills/desires are, but climbing Mt. Carrie and Mt. Ferry are worth it if only for the views (class 2 from what I remember, nothing freaky). Mt. Barnes looked pretty tasty tambien (we didn't have the time). If you have the skills and inclination, I'd recommend a Mt. Olympus attempt (or some bold satellite peaks, Athena, Hermes, etc). Since you are gonna spend the time and effort to get back there, you might as well do some kinda bagging.
If you get a chance, I would highly recommend camping at Camp Pan. It's really a fantastic place to camp; scenery, quiet mediation and alpine reflection. Just superb.
Also, if haven't read it already and are into reading/history/geography, I'd recommend this book:
Across the Olympic Mountains: The Press Expedition, 1889-90 http://www.amazon.com/Across-Olympic-Mo ... 0898862191It's really well written and gives you a sense of what it took to move through this area back in the day (images to contemplate as you walk the Hoh Trail Miles west to civilization and all those kippers and kimchi awaiting you).
Anyways, my two cents. Hopefully, someone with more recent experience can jump in here.
Good luck! It's really a great trip and good for the soul.