I Am Thinking About It

Went on an abbreviated backpacking trip this week with mom and Ana… we intended two days in Indian Heaven, a section of the Gifford Pinochet Wilderness down south by Mt. Adams. Instead, due to a combination of factors, we ditched the trip after the first night and hightailed it back to the safety of home! This is a gorgeous viewpoint just a few miles before the entrance to the park, that’s Mt. St. Helens (missing her top, but lost in the fog) there in the center.

Ready For The Pain
Originally uploaded by Arboreality.

Photos are up at Flickr!! My camera display screen broke on the second day of a 5 day trip, so my photos are pretty lame after that, as all I could do was point and click and hope the rest of the camera was not also broken (it wasn’t).

We just got back from a 5 day, 36 mile trip from Hoh River Visitor Center Trailhead along Hoh River Trail, up to the High Divide, down to Sol Duc, back up to Appleton Pass, then out through Olympic Hot Springs Trailhead. We saw a band of elk and a deer at the Hoh River Visitor Center camp.

The walk on Monday from the Visitor Center along the Hoh River to the Olympic Ranger Station was beautiful and and easy 9 miles, even with the heavy packs. My mother walked the first 4 miles with us, carrying lunch, and then headed back after we passed the second campsites. We spent the night on the sand bar (ranger’s suggestion: more wind; fewer bugs!).

Before heading off, everyone warned us that the climb from Hoh River to Hoh Lake would be killer, but boy, were they right. Tuesday evening, Tad was ill with impending bronchitis, so we wimped out at C.B. Flats and camped for the night, finishing the climb to Heart Lake the next day. Luckily this was provisioned for in the trip plan, since we had hoped to walk the Cat Basin Primitive Trail on Wednesday. It was so foggy that day, though, that it’s really just as well we did not attempt it. We chased a few grouse up the trail for a switchback or two.

C.B. Flats was just going into bloom and was beautiful, and very, very wet. We found a site under some trees across the trail from the group site, and were thankful for our bear cans!

The climb to the High Divide was still tough in the morning. Hoh Lake was damp but not raining, very cold. We saw several marmots along the top of the trail near the High Divide. No snow left on the trail along the High Divide (ok, one tiny 5ft wide patch). No berries ripe yet, everything was just blooming, we wished we were coming back in two weeks!!

Heart Lake was freezing cold (literally: there was frost when I woke up on Thursday morning). We saw a herd of elk, two bears, and a family of mountain goats from our camp at Heart Lake. The elk and bears were across the valley on the other hillside. A family of grouse walked straight through camp as we were setting up.

On Thursday, the descent from Heart Lake to Appleton Pass junction was fast, but watch your step, because those rocks don’t stay put! Tad made me a walking stick after I fell the third time on my left ankle. Had to get creative to cross the creek at Deer Park Campground (still a lot of snowmelt going on), and oh my lord the mosquitos there are enough to drive an elephant away.

Our Thursday afternoon climb up to Appleton Pass was easy, but the trail was starting to disappear under the plant life… this doesn’t seem to be nearly as popular a trail as the 7 Lakes Basin trails. We arrived at the Pass viewpoint and picked a campsite, gathered water and chatted with the group who scored the awesome (unsigned) campsite next to Oyster Lake. I found it amusing that the Appleton Pass signpost indicates bearwires, but makes no mention of the only source of water for miles… we stumbled on it on a hunch! Lots of deer in camp this night.

Friday morning was our first really sunny day, and we woke at 6:30 and hiked back to the pass viewpoint to get a good look at Mt. Olympus before heading down. Just about 500 ft down the switchbacks we spotted two more bears on the slide near Oyster Lake. Like the other two, these were so close we are sure that the upper bear was probably a new cub of the larger bear. Both completely ignored us.

From the switchbacks down to the bridge at Boulder Creek, the trail got really bad. We nearly lost it a few times in the high meadow, had a fun time climbing across a few fully streams, and clambered over at least 10 large downed trees completely across the trail in several places. Looks like the trail crew hasn’t made it up there at all yet this year, and the damage was pretty bad. We never had to take packs off, but it certainly took us extra time to negotiate a few of those obstacles. We did pass a few really spectacular downed trees, which I am sure did make a considerable amount of noise while falling.

Made it to Olympic Hot Springs at about 2pm, where we sat and soaked in a great pool til Mom joined us for the final 2 mile walk out to the trailhead to head back to camp.

My legs are sore, my back is killing my, my collarbones are bruised, my feet have blisters, all I want to eat is fresh salad, and that was the best shower I’ve ever taken in my life. Where are we going next year??

The view of Mt. Olympus from not far from our campsite, last night of the trip. The night before, we slept just below and left of the ridge in the center of the picture, at Heart Lake. We have 7 miles to go before we exit the forest at Olympus Hot Springs.

We are going backpacking for a week. See ya next Sunday!

So, my sister Ana and I are going backpacking in a week. She cannot have milk or sugar due to allergies, so no hot chocolate. but!!! Xylitol, and one package each unsweetened cocoa and soy milk powder to the rescue! It is not the same, but it isn't bad, either. I added cinnamon and pepper to spice it up a bit.

We Are Here To Help
Originally uploaded by Arboreality.

Jason and I went backpacking in the North Cascades… we got there late and the campsites were few, so we ended up at Panther Creek, which was beautiful (as a campsite) and ridiculous (as a trail). At one point, we had to leap from a rock to get to the only bridge across a rushing river. Clearly someone forgot to bring the measuring tape along.

IMG_8022
Originally uploaded by Arboreality.

This lake, high up in the Olympic Peninsula, is a perfect spot to camp. We saw tree frogs and a family of mountain goats here!

Unfortunately, we did not camp here. We camped at Lunch Lake (motto: where YOU are the lunch!). Whoops.

Travel Tip: Snow is a reflector for sunlight. Wear sunscreen EVERYWHERE, or suffer the consequences. Did i mention ouch?