Fall PNW walk in the park

“Trip report, the 22-26 Sept hike in the Olympics.

Tekky and I met Old Timer and his buddy Bob at Park HQ on Saturday and picked up the permit. Bob was nursing a broken ankle, so he spent the time at the campground near the trailhead while Old Timer headed into the woods. After getting Bob settled, we packed up and hit the trail mid afternoon.

The Sol Duc rain forest was pretty spectacular, big sunbeams slicing thru the shade, 250 feet up to the canopy, huge trees. Lots of people on the first mile, dayhikers walking in to look at the falls. Past the falls, the humans thinned out nicely. Lesurely stroll, in 5+ miles and up 1200 feet, to the base of the hill. We made camp about six or so, and enjoyed a sautee of wild mushrooms that OT harvested along the way. He must have picked 4 pounds that first day. With olive oil & garlic, they were pretty darned tasty.

Tom wandered up the trail about dusk, to complete our foursome. We all hit the sack around 10 or so.

Sunday, on the trail around 9:30 after a breakfast of egg fajitas. By 12 or so we broke into the lower meadows of Sol Duc Park and had lunch. Once back on the trail, there were blueberries everywhere, a huge crop, the most berries I've ever seen up there. Going was slow (due to the hill) and got slower (berries were fabulous). We munched our way up to Heart Lake (el. 4700), took a breather and watered up. the meadows were a riot of greens, golds, and reds, late summer magic was everywhere.

From Heart Lake, we wandered up onto the ridge (el. 5050) and got the first views of Mt. Olympus, the Baily Range to the East, and the Hoh River Valley just to the South, stretching to the ocean 40 miles away. Ocean wasn't there tho, as the valley had clouds filling it to about 3000 feet or so. The ridges and peaks all around looked like rock and glacier covered promentories hovering over a snow white sea.

Traversed the ridge East to Cat Basin, then took to the game trails and traversed up to Cat Lake, which lies high on the West wall of the basin (el. 5000). Dropped packs around 4:30 or so and settled into camp.

Around 6, the first elements of the second group pulled in. Alpine and bc trailguy were followed about an hour later by China Chas and Cousin' Carl. The trail gazelles had hiked all the way in from the trailhead that day - in about 9 miles, and Chas brought me a beer! What a hero! Tasted great as we passed it around. Alpenglow faded into a sea of stars to the North, and a half moon his the Southern starfield, but it glazed the ice on the mountains as payback.

Monday was a lazy day. Up when we wanted, dayhiked acrost the ridgeline with views of the Hoh Valley, Olympus, Seven Lakes Basin, and so on. I think Alpine's comment really hit the mark... "Like walking through a picture postcard." Lots of pix taken, I suspect there will be some posted soon.
The day ended with another light show as the alpenglow played with the glaciers on Olympus, and the fading light slowly hid the bears who were out on the meadows munching berries.

Tuesday we broke camp and headed out for the 'ambitious' part of the trip, a cross country traverse from Cat Basin to Appleton Pass. Lots of work to get out of Cat Basin. The route traverses way, way up on to the side of the basin, across scree and steep heather, to reach the tangles of alpine evergreens that guard the ridgeline. From there, the route traversed across three more cirques on the East side of the ridge. Luckily there were hazy, high clouds moving in, which kept the temps down so we didn't bake in the sun. Of course, there's a down side....

Just as we reach the pass where we drop over to the West side of the ridge, the weather arrived. Temps drop, we're inside the clouds, it's misting and the breeze is chill. Fortunately, the last 1.5 miles of the travers is across meadows, so we didn't have steep terrain to deal with when the rain started in ernest. We arrived at Appleton Pass (the day's destination, just after 3.

No one was real eager to stay at Appleton Pass given the chill wind and wet conditions. So, we elected to drop down the hill to the river. Add another 2.5 miles and 2000 ft descent to the day. Fortunately, the trail was a gradual descent and in great shape, so we were building camp by 5 or so.

Then things got a bit wet.

Then they got wetter.

Oh well, since this was the first trip in the Oly's for everyone but me, I guess it's appropriate that everyone was treated to a rain forest at work. We all were bustin' the next morning, packing up and running to escape the cold rain.

The trail was in generally good shape on Saturday when we went in. Today, there were quagmires. Didn't seem to slow anyone down tho, we all just slogged along. Out 5+ miles, down 1200 or so, and we escaped the rain.

All in all, a fairly typical walk in this park. Great fun, good times.”

“strider, that's a great trip report. I've been waiting patiently for you to return to read it.

I can't wait until someone posts pictures.”

“I'm sooo jealous! Great trip. How was the company? No sign of Biz? Maybe the bears got her.

Maybe we need another trip for those that didn't get to go this time.”

“Minor case of cereberal gas, forgot to mention meeting Biz. She was on the trail heading down Sunday morning, we met at a creek where we were filtering water. Visited for 30 - 40 minutes or so.

Biz - apologies for my oversight. Hope you enjoyed your walk out, and hope you can finagle other biztrips up here in the future.”

“Great recap and an awesome trip. This will rate as one of the best of the year.

My film is in and I should have pictures in a day or two.”

“I just got 1 thing to say...AWESOME

and I only got to see 1/3 of what Strider & the rest got ta see..

see ya'll on the next one!”

“Sounds like an awesome trip. I was jealously thinking of all of you as I ended up NOT travelling to Philadelphia!!! GRRRRR!
Next time for sure. Can't wait to see the pictures.”

“Great trip, Strider !! Thanks, for the invite. It was a lot like home, coming out in the pouring rain. I should have some pics up, by the weekend and I'm looking forward, to seeing everyone else's.

Hey Biz- I guess that was you, that we passed, near the trailhead. Sorry we didn't 'clue in', in time to say "Hi". There was a couple of day hikers making you look like a group. See ya next time, for sure.

I had a great time meeting Cousin Karl, Tekky, Tom, Strider and Old Timer. Hope to see you all again soon!”

“Sounds like a great trip! I will have to try to tag along on one of the PNW trips.”

“bc, you're most welcome - glad you could make it and glad to meet you.”

“AmyG is this your Beaver?

Pics”

“you have the prettiest backpack”

“Great report everyone! I'll be needing your help planning a trip up there next June. Nice Pictures Biz.”

“Oooohhhh! Pretty pics Biz. Thanks for sharing.”

“I'm not sure what other superlatives I can add that others haven't. Yes, it was a great trip! One that seemed to be marked by a lot of contrasts. For instance...

The deep shadows of the ancient rain forest, as compared to the sun bathed ridges of the High Divide.

Plodding up a ridge on a warm fall afternoon vs. running downhill toward the car dripping wet from the chilly downpour.

Far ranging views of craggy peaks and mountain splendor suddenly changing to 15 yards of visibility inside a thick soupy cloud.

Munching on a pop tart for breakfast, while someone nearby is preparing their trademark biscuits and gravy extraveganza!

Ah yes, it was a great trip indeed! Thanks to everyone who made the trek for your contributions to a fun adventure. We'll be talkin' about this one for a looooong time.”

“BTW, those are some nice pictures Biz. Thanks for putting them up so we could take a peek at you, er I mean your trip to the PNW.

I would suggest though that you might want to revisit a Zoology text somewhere. That there whistling "Beaver" might take offense at how it was so shamefully exploited. ;-)

Finally, I really don't blame you for being aloof and ignoring the four of us as we passed on your way out. After meeting those other guys up the hill I suspect you were pretty tramatized and making a beeline for the security of your car! LOL!”

“Wow! Lots of good shots, Chas.

Here's a few more
More Pics”

“Sorry Biz, I didn't get a peek at your 'beaver'. If I had, I would surely have taken a picture.

Here's one from the Rockies
Beaver?”

“Woo Hoo, the pictures are coming in. I'm reliving the moment. Great shots BC and Biz!”

“Nice pix, fellas. Thanks for taking the time to post them. My son is jealous....”

“Okay, here is my contribution,
See my photos of A walk in the PNW at PhotoPoint”

“Great Stuff, OT. That digital camera of yours does a really nice job !!”

“This was my third trip out with the Trail Talk folks, and my first "real" backpacking trip, so it was an education for me. I'm thinking about changing my handle to "Trail Snail," as I was consistently the last one into camp. I've also got to learn to go lighter. Strider graciously lent me a cavernous 7050 cubic-inch internal frame pack, as my 5010 c.i. external frame just wasn't up to the task. He also talked me into leaving behind about fifteen pounds of excess gear. As always, had a great time. Pack was heavy, hills were high, but the company and the scenery were beyond compare! And don't even get me started on the Cuisine ala Strider. (If anyone has problems avoiding hunger on a Strider trip - it's their own fault. As it was, I wound up packing out 90% of the food I had brought along for individual meals. See what I mean about needing to go lighter and learning how to plan better for these trips?)

Enjoyed meeting Biz on the trip out to Heart Lake - hope to see you up our way again. Also enjoyed meeting BC Trailguy and Cousin Carl - hope to see you both on future outings.

Have got my photos back. Got lots of good shots out of three rolls of 24 - now just need to scan them and get them on-line and sent out to the folks who requested copies. I do have to admit to coveting Old Timer's digital camera. Going to have to get me one of those! :o)

Happy Trails,
Tekky”

“Everyone's pictures were great. Biz, I like the one's with you standing in the berry fields.

The priceless picture is: strider w/his umbrella, lol.

Tekky, sorry we missed hiking with you this time around. I would have hiked slower than you, taking away your title as slowest hiker, lol.

That beaver sure looks like a marmot, lol.”

“Great job is right Old Timer, however I'll give credit where it's due..... to the photographer.”

“LH, did you notice that they all look kinda soggy, and me, well... about the only thing I brought out of the woods dry was my raingear.... (insert smug grin).”

“All I can say is WOW! Great pictures everyone, now I'm really looking foreward to my trip in the PNW next summer.”

“strider, I did notice the others were "damp". I also noticed you were the happiest person there, lol.”

“Great pictures! Even with the rain, it looked like a great trip... Still whining that I couldn't make it.. Waiting for the next one!”

“he he, I got out before a cloud rolled in. I tell ya, ya'll should stick with me, I lead a charmed life Ü I am good luck or something

marmot, smarmot, whatever, what do I know? I'm from AZ”

“Actually, I was a little disappointed not to be able to try out my new SD shell..

I guess I'll have to stand in the shower to try it out.”

“oops . . .damn . . .gotta go clean that mess up.”

“Stride- Backpacker magazine rated one of the beach hikes in the Olympics the 'Best in Washington'..

Is this the one you were telling me about? When R ya gonna plan a trip??

Ü”

“Biz, beach hikes are fun. You can go all year round. Camping directly on the beach in the winter may not be doable, because of the extra high tides, but there are plenty of nice camping sites raised above the water line.

We did a PNW trip to an Olympic beach destination called Cape Alava a few years ago.”

“Biz,

I don't subscribe to BP mag, so I don't know what route they were talking about.... but I've done all of the Oly beachs, so I'm sure I've been there. I only go in the winter tho, and the weather can make the trips truly challenging. Would be a good test for your r-gear....”

“I go at least once a year. Usually in the winter months. Very scenic, with lots of solitude, an ever changing landscape and wildlife. May just be my next trip, just what the doctor ordered.”

“You're right Strider, my raingear was tested and found lacking. But not to worry, before I got home replacements were purchased.
Looking forward to a coast hike this winter.
The Olympics are beautiful, just wish I was closer.”

“Chas, bc, Old Timer.... since I'm not a shutter-tripper I don't know the routine to get trip pix up on Phil's page. You photo-graf-er's know the ropes. Might be appropriate to mail link info to Phil, ask him to set the links to the fall 2001 PNW hike. Yes?”