The Cheese War TR: Sand Point and Cape Alava, WA

“Called the Cheese War because myself and another posse member were arguing over who was bringing the parmesan cheese to our pasta potluck! Yup that’s right, we hiked in fresh pasta, sauce, shredded parm, Caesar salad, and homemade beer/cheese foccacia. And of course Sarbar brought her famous fudge. This time it was peanut butter fudge with mini marshmallows. Yum!

So my day started out with a 4:30 wake up call. I actually drove out with two of my guy friends who I was going to meet for night 2. We just barely made the 7:10 ferry. (oops) The weather was glorious. Very sunny and clear skied.

The drive was long and relatively uneventful, except for the beautiful weather and a watchful eye for ice on the shaded parts of the road. I’m not used to the 4:30 am thing, so by 9:30 I was craving a cheeseburger. Luckily Jack in the Crack serves burgers 24/7. So we made several stops in Port Angeles. First stop at the Wal Mart for my friend who forgot his headlamp. He is now a fan of Wally World and will get over his liberal need to boycott the store. He picked up an Eveready (battery) brand headlamp for $12, which actually turned out to be quite nice. I might get one myself. I checked in with Dicentra at our fourth stop to find out where the posse was at. They were about to arrive in PA themselves and had two stops to make.

Lake Ozette Ranger Station side story: There are some seriously lame people out there. At the Ranger Station there was this jacka$$ in line behind us who was complaining to us about the raccoons being a nuisance and said to me that he thinks they should just go out there and shoot them all. So I say “We are in their home.” He gave me the dirtiest look…. What a shmuck!

There are two trails from Lake Ozette to the ocean. One goes SW to Sand Point, the other NW to Cape Alava. My friends went the Alava route and I to Sand Point. The trail is mostly boardwalk, which was pretty slippery. Even at noon! The lows that night at the campground had been 14 degrees. Brrrr… Not really a scenic hike at all. No elevation gain to speak of.

Once out there, I scoped out campsites and waited a bit with my book and still no posse. I decided to set up camp in the spot I liked best. Just as I finished pitching my tent I heard Ford’s excited little voice and there they were! Dicentra shared my site with me and everyone else picked another very nice site down the beach. Both sites were truly beachfront. At high tide the waves were crashing a mere 30 feet from my tent.

The before mentioned dinner was excellent. We watched the deer up on Sand Point (a large grass covered sea stack) grazing. There are some nice pictures of their silhouettes up there. After dinner we all climbed up for some lovely views of the sunset. Later, we sat around drinking our libations of choice, talking and enjoying the beautiful ocean with the fishing boats out on the water.

The night was a bit cold. So much so, I wore my parka in my sleeping bag. (My new GoLite Coal parka is the best!) My nose was miserably cold all night and I had a hard time sleeping. The next morning I was threatening to duct tape a hand warmer to my nose for night 2! LOL!

After breakfast and some exploring, the posse headed out and left me all alone for my wait for low tide. After sitting around enjoying the beautiful beach and sunshine, I got a little bored. I felt like walking. I figured if I was gonna walk, I might as well be going where I needed to be going, so I headed out an hour early and figured if the tide was too high for crossing the headlands I would stop and wait there.

First headland I reached just as a group of guys had crossed it. One of the guys had scrambled the rocks near the water and recommended the same for me. It was really fun! I got to use my rock climbing skills to find good handholds to navigate the slippery parts. And I really enjoyed looking at the tide pools and exploring a little hidden cove.

Up the beach I ran into one of my friends who was out looking for the petroglyphs. We found them with the help of a really cool couple, with whom we stopped to chat with. The petroglyphs were really amazing. There were two really beautiful depictions of whales. I really like stuff like this, having been an anthro major.

The rest of the trip was spent enjoying the fab weather and views. I really enjoyed Sarbar’s freezer bag recipes I tried, particularly the chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. Delicious. My friends devoured the other serving. The night was very cold again. This time I pulled my fleece neck gaiter over my balaclava down over the tip of my nose. This worked well! I think I may have finally found a system that works. I’m going to try it next trip.

We were up very early the next day and hiked straight out, dreaming of the biscuits and gravy at Clallam Bay. It was a really, really beautiful weekend.

Hoosierdaddy’s pics: http://community.webshots.com/album/278680318YIGarm
Marszit’s pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/marzsit
Dicentra’s pics: http://community.webshots.com/album/280093943wsydGM


More pictures coming this evening.

To Stovie: Everyone was jealous of my cool bandanas you sent me for Christmas!”

“Nice TR.
You are most welcome.”

“Nice Report Pixie. The area looks so familiar...but it's been a while.”

“You forgot RR's pics. Read Hoosier's report from bp.com. Love the one of D and Ford.

http://community.webshots.com/album/278773340bqMzmG
last edited: 2/22/05 2:01:02 PM”

“That's cause she didn't send them to our group email. Hmm.
DDX what are you doing over there anyhow?”

“Well you weren't here to keep my attention so my eye wandered over there... yeah.. that's it.”

“Great report Pix!!

DDX, that pic of me and ford is my favorite too! :) I was showing him that his cinnamon bunny had boobies. ;) LOL”

“So when are you going to give me some of those anatomy lessons *wink* *wink*

Lol.”

“ya want me to send you some bunnies?”

“Only if they are anatomically correct. It IS my bday tomorrow. Bunnies would be good!”

“Y'all notice the 'subtle' way DDX let everyone know his Birthday is tomorrow?
Who is gonna make sure he gets a TT Happy Birthday thread? ;-)
The poor guy hasn't been around long enough to have a thread, so you'll have to make a new one.
last edited: 2/22/05 4:08:21 PM”

“I was going to make sure there was one. But I figured someone on an earlier time zone might beat me to it.”

“Member since: 12/9/03

You SOB's missed my Bday last year >:(”

“OK, I'll wait.
Don't want that metrosexual to get any more 'ideas' about he and I. ;-)”

“What you do Pix.. is at 9:00 pm tonight you can start one because that means it's the 23rd on the easter seaboard ;)”

“What? You're the one that offered to pick me up and give me a "ride" to the AT. Dirty old bastard.”

“LOL”

“Ok, I'll start one tonight. I'll be on my computer dealing with more photos for this TR anyhow!”

“So where are all the Vogue Pixie modeling Golite pictures anways?!?!?! :D”

“Cool trip report, Pixie! Wish I could get out that way. Why was your nose so cold? Are you Jewish? LOL!”

“Boy, you guys need to caption the pixs better. Almost none of the group shots ID anyone. I didn't see a single caption IDing pixie!”

“Look for the beige Golite Coal with the horrible orange liner! :D She's sorta cute if you look at her just right...”

“I'm wearing my parka in nearly every picture!

My nose just gets cold. And if it's cold, my whole body is cold.”

“My nose gets cold when I'm in my sleeping bag too... but if you cover up the nose.mouth wrong you get all sorts of condensation problems. I ususally sleep with my hat pulled down over my eyes and over the tip of my nose... leaving my mouth and nostrels open to breathe.”

“Hey, Pixie...pick up a pair of those glasses with the big plastic nose...cut a small portion of a hand warmer up, tape it, and stick it in the plastic nose...who's gonna see you in your tent? Or just get one of those rubber animal noses you can get just about anywhere at Halloween and use that...your breath will heat the inside and your nose will sweat to death.”

“In pixie's defense she has a very cute nose.

I really wanted to see her with one of those hand warmers duct taped to her face though... LOL”

“LOL at wolfeyes! If I keep the little Groucho moustache I will have extra warmth for my upper lip!! LOL!

You won't see it di! I've got my new neck gaiter/balaclava combo that seems to work.

Stovie, I will caption my pics, ok?
I did a bad TR by not even saying who came on the trip either!

Roll call: Hoosierdaddy and Mrs. Hoosierdaddy, Marszit, RainRunner, Sarbar, Ford, Di and me. Then night 2, my friends who don't have trail names. Let's call them "Bossy" and "Clubber." LMAO! Oh, they are gonna love that! LOL!”

“I forgot about the moustache! See? Not a bad idear, heh? Get some Billy Bob teeth, too. They'll keep yer dinner in yer teeth fer insulation.”

“Pixie, I wasn't far from you this weekend! I was staying in a hotel in Port Angeles. We did some beach walking, discovering hidden nooks and crannies.

Hubby, Capri and I did a day trip out to Cape Flattery. For those not in the know, it's the most northwestern part of the U.S. We did the short hike out to the lookout points there. I saw a few bald eagles.

We also went to Salt Creek Park. There is camping there, but that's not the main attraction. It's the tidepooling. We got there just at low tide; it may have even been a minus tide, and it was full of giant green anemonies.

My favorite place to eat is at Gordy's Restaurant, not to be confused with Gordy's Cafe in Port Angeles. They have fantastic calzones.

We felt like being spoiled by not tenting it. The winter room rates are hard to resist. The weather is beautiful, but the rates don't reflect those great winter days. It was $61 for a room overlooking the water w/a continental breakfast of orange, cranberry and apple juices w/bagels, boiled eggs, pastries, muffins, apples, assorted specialty teas, and fresh waffles you make yourself. Even my dog had their breakfast. I brought her back a boiled egg to our room. The room even had a microwave and refrigerater, so I could microwave my dogs food.

I've done the Cape Alava loop a few times as a day hike and camping overnight. I've seen the petroglyphs too. I've also gone down to Yellow Banks. There is one camping site there that isn't great, but they have the best tidepooling and if you stay there, you can get stuck when the tide comes in, which is okay if you planned to stay.

I met a couple at Cape Flattery from the Kitsap Peninsula. It was funny to give them suggestions on places to go, since they lived in WA all their lives and I'm here 7 years. I suggested the Foster Island walk and to bring binoculars to check out all the different ducks, then since they are making a big trip to go there, see the Washington Abortetum in April when all the trees are pink. It's absolutely spectacular there when the trees are in bloom. They never heard of Foster Island or the arboretum.”

“And if all the plastic noses and groucho marx glasses don't work... you can always just hike with the SE TT'rs... we don't have that cold nose problem do we Stovie.”

“Yep, for $9.95 boys, i will share the REAL story!

Ok, whatever.....Di and Pixie ran away and hid out in their private campsite like totally away from us. We had the bestest gourmet dinner. We hiked a whopping 6 miles rt. I left Pixie with my surplus Mike's Hard Cranberry.
We had the bestest mexican lunch in Port Angeles without Pixie :-D
Hehheh

Photos of course!
http://community.webshots.com/album/278878485fvDmwe”

“If I fly out to visit, can I go backpacking as the only guy with all those beautiful women, like Hooserdaddy did???? ;-)”

“yes ss”

“What? You aren't going to offer to pick me up and give me a "ride" again SS? :o

I see how it is...”

“Not just no, DDX, but he11 no! ;-)
last edited: 2/22/05 10:49:19 PM”

“Hoosierdaddy goes to work and tells all his (male) coworkers how his wife lets him hang with all us young ladies ... lol! I'll bet they are all so jealous, and don't realize how bad us ladies reek ;-) They think he is some kind of Super Loving Machine. I just call him "Daddy"....hehheh”

“sarbar, you are a very naughty girl. LOL

I like that in a woman! ;-)
last edited: 2/22/05 10:52:06 PM”

“I call him daddy in front of his wife :-D Di calls him "Uncle *****ie (insert real name)....we are sooo bad ;-) Mrs. H is one super cool lady!

(Hoosierdaddy is such a perv ;-) ... but then again to be in the PNWH you kinda have to be a perv, have a sense of humor and be able to tell dirty jokes.
Speaking of dirty jokes...here is a real "gem" I got to hear from Hoosierdaddy this past weekend.....

"What do you call a herd of cows masturbating?"
"Beef Stroganoff"

Oh that was painfully bad...lol!!”

“sarbar - I think it's time for your spanking. ;-)”

“LOL at joke!

Here are my pictures. Finally!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v241/pixalu/Olympic%20coast%20Feb%202005/
last edited: 2/22/05 11:26:20 PM”

“Very nice pictures, pix!!!
The petroglyph whale is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while.”

“Someone is waaaaaay too into the dead animals...”

“LOL!
I started a montage of dead things. I didn't even get a picture of the racoon skull, the dead manta ray or the collection of bones that Bossy brought back to camp.

I'm kinda bad about taking pictures. Our camp was really cool. It was on a bluff about 20 feet above the beach. We had to crawl up then hike up a trail to get to it. On the other side there was a little rope to help get up and down a little cliff about 10 feet tall to a little stream where we filtered water. The camp itself was at the bottom of a steep hill. It was like staying in a tree house or something. And of course I took no pictures of it. (sigh)”

“That's one thing I do... is snap plenty of pictures. I'll come away from a weekend with 200-300 pictures.”

“Di is good at the pictures. She always seems to get a picture of all the key things. But neither her nor I got a picture of our pretty camp at Sand Point. We mostly hung out with the group at the big site.”

“Yeah, I took something like 110 pics this weekend! LOL. Ah well, it's digital.

Sarbar... I enjoyed not waking up to y'all outside my tent at 6am! I'm gonna run away from you more often. LOL.

Umm... should I tell you that the beef stroganoff joke was mine? :D You know you love my jokes! LMFAO!

Lipstick... Are you in WA? You should email Sarbar and join the Yahoo group! We'd love to meet you.”

“dicentra, pixie mentioned it and so did Sarbar a long time ago about joining yahoo and doing group hikes, but hubby and I are whacked out of shape right now. We bought motorcycles and it ended our hiking. Riding around on a bike all day is like sitting on your couch watching tv, so we packed on the pounds are not in good shape.

We need to get out on our own soon to get back into shape before we join a group. Thanks for the invite!

There was actually a PNW posse that started about 6 years ago with hikers from tt, and we did group hikes and still do. Then there are splinter groups for those that hike together since they live closer to one another. Our group has hikers from OR, WA and B.C. and we have a floater who moves from state to state, but still joins some hikes.”

“Really nice report and pics! What a beautiful place.”

“Nice shots Pixie! Ya know the raccoon skull was pretty nifty ;-) Couldn't get Ford to quit poking it.....”

“Lipstick... You have mail. :)”