Day one, we got a very late start out of Portland, of course. By the time the car was packed, the list quadruple-checked, the new memory card for the camera purchased, and the anniversary present given to the husband - surprise, a water filtration system so we don't have to borrow your brother's! - we were off to Olympic National Park for a wedding anniversary celebratory four-night backpacking trip.
The weather forecast said low 70's and dry for our trip, and it was gorgeous. The drive up was lovely, sunny, and shorter than we thought. We did have a nasty moment when we realized we had already passed the last gas station and would not have enough to get us back to civilization on the return trip, but I guess Forest Rangers have to get gas too, so we payed premium near the Quinault Ranger Station to tide us over. At the station itself, we filled out our self-registration passes and slipped them into the drop box with our money. I had made sure that we could do this after station hours on the off-chance we were late, which turned out to be a great idea. The station also could have loaned us bear cans, but only during operating hours, so we decided we didn't need them.
We started at about 6pm at the Grave's Creek Trailhead and made it as far as Pony Bridge, where we camped for the night. My almost-brand-new boots and his completely brand new boots held up just fine. The husband had a blast slinging our packs up in the trees, and I had an uproarious time making the fire - I had dug out the mess kit I borrowed from my dad, and in with some other things, I found the lighter and a blue gel. On the backpacking trips he had taken me on, he had used a very cool blue gel firestarter, so I was delighted to discover this treasure and liberally smeared my tinder with it. After three or four increasingly frustrating tries at lighting not only my little sticks but even toilet paper, during which I used more and more gel, I finally smelled the stuff and discovered I had been using dish soap! Oops. I got the fire going no problem after that, and we ate a cold dinner anyway. We saw a wonderfully warty toad traveling through our campsite, then we hit the sack.
The next day we hiked about thirteen miles in to Enchanted Valley, where we spent the next two nights. We about died carrying our packs that we stocked with delicious (as opposed to light) food stuffs. The scenery was a bit weedy while we were along the river, but when it climbed away and into the forest it became gorgeous old growth and huckleberries. We passed through three distinct belts of elevation: too early for huckleberries, tons of ripe huckleberries, and the-animals-already-got-all-the-huckleberries. There were sections of oak trees where we rested in the shade, and we passed many beautiful campsites along the water. The only rotten part was the little silk worms that were hanging from almost every tree. I got overheated, and not only was I covered in dried salty sweat, but also draped in invisible but quite tangible cobwebs plus the little green worms. Think twice before going in worm-season?
- View as we entered the valley.
- The creek side near our camp site.
- Little waterfalls were everywhere along the walls.
- Our camp in Enchanted Valley.
- Our lovely camp. Next time, I would bring more dried soups, less canned chicken and summer sausage. After hiking in the heat all day, I didn't want that tasty but heavy stuff anyway.
- About where we saw the bobcat.
- Headed toward Anderson Pass.
- Doe in our camp site. Maybe it's her camp site?
We left our valley a day early since we thought we'd like to camp at Pony Bridge again to avoid a sixteen mile hike out. We saw a grouse family and, just when I had despaired of ever seeing any of the black bears whose supposed constant presence made us hang our bags every night, there he was amongst the huckleberries!
- Highlight of my trip!
Our last morning was a push to get out of the woods, out of our boots, and into our beach hotel early. We chatted with the very nice ranger who had stopped by the trailhead, then made for Long Beach and a hot bath. By this time, we looked like scary bums and the hotel concierge looked very alarmed when we checked in. We spent our actual anniversary there on the beach with our fruity cocktails and blisters the same size as our toes. It was a fabulous trip.
- Crab and cocktails I made for us when we got home. No more trail mix, no sir!
- 2013 Anniversary to the Olympcs 224edited.jpg (151.78 KiB) Viewed 2390 times
