Week 56 Sept. 25 - Lower Lena Lake, again.

Total Distance: Approximately 6 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 1300 ft
Time: 9 am - 10:55 am
Weather: Rain with periods of stronger rain and strong winds.

I did not know where I was going to hike, or even what day I was going to hike this weekend until late Friday night.  The weather was going to be much better on Saturday, but my Alma Mater, Oklahoma State, was playing in a nationally televised college football game on the road against Texas A&M.  I also had a party in Seattle Saturday night, so I looked around for a hike that would keep me busy all day Sunday, even though I knew I would be wet all day.  I choose to hike to Upper Lena Lake, a 14 mile round trip with some good elevation gain.  I got up around 6:10 am and began getting everything ready: day pack with rain gear, a chair, first-aid kit, emergency glasses, ankle brace, iodine, and pocket knife, a set of dry clothes for after the hike, boots, poles, gaiters, and camera.  I was shuttling all this into the car with the plan of buying some snacks at the market down the street on my way to the trailhead.  I was packing some left over snacks into my day pack from my last trip which ended on Thursday.  I had leftover Luna Bars, Cliff Mojo bars, some pita bread, some almonds, and Gatorade powder.  I closed up my pack, turned out the lights, locked the doors and left around 6:50 am.  I was at Safeway, and I decided to get a coffee and pastry and not worry about snacks for the day.  I was on the road by 7:00 am.

I knew the way well enough, since I was here before.  In week 30, I came up to the Lower Lena Lake and snowshoed a bit north past the lower lake up into the "Valley of Silent Men."  This week, I was excited to go see the Upper Lena Lake.  I was at the trail head at 8:40 and began getting ready.  I was thinking of immediately putting on my rain gear.  It had poured rain the whole drive with the heaviest periods of rain being in the last few minutes before I had parked.  I went to the back of my Subaru, opened the back, and did not see my pack.  I knew immediately that I had left it in the kitchen.  I was pretty mad with myself.  I could not go back, get it, and come back.  I could not hike 14 miles with what I had with me.  I thought for a minute.  I was wearing long underwear top and bottom, sock liners, wool socks, Adidas shorts, a synthetic pullover, a stocking cap, hiking boots, and gaiters.  I knew I had dry clothes when I was done with the hike, and I knew it was only 6 miles up to Lower Lena Lake and back.  I decided to hike to the lake and back, hoping to be done in 2 or 2 1/2 hours.  I did have an empty water bottle, so I placed that in a place near the trailhead that was getting a lot of rain.  I grabbed my poles and took off at 9 am.

I was plenty warm as I started, in fact I was a tad too warm.  I think I was hiking pretty fast when I began.  I was a little mad at myself.  Funny how I can have so much experience, but still make huge, simple mistakes, like take your pack with you on a hike.  I started sweating and slowed down after about 10 minutes on the trail.  As I climbed the switchbacks, I began recognizing parts of the trail and seeing many backpackers on their way down.  A big group of young men and their fathers were the trail company for the next 20 minutes.  As usual, the kids will say hello and keep walking, but the dads are usually willing to chit-chat.  I shared in some of my small chats with the trail company how I had driven two hours when I realized I forgot my pack.  There were a lot of people heading out, and I chatted a minute or two with several people.  By 8:45 am, I could feel I was getting close.  There was a camp bulletin board and a posted sign marking both lakes and The Brothers, the two side-by-side peaks above the Valley of Silent Men.   I began to see small slivers of the lake through the trees on the right side of the trail.  I passed a family of four plus their dog, where the little girl and older brother had to be less than 7 years old.  Right behind the dad and pup was a view of Lower Lena Lake.  I dropped my poles, took a few photos, glanced at my watch (it was 8:55), and took a few deep breaths looking at the lake.  I grabbed my poles and took off back to the car.

I passed the family in a few minutes and was cruising at a bit of a jog.  As I was coming down, I saw a gray trash bag on the trail.  One of the many backpackers that I had seen on the way up had dropped a perfect garbage bag.  I picked it up and made it into a rain poncho. I was already soaking, but this would help a bit.  I hiked down steadily, passing many I passed on my way up, and enjoying being warm although wet.  I was back at the trailhead by 10:50 am.  I went and found my water bottle, which was full, and went to my car.  I went to the restroom and changed into dry clothes, socks, and shoes.  I used the trash bag poncho as my wet clothes transport and walked back to my car.  I was home in two house, loading my wet gear into the dryer.  When I realized, I don't have my long underwear bottoms.

Orchid: Hiking 6 miles in the pouring rain with the clothes on my back, trekking poles, and a found trash bag.

Onion: Hiking 6 miles in the pouring rain with the clothes on my back, trekking poles, and a found trash bag because I left my day pack at home.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 55 Sept. 18 - 22 - Sophomore Outdoor Ed.

Total Distance: Approximately 36 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 3000 ft
Time: Sun. 1 pm - Thurs. 12:30 pm
Weather: Sunday was a rainy morning, nice afternoon.  Monday and Tuesday were perfect. Wednesday was cloudy and overcast. Thursday, we woke to rain and hiked out in the rain.

This weekend's hike was the Sophomore Outdoor Education trip.  Every fall the sophomores at my school go on 5 day/4 night backcountry trip.  Six years ago, I went on my first Outdoor Education trip and discovered a love and passion for being in the wilderness.  I remembered loving summer camps as a kid, and I even went on a hike or two before I ever went on a trip.  But all the knowledge and gear I own is due to this amazing program for our sophomore students.  This year we have a large class of tenth graders, and our "standard" routes were all taken.  I, along with a fantastic friend and colleague at work, led 8 students up to Ross Lake to walk the 35 mile route I scouted two weeks earlier.

We left school at 8:20 am, and we were at the trailhead of Highway 20 by noon.  We hiked down to the water taxi dock, called the resort, and after two rounds on the taxi, we were settling into the Little Beaver Creek campground right on the lake.  The first day was a lot of travel but not a lot of hiking.  We had a decent meal of grilled cheese and soup.  We were in our tents by 9:30 pm.  I slept well, although maybe a little chilly, and woke in the middle of the night to a solid sounding rain.

When I got up around 7:15 am the next morning, the rain had stopped, and blue skies were in the western skies.  We got an early enough start; we were hiking by 9:25 am.  This was going to be a long day.  The map had the mileage somewhere around 12.5 and we were loaded with some heavy packs.  We were walking fast enough, but our breaks were long and more frequent than I would do without kids.  We were into camp by 5 with everything set up with dinner cooking by 6 pm.  In bed a little later this second evening, but asleep fast.

The next morning, we awoke to what was going be another long day.  We had 23 miles left to walk, and the mileage break down was going to be either 11, 5.5, 7.5, or 7, 9.5, 7.5.  We all thought it best to get the 11 in on Tuesday.  This was a weird day.  The morning was good; the kids at the front and I hiked an hour and a half and got 2.6 miles up and over Beaver Pass.  Here we waited for about 45 minutes before the whole group got together.  We took off for Luna Creek another 4.1 miles down the trail.  Again, there was a group of kids at the front with me, and a few in the back with my co-leader.  This section took us 2 hours in the front and 3 in the back.  Writing this blog, a couple days later, I see a lot I should have done to keep the group together.  We regrouped around 3 pm at Luna, and we talked through the final push of 4.3 miles.  I did not, however, explain to my co-leader where the camp was.  There is a camp west of 39 mile creek and the horse camp is east of the creek.  I also forgot about the crossing of the creek, there is an upper and lower crossing.  The lower is for horses (no bridge), the upper for hikers (nice bridge).  The front group with me got into the camp in less than 2 hours, an impressive pace for anyone, especially kids, with heavy packs.  We spent a few minutes setting up tents and organizing group gear.  One camper got a small fire going in the fire pit.  I looked up from and saw the kids all laughing and enjoying the warmth of the fire.  I thought I would go out and meet the others and help them into camp.  It was about 5:35; I had been in camp for about 45 minutes, and all day long the back was about an hour behind.

I told the kids around the fire that I was going to go wait by the camp sign west of the creek.  I got there, and then walked up about 10 minutes up the trail.  All day long, the group in the back would break about 10 minutes away from where they would meet us, so I thought this was a genius move to meet them before they stopped.  I found a great spot to sit on the trail, and I rested.  Fifteen minutes went by, and I was a bit worried.  I waited another 15 minutes.  Still there was no sign of them.  I looked at my watch.  It was 6:20 pm, an hour and a half later than us.  I thought about going and checking in with the camp, but I figured they couldn't be far, so I walked up the trail.  I was shouting their names, and I was convinced I would see them soon.  I kept walking, and there was nothing.  I began running.  I was now really worried they were in trouble.  I was shedding layers and dropping them on the trail.  I would get them when I return.  I am shouting and running, when finally I hear a response.  I see two men walking down the trail.  I explain my situation, and they tell me they have not seen anyone since they left Luna at 4 pm.  I relaxed a bit, thinking now I crossed with them way back a 39 mile and this whole time they were in camp.  I walked with the men for a tad, and then took off running again.  Sure enough at 7:20 when I got back to camp, there my co-leader was.  She was keeping all the kids calm and cooking a hot meal as I walked up.  I learned a lot on Tuesday.

Wednesday we slept in, and I cooked brownies for breakfast.  A short 5.5 mile walk to our next camp.  I made cookies for a mid-day snack at camp.  We swam in Ross Lake.  We had a sweet and sour rice for dinner and chocolate cake for dessert.  We went to bed early, and we woke to morning rain.  We packed and ate breakfast on Thursday in the rain.  We hiked out in the rain.  The group stayed together well the last day.  We hiked the last 7.5 miles in less than three and a half hours.

Orchid: Carrying a lot of weight and hiking pretty fast.

Onion: The 39 mile creek mix-up.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 54 Sept. 11 - Blanka Lake

Total Distance: Approximately 7.5 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 3300 ft
Time: 10:00 am - 3:45 pm
Weather: Sunny and hot. Perfect weekend in the PNW, yet again!

Berry hike with kids will have to be written about later. Maybe never, again.  Just know I hike the slowest I had in weeks.  I averaged 1.7 miles per hour.  Not including the hour and a half break at the lake.  I was carrying a 37.5 lbs pack. 

Orchid: Swimming is hard to beat at this lake. 

Onion: The torturous uphill grind, sweating profusely. 

Picture:

Google Map

Week 54 Sept. 10 - Sol Duc/7 Lakes Basin Loop

Total Distance: Approximately 19 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 3000 ft
Time: 9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Weather: Sunny and warm, perfect weekend in the PNW, yet again!

Crazy weeks back at school, and my blogging takes the biggest hit.  This weekend was bookended with lots of great things happening at my work. With the school year now in full swing, this might be the last weekend that I could go hiking both Saturday and Sunday.  And true to form, this September has been the PNW summer that the people of the Puget Sound region have complained about not having this year.

The plan for week 54 was to get the Outdoor Club out on a hike early in the school year, so we had a day hike planned for either Saturday or Sunday.  An active student member of the club told me he had never had a wild blueberry.  Shocked, I wanted to get him out to a place with good berries, but also a doable first club hike.  The place I thought of was Blanka Lake, a hike I did on week 4 but did not really blog about.  The picture for the blog was also not my picture.  It was Creighton's photo.  The student, who needed to eat wild berries, was busy on Saturday, so we chose to plan the club hike on Sunday.  At the beginning of last week a colleague of mine mentioned how he wanted to hike the loop around the Seven Lakes Basin as a day hike.  I did that hike over 5 days with students in week 3 last year and did not really blog about it either. Plus, I remembered meeting a hiker on the fourth day of that trip who was hiking the same loop.  I thought to myself, "wow, I wish I could do that."  Hearing the mileage now after a year of hiking, I felt like I would be fine.  But my feet would probably hurt.

We wanted to get an early start, so I was up at 4:30 am on Saturday.  I went to pick up Creighton, and we drove to Gig Harbor to meet our colleague who suggested the route.  We were at the trailhead by 8:45 am.  We were walking at 9 am.  It's hard now almost a week later to finish this post, so I am only going to talk about what I remember.

We walked quickly the 0.8 mile to the Sol Duc Falls.  This is where the loop begins and ends.  I took the lead on the next 3 mile stretch to Deer Lake.  We were there by 10:30.  We then began heading up to the High Divide.  I remembered a lot of the scenes from the year before.  The the little pond of a lake you skirt by on your way to a meadow with a few to west that goes on to the ocean.  This was were I saw my first bear in the woods a year before on Outdoor Ed.  The climb up the divide and continuing on to Bogachiel Peak was filled with brilliant views and gorgeous weather.  The view of Olympus was the kind of view that makes you want to climb a mountain.

We continued on to Heart Lake.  As we dropped down, we were coming up on 10 miles and it was around 1:30 pm.  We took an hour break, where we ate, swam, dried in the sun, and I changed into a new pair of socks.  We took off down to Sol Duc Park and just kept walking to the group site at 7-mile camp.  We took a short break here, where we calculated the mileage back to the car.  It was about 5.6 miles, and it was about 3:45pm.  I thought it would be cool to be done by 5:30.  It would mean it took me 8 and a half hours to walk about 19 miles with some pretty decent elevation gain, and that included an hour break with swimming and relaxing.

At 5:16 pm, we were coming back to Sol Duc Falls with only 0.8 miles left to go.  I wanted to finish and took off for the trailhead at a brisk pace.  I even found myself, slightly jogging to ensure I got back by 5:30.  I was at the car at 5:28.

Orchid: Swimming, or the Olympus view.

Onion: Too long ago to remember the onion…

Picture:

Google Map

Week 53 Sept. 4 & 5 - Little and Big Beaver Creeks

Total Distance: Approximately 34.7 miles
    Day 1: 14.2 miles; Day 2: 20.5 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 3200 ft.
    Day 1: 2000 ft; Day 2: 1200 ft
Time: Saturday 9:00 am - Sunday 5:45 pm
    Day 1: 6 hours 45 minutes hiking
    Day 2: 9 hours 30 minutes hiking
Weather: Sunny, warm on Saturday; mostly sunny, warm Sunday. Perfect weekend in the PNW, yet again!

For the third weekend in a row, the weather has been perfect for hiking.  Add to this that the trails are finally melted out, and you get the best hiking summer anywhere in the world.  That's right! Summer finally came to the PNW 4 weeks ago.  But summer is over for me; I started school last Wednesday.  Labor day weekend might be my last "big" trip, since the demands of work will be mounting each week for the next 41 weeks until graduation.  The plan, all along, was to use this weekend to get in at least one night in the backcountry and to scout the trip I will be leading in two weeks with another co-worker and 9 wonderful sophomores.  I was hoping a new friend I met 3 weeks ago on the Summerland hike was going to come along.  He was still unsure of his ankle, not because of the Summerland hike.  He ran in some 15 mile trail run a week ago, and he wanted to rest his feet. Understandable, but it left me solo.  I put out the obligatory facebook plea, only to met with the standard, non-committed, humours responses. I packed up and left Saturday mid-day.  I had access to a cabin only about 45 minutes from my trailhead, so I went up to Marblemount, got my permit, and went to the cabin to rest for an early start.

I was up and out the cabin door at 6:45 am.  Parked and geared up in the trailhead parking lot at 7:45.  I walked about a mile down to the Ross Lake Resort Ferry dock.  I buzzed my ride, and within 10 minutes, I was in a ski boat cruising up Ross Lake to the Little Beaver Creek Camp.  The boat ride took about 30 minutes.  It was a calm morning on the lake, and still early enough that we were the only human traffic, at least in a high powered machine.  I think I saw a few canoes across the way.  We pulled up to the dock, I payed the water taxi driver, and took off for my campsite some 14 miles away.  I looked at my watch, it was 9:06 am. 

I had new poles in my hands for the first time.  They are a tad heavier than my last pair, but the first mile of switch-backs up-hill made me happy to have two working poles.  The climb lasted for about 30 minutes before it swept across the south facing side of the hill and switched-back down a few hundred feet.  It then took of west along the Little Beaver Creek bed.  The trail was good.  A lot of forest hiking, then changing to densely packed, wet bushes.  In some places, taller than me, leading me to worry about bears.  There were lots of berries too. Red and black huckleberries, thistle-berries, and blue berries, yum!  I tried to keep a consistent hike two hours, then break.  The first two hour stretch had me at the Perry Camps, 4.6 miles in.  I ate a small snack, and drank a liter of water.  I was being annoyed by mosquitoes, but I thought nothing of it.  They quit when I started up again.

I pushed along to where the Little Beaver Creek Trail meets the Big Beaver Creek trail and began climbing up towards Beaver Pass. Around 1:45 pm, I took another break.  I was thirsty, and had come to a good water source.  It ended up being the last water until I hit camp at 3:45 pm.  Camp looked nice, I got in and dropped my stuff.  Sitting there, I started getting annoyed with black flies.  It started fairly innocent enough, but then it got absurd.  I was looking for some solace, so I began setting up my tent.  The more still you were, the worse it got.  I would have to walk a ways before I could come back and work for about 30 seconds. I finally got my tent up, and I carefully got a book and my camp chair inside.  When I took the plunge, a few followed me in.  I was able to kill the 6~7 that got in my tent.  I glanced at my watch; it was about 4:15 pm.  I set my watch alarm for an hour, and I feel asleep.

I awoke before my alarm, but laid in my tent listening to the buzz of black flies and mosquitoes.  When my watch started going off, I made up my plan to cook dinner, and get back in my tent as soon as I could.  The next hour might be one of the worst evening with bugs I've ever had.  I was covered in cloths, including rain gear, to try and keep them from biting.  I was also moving a bit to keep them off me.  So, wearing a lot of clothes and moving, I was sweating profusely.  It took a ridiculous effort to fish out dead black flies from my pasta.  I tried to remain vigilant, but I am sure I ate one or two.  I ended up eating in my tent just to have a few minutes of peace during dinner.  I did not even clean my dishes, I just hung them with my food, and I got back in my bug free tent at 7:30 pm.  I set my watch alarms for an early morning.  I know it take me about an hour to pack, and the hike out would take at least 10 hours.  I wanted out early, so I went to sleep thinking I would break camp and be moving by 7am. 

I woke a few times in the evening, nothing out of the ordinary for me.  But I was not going to get out of my sleeping bag.  I just kept falling back asleep.  Finally at 7 I resigned to get up, and yes, the black flies were up too.  Coffee and oatmeal went down fast, and camp got packed up a little slowly.  I was walking by 8:15 am.  I figured that if I got to my car by 6:15 pm, then I would be happy.  The first hour and 45 minutes flew by.  I was going mostly down hill and stopped only because I was at Luna Creek Camp and was thirsty and hungry.  A short 15 minute break and I was walking again.  At 10:30 am, I crossed another hiker.  I realized he was the first person I had seen in about 25 hours.  I thought that was cool.  I walked on to the next camp, and took a break there too.  I remember I left 39 mile camp at 11:56 am.  Big Beaver Camp was 5.1 miles away, and I wanted to get there before 3 pm.  I knew it was 6 miles from there.  I got to the junction with Big Beaver Camp at 2, and there a sign read it was 7 miles to the car. I kept moving and took a break at the last good water about 30 minutes further south towards the car.  This was a nice long 30 minute break.  I took off my boots and changed my pair of socks.  I knew it was going to be my last break.  I took of at 2:55 pm.  The last almost three hour stretch hurt.  It was a slow up hill, but my feet were killing me.  When I got to the Ross Lake Dam, my feet were almost too sore to walk across the pavement.  I knew I was about 45 minutes from my car.  I think that was the only thing that had me keep walking. 

Orchid: Longest solo trip.

Onion: Black flies for dinner.

Picture:

Google Map