Elevation Gain: Approximately 150 ft.
Time: 11:30 am - 3:30 pm
Weather: Cold, mostly cloudy, brief sun break early on the hike.
Life never ceases to amaze me. I have gone through the full spectrum of emotions in the last three weeks. When I think back to 21 days ago, I was on trails in Mount Rainier, celebrating my birthday with friends, and joyous at the gift that would be more time on this planet with the people in my life. The next two hikes with my friend Erin on the Olypmic peninsula, I must confess were more than a "hike with a friend," at least for me. After two beautiful hikes with Erin, a few conversations, and a lot of daydreaming in my head over the last 14 days, the emotional roller coaster of life has been in full swing. Late this last Friday night, it became obvious that my hikes with Erin will from now on just be hikes with a good friend. That same day, there was a terrible plane crash involving two coaches at my alma mater, Oklahoma State. While I did not know them, my sister who works for Oklahoma State, did. Add to this that only minutes prior to my conversation with Erin Friday, Oklahoma State had its dream of an undefeated football season dashed on national television.
When I woke up Saturday morning, I felt like a wreck, like a ton of emotional baggage. I had a few things to do, since I was taking kids from my school this week on a hike. Thank God for that! I was close to canceling this hike during the week for a variety of reasons: the weather was supposed to be so cold Friday the roads were going to be icy in the morning, I didn't have a co-leader that could join me, I did not want to take kids with me so I could go "hike with a friend" in Port Angeles, etc. On Friday, it was clear many kids wanted to go, so I scrambled and asked several people go with me. Finally got a friend and co-wilderness instructor to agree to come, and I blasted out the details to the club in an email. The plan was to meet at 9 am, by then the icy roads will hopefully be dry enough. We were going to hike the Dungeness Spit, a 5 mile thin strip of beach that jets out into the Straight of Juan de Fuca formed by the Dungeness river depositing silt and runoff in the Pacific. This hike would make the snow a non-issue.
I was at the meeting place early, and I waited. As I waited, I got an email from one of the five kids who said he was going, and he couldn't make it. Then three other kids got there, and at 9:15 am my co-leader and a student weren't there. Now for those of you that don't live in the PNW, when I tell people we are meeting at 9, I mean we will meet at 9 and leave at 9:15. People around here have a little bit different sense of what it means to be "on time." I don't know why my friend or student did not make it. I did not have my friend's cell number, so we waited until 9:20am then left. I normally would not take kids on a hike without another adult, but I have hiked numerous times with 2 of the three, and the other is Gil's son, my colleague who I have been hiking with a lot in the last year. I also knew the other kids parents really well, so I did not think there would be an issue.
We were at the trailhead by 11:15 am. We geared up and were walking by 11:26 am. When we got to the beach there was a huge crowd, and the beach was a thin, narrow strip. It appeared that the tide was moving out. I should have checked the tides before I picked this hike, but we were here now. I hiked in silence most of the day. The clouds were low, fluffy, and dark over the ocean, but there was no weather. Looking back to the south, you could see parts of the Olympics through the shroud of the fog and cloud cover. There were higher clouds moving north, down over the peaks. Sunlight was streaming through the cloud layers. The ocean in its rhythmic ebb and flow was slowly moving out as I walked along the coast. In these moments, I realized how life never changes only our perceptions do. No matter what I am dealing with, the sun will always break through dark clouds. No matter how my heart might ache, the tides will always go out and come back. And no matter who I am not with despite thinking I should be, life is still worthwhile.
We were at the lighthouse, 5.5 miles from the trailhead at 1:11 pm. A lunch break on the beach and a tour of the lighthouse had us walking back to the car at 1:50 pm. We were booking it on the sandy stretch of coast that had been hidden by the morning's high tide. We were back at the car by 3:20 pm. We were averaging 17 minute miles.
Orchid: Therapy session with Mother Nature.
Onion: Hard to put in words, but I know what it is.
Picture:
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