In Olympic NP, i drove as much of Hurricane Ridge as they would let me. Again with the RV length limitations! That was out and back, and i went west along the coastal road. I’d wanted to visit Cape Flattery, but the native reservation prohibits alcohol and i didn’t want to dump out what i had, so i stayed in a forested recreation area.
The peninsula has a relatively inconvenient road layout, and there’s no real through or loop road, so i did another out and back to Ozette, a town on the west coast. I did a triangle hike, which is three miles out, then three miles along the beach, then three miles back. I added a couple miles of additional wandering and ended with 11.5 miles total. The beach hike was tiring but beautiful. The coast is rocky, with hundreds of giant driftwood trees, blanched from sun and water. There are tiny crabs in the water, and dozens of tiny islands jutting out, including one with a hole that i could see through. I took lots of pictures, and only some were excuses to rest, and plodded through the shifting sand and rock in my hiking boots.
Along that route, above the high tide line are lots of tent campsites, at which were a lot of dangling buoys and driftwood boards. These flotsam swings also gave my feet occasional rests.
The other six miles of the triangle shaped loop trail were through a low wet area, nearly counting as swampland. Most of the path was very thick old boardwalks, slowly rotting in the wet climate. More than a few had broken through and i tread lightly, counting my paces to judge distance. For me 1000 paces is close enough to a mile to be a useful measurement, at least on the easy boardwalk terrain.
From there i went to another trailhead and had a quiet night.
The next day i ended up driving all the way to Seattle, and met up with an old friend of mine. Old, as in we met in third grade, though that makes us both old by the same measure. I crashed his date on short notice and the three of us toured some local galleries and ate sushi. I had the chef’s choice, which was one of each of a dozen Nigri. I was amused that the place was named Matsu, which has significance in the samurai-themed RPG I’m currently running.
I found a flat parking spot near Freemont and met up with my girlfriend for breakfast. We hung out and caught up.
Saturday we went to Mount Rainier NP, hoping to get a campsite and hike, but the area we targeted was too popular and after an hour wait in traffic we were turned around completely. We found a campsite by a river, in the national forest outside the NP, and had a relaxing day playing in the cold stream. In the morning we got up early and drove into the day use area of our earlier target. We had breakfast and coffee and started a hike up the river towards the titular peak. Later we expect to drive the Sunrise road, to get nice views from the power of diesel rather than legs.
She wanted to swap out for a different pack, and since the trail is short and safe i sat down to write while she went back to the RV. I managed to write all of this so far, so if she doesn’t show up soon I will be walking back to see if she’s ok.
OK, it’s now the Thursday after, so I’ll sum up: brutal challenging hike where i ended up way off trail sliding down volcanic scree. Saw glaciers from a ridge though, and didn’t die, so that was a success. Good food and company in Seattle. Drove to Portland and had dinner with a coworker/friend. Went to the largest independent bookstore and bought more books to not read. Meeting up with a childhood friend at his farm tonight.
H
Hoyle talks about things