Olympic Sun

I spent 4 days and 3 nights hiking on the Olympic coast. It was the most unique hiking experience of my life. It felt so wild and rugged and remote... And beautiful too. Nowhere else have I seen a comparable sky. I loved having an unobstructed view of the Pacific ocean just over my left shoulder. Its a place I will surely return to someday.

Off The Beaten Path

Whether you lose it, or just step off it, sometimes you find yourself off the beaten path.

In this case we lost the trail near the top of the mountain. At first we pressed on navigating with map & compass, but it was just too hard. We postholled in waist deep snow for an hour before we decided to turn back. By the time we found a dry spot to make camp we were totally exhausted. We had to melt snow for water, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't start a fire.

When you see huge trees in the backcountry, sometimes you feel compelled to stand next to them. These are giant Western Red Cedars and my Uncle Steve and I both jumped off the trail to check them out.

Some of you might recognize this picture as the old header to my blog. When you hike on the beach there is no trail, but getting lost is not much of a concern. In this case we were travelling north. As long as we kept the Pacific to our left we knew we were heading in the right direction.

Its a lot easier to travel cross country in the desert because there isn't much blocking your view. On this hike we were almost always within line of sight to our jeep parked just off a dirt road, and when we couldn't see the jeep, we could still see the road.

Ode to Campfires

Nothing beats a good campfire, especially when you're worn out after a long day on the trail. My Uncle Steve is a master fire builder, and is the person who taught me the tricks of the trade. One of those tricks is to start small. People have a tendency to start too big, but you need tinder in the beginning. Tiny twigs, old man's beard, pine needles, and even wood shavings all make good tinder. Once the tinder is nice and hot and burning good, you can start adding the kindling. But remember, if you throw in the bigger stuff too fast, your fire will die.

My Uncle Steve tending the fire.

This lesson is especially true in wet conditions. On the Olympic Coast I day-dreamed of the campfire. It was always wet and windy and cold. I remember our second night, all of us were soaked to the bone by the time we reached our camp, and all the wood available was soaking wet. The principles of starting a fire in the rain is the same, but it takes more time, and a heavy dose of patience. Start small, but keep it small longer than usual. Keep feeding it tiny twigs until you have a small ball of burning red coals, and then slowly start adding bigger stuff (still feed small stuff as well). If the fire is dying, get on your hands and knees and blow into the coals. Build a wall around your small fire with your kindling and larger wood. The fire will dry it out over time, and it will also help shield the fire from wind and rain. It can take a lot of time to start a fire in wet conditions, but it's definitely doable. My cousin Luke and I spent hours once trying to start a fire in the backcountry after days of rain. But our efforts paid off, and eventually the fire was so hot, anything we put in it, no matter how wet, caught flame. You'll have to constantly tend it, constantly blow on it, and constantly feed it, but it will be worth it in the end.

Steve starting small in the rain.

Building a good fire is sometimes challenging, but for me it's a lot of fun. If you arrive in camp early, building and maintaining a good fire is a fun way to just pass the time. It can also be a big morale booster, especially at the end of a long, cold, hard day. Just don't forget your lighter or waterproof matches, or at the very least Swedish Fire Steel. When I backpack I bring two 2 sources of flame, usually a small lighter and a box of waterproof matches (as a back-up) in my first aid/survival kit. Lately I've ditched the lighter in favor of Swedish Fire Steel, which when combined with good tinder will produce flame. I always bring tinder as well. Something that will easily catch a flame and burn long enough to ignite the organic tinder I add. You can find all kinds of fire starting materials at REI or any other outfitter. I just take a few cotton balls dipped in petroleum jelly. You can make them easily at home, and they are cheap and lightweight, and will immediately ignite from a spark.

Chillin' by the fire.

I leave you with my favorite campfire ever. I think Its my favorite mainly for the location, on Gem Lake in the Seven Devils. We had the lake to ourselves. It was so clear and still, and beautiful. We sat on that log and cooked trout for dinner that we caught from the same lake earlier. It was an amazing evening in the backcountry.

Sea to Desert Wildlife

Sea Anemone
You'll have to venture out at low tide to find these colorful little guys.

Short Horned Lizard
He thought he was totally camouflaged. Funny thing is, the dog walked over it, and around it, and couldn't even see it.

Purple Shore Crab
Feisty little buggers.  He did not like my camera in his face.

Desert Tarantula
Found this guy on the trail last week. Took lots of photos. This is one of my favorites. It almost looks like an old man.

Southwestern Fence Lizard
The desert has canyons, and in some of the canyons exist lush green riparian areas full of wildlife.

Herring Gull (I think)
The Olympic coast is a bird watchers paradise.

Osprey
One of my favorite birds. You'll see the Osprey just about everywhere. I took this shot on the Mogollon Rim in Arizona.

Northern Exposures 2

Coeur d' Alene River - Idaho Panhandle National Forest, ID

Selkirks - Near the Pack River

Hole-In-The-Wall -- Olympic National Park, WA

Unknown mountain poking through the clouds - Glacier National Park, MT

Solitary Man

I love nature photos, but I love photos of people in nature even more. A person in a picture can tell a story that might not be there otherwise. I can really imagine what they are thinking and feeling...

Luke looking out over Saint Mary Lake - Glacier National Park, MT

Stevie and the low tide - Olympic National Park, WA

Roby at Buttenhook Bay on Lake Pend Orielle - Farragut State Park, ID

Steve at Heart Lake - Great Burn Wilderness, MT
 ( I know I've shared this shot before, but It's one of my favorites and I had to post it again).

Northern Exposures

I don't always get around to editing all the photos I've taken over the years. Here's a few of my most recent edits. Enjoy.

Descent from Cube Iron Mountain - Lolo National Forest, Montana

Capa Alava sunset - Olympic National Park, Washington

Two Medicine region - Glacier National Park, Montana

Mountain reflection in Upper Stevens Lake - Idaho Panhandle National Forest, Idaho

Moonwalker

The coolest thing about hiking on the Olympic coast is the landscape. One minute you're trying to keep your balance on algae covered rock or slippery coral, and the next your trudging through sand. The landscape is so diverse, and so unique, sometimes you feel like you're on the moon, or some other planet.

Love the green in this shot. You are guaranteed to roll your ankle walking through this.

The best shots to take on the coast are at low tide. This is one of my favs but I can't decide if I like  it in color...

...or black and white. What do you think?

My good friend Steve. We were always racing the tide.

Little Guy

Purple Shore Crab

While hiking on the coast in Olympic National Park I saw this Purple Shore Crab. He was a little guy but he sure was pissed about me shoving my camera in his face.

The Shipwreck Coast II - The Harder They Fall

Spirits were high Friday morning as we awoke to the songs of sea birds and the ever present breathing of the mighty Pacific. We set out expecting an easier road, one devoid of ankle-spraining rocks and sock-soaking tide pools, but it was not to be. The terrain only worsened. As we continued north the already narrow strip of beach was replaced by vertical cliffs and huge boulders that forced us further out the rocky sea bed, now exposed because of the low tide.

A half-hour into our walk the gray overcast sky above opened up and started to rain. We were prepared of course. The winter months spent with weekly visits to REI produced a wealth of rain gear for me, Luke, and Uncle Steve. Stevie on the other hand wasn’t as well prepared. His rain gear consisted of a cheap plastic red poncho, and a black garbage bag for his pack cover. I was worried about his rain gear leading up to the trip. Any time I brought it up however, brought a confident “I’m not worried about the rain” reply. Now, as the rain pelted us from above I was worried about Stevie. “I should have brought an extra rain jacket just in case,” I told myself. Stevie though is from a hardy breed. Mixed Cherokee and Irish, he is one of the toughest men I’ve ever known, and true to form he never even flinched at the downpour, or showed the slightest bit of concern for himself.






The rain didn’t let up, and an hour later the rocks we had to walk across were slicker then a freshly waxed gym floor. We had to move carefully or risk spraining an ankle, or falling and breaking a bone. Despite our caution we all fell down periodically. It was amazing that none of us were hurt. We walked for hours this way; plodding along, eyes darting left and right searching for the best place to step, gingerly testing each surface with our toes before committing our full weight. Our heads were down most of the day as sightseeing gave way to path finding.

It’s said that an average hiker walks 2 miles per hour over flat ground. We were probably doing half that speed or less. As morning became afternoon we searched for a place to get out of the rain, take our packs off for a while, and have some lunch. Our only respite a small cave near a headland covered in rocks and tide pools. Only three of us would fit in the cave at a time, so we rotated.






I wanted to move. I was worried about Stevie. Under his poncho his clothes were already wet, and I could see spots of moisture on his sleeping bag. Hypothermia is the biggest killer of humans in the wild, and even though we were far from that point, I couldn’t help but feel like we needed urgently to get Stevie out of the rain before his gear was soaked, and the only way to do that was to find our camp, set up our tents, and build a fire.

After a short snack we were back at it, now however, I was on a mission. The map said our camp was close. On a large beach a couple miles ahead at a place called “Yellow Banks”, after the yellow colored cliffs on the beach head. Luke and I, rounding a small cape, came in sight of our beach, and one of the most glorious sights of our trip. The beach, to me, looked like it was straight out of King Kong or The Lost World. It was sand, mostly, with the usual piles of large deadfalls scattered about. What made this beach different were two things. First the waves were much higher than we had previously seen. They came roaring into the small bay creating tunnels like the ones you see in the surfer movies, and then exploded like a bomb when they hit the beach. The second thing was this beach had high cliffs surrounded by thick jungle. The coastal forest of the Olympic peninsula is a rainforest after all, and at the Yellow Banks is where it really lived up to that billing. The word that best comes to mind to describe the scene is “savage.”







While Luke hung back to wait for the two Steve’s, I scouted on ahead to try and locate our camp. Immediately I noticed the sky was filled with huge birds, five or six at a time flying and circling overhead. The Bald Eagle was the easy one to pick out, but there were others, at least one, and perhaps two. I am not a bird guy so it was hard to tell the species, but I think now there were the Peregrine Falcon, and maybe the Osprey or some type of hawk. Anyways, they were magnificent, and much of the time spent at Yellow Banks I watched and took pictures.



Eventually after much recon, and almost stumbling over a large seal carcass with exposed ribs, rotted flesh and bulging eyes, I discovered a nearly vertical mud trail ascending a 15 foot embankment with a rope hanging down. I grabbed the rope and hauled myself up and found a camp. It was far from ideal, but we made it work. Uncle Steve had a fire going in no time despite the utter lack of anything dry. Not long after the rain stopped, and we proceeded with the business of pitching our tents and trying to find a water source, which we found in a beautiful saddle tucked away between two steep hills…

Later that night, just before dark, Stevie decided to try his luck at Army Ranger. Grabbing the rope that led to camp he tried to repel down the embankment… Now Stevie has taken some classic tumbles in his day. I have personally witnessed Stevie take some falls that would maim and injure a normal man, and pop right up. This has to take the cake. Steve jumps backwards with rope in his hands, and the steak that the rope is tied to comes out of the ground. Head over heels backwards down the hill he goes. When he hits the bottom he rolls over rocks and deadfalls, and then jumps right up as if nothing happened. He is so lucky he wasn’t hurt. Of course, once I realized he wasn’t hurt, I laughed my ass off.

to be continued...

The Shipwreck Coast

Part I – The End of the World

I don’t know how to write such a long trip report as the one I am currently filing. I figure it would be best to break it up into parts so that the reader isn’t intimidated or bored by its length. As I post each “part” of the story I will also upload the corresponding pictures into my photo album…

The Olympic coast is called the “Shipwreck Coast” for good reason; over 180 wrecks have been documented there. With such a powerful tide, and the numerous offshore rocks and islands, it’s easy to see why. The tide seems at a never-ending war with the rocks, and the sea stacks, and the islands, and the cliffs, which are battered by the relentless waves day and night. But they stubbornly hold their ground. Despite the constant barrage, they endure, and though it may seem like a stalemate, we know that the waves are slowly winning, and over time the rocks will fall and the cliffs will crumble... It is the sound of this endless war that dominates the coast.

The coastal cannonade echoed down the shore, over Rialto Beach, and into the parking lot where we lucky four, me, Luke, his dad Steve (henceforth called Uncle Steve) and Steve Keller (henceforth called Stevie) prepared for our journey. As I watched our shuttle driver John Nelson (brother of Willie Nelson) speed away, one of my long time best friends Stevie walked up after a peek at the beach and announced, “It looks like the end of the world out there boys.” We had to raise our voices to be heard over the thunderous waves. I walked up over the hill that separated the parking lot from the beach to see for myself. The first thing I noticed was the sea. Huge and mighty and limitless, the high tide crashed against the beach and against the islands just offshore. To my left was the regal James Island standing guard over the Quileute village of La Push, where werewolves supposedly live. The other thing I noticed immediately was the trees. Apparently the Olympic coast isn’t just a graveyard for ships, as deadfalls are stacked like cordwood by the hundreds along its beaches.

We started out on foot headed north from Rialto beach. Our plan for the first day was to go 8.8 miles to our first camp at Cedar Creek. Along the way we would negotiate five points that would be impassable at high tide. The tide turned out not to be too much of a problem for us. With a custom correct map and a tide chart we could accurately predict when the tide would be low enough, and any time limits we had for passing certain points along our route. The problem was that none of us brought any type of instrument to tell the time. But even telling time was relatively simple. Using the tide chart we knew what times corresponded with the changing levels of the tide. So by physically watching the tide change in conjunction with the chart, and backed by the position and movement of the sun through the sky, we could tell the time fairly accurately, and that is exactly how we did it the entire trip.

Rialto beach is covered in sand and gravel, and trees. The deadfalls were huge and we wondered where they all came from. Some of them looked like they were 10 or 20 feet in diameter. We speculated that they could be Sequoias carried north from California a long time ago. Now I think they were giant Western Red Cedars that have fallen down on the beach from years and years of erosion. Of course, I’m no expert, that is just my guess based off of what it looked like to me, because the trees that were still standing on the forest edge were huge too, and some looked on the verge of falling over.

We started passing large sea stacks at the water’s edge. The incredible thing about these sea stacks is that these giant rocks sometimes have trees growing out of them. I don’t know how the roots take hold, but they do. Eventually we made our way to Hole in the Wall, where we were introduced to the treacherous terrain that would make this trek really difficult at times. Miles and miles of rock, covered by slime and seaweed and who-knows what else, that slowed our progress at every turn.

Crossing over these rocks at low tide, we discovered dozens of tide pools, in which we found some interesting and colorful sea life, like green sea urchins and purple starfish. Crab was the most common. I don’t know what kind they were but we saw them almost the whole way. I was surprised to see the beach was also littered with all sorts of manmade objects that must have washed ashore. We saw tires, and gas cans, and shoes, and Styrofoam containers, and fishing nets, and water bottles, and probably hundreds of buoys, which someone had tied to the roots of deadfalls in some places. It was actually quite bizarre to see so many signs of humans in a place so removed from civilization.

That first day was long and hard, but beautiful. We had eyes on the sea the whole day. Only once did we have to take an overland route because of an impassible headland. By the time we got to Cedar Creek we were all in need of a meal and good night sleep. The camp, it turned out, was the sweetest camp this side of heaven. Nestled on a hill overlooking a beautiful sand beach, it was picturesque, and we all agreed as far as camping goes, it didn’t get much better. After we made camp and had dinner, we sat on some fallen trees on the beach and watched our first sunset. They would only get better.

We all dozed off in our tents to the rhythmic sound of the waves, and dreams of an easy tomorrow… But we were mistaken. Tomorrow had its own plans, and we weren’t consulted about them.