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Olympus Guard Station, Olympic National Park
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"The Olympics are calling us 'J'.", My friend and colleague said. Bob, better known as "Uncle Bobby", mentioned the Olympic National Forest from time to time and suggested that we take a few days trying out some real backpacking. Bob has had a lot of experience over the years and knows what areas are the best for whatever it is you are searching for. This weekend, I was searching for adventure. We left at noon, racing up towards the Hoh Ranger Station and the beginning of our adventure. We quickly passed Peak6, an outdoor equipment store, on our way to the trailhead.
At 35 pounds, my pack was not light, but it was lighter than I even had it for an overnight backpacking trip. After shouldering our packs, we led out at a rather accelerated pace, trying to make Happy Four Campground before dark. Bob thought things have changed since he was last here at the HOH as massive sections of the trail were gone, scattered down river. Dozens of huge trees were piled everywhere along the river's bed with their root balls still intact. Something was very wrong.
The seasonal springs looked unharmed though as just the river held the picture of devastation. We made it to the Happy Four Shelter with time to spare. A discussion was in order since both of us had a bit of energy left and did not want to stop just yet. We decided to take a small break and then try for Olympus tonight. I have done a bit of night hiking, more in fact than Bob had, and was confident we would find it, even in the dark.
About 30 minutes after it grew dark, it started to rain. We pushed on, keeping our pace consistent. Bob was growing tired as I was too. It was hard to even know where you are in the dark as many things have changed since Bob was here last. After a few precarious creek crossings along with a forbidding log crossing, all in pitch black of night, we hobbled across the Olympus Guard Station's shelter. "This is it. Damn! We made it.", Bobby said with relief. We quickly made dinner while changing into dry clothes. After dinner, we wandered around, looking for somewhere to set up our respective shelters for the night. As some of the sites had been washed away, we could not find a legitimate campsite, so we just chose the meadow. Sleep came soon for both of us as I was so tired, I drifted without thought.
In the morning, the skies were clear and blue. It was cold out as I donned my fleece and made my way out of my tent. With Bob still asleep, I decided to have a look around to see what I couldn't last night. It amazed me. The fact that you have a six foot field of vision for so long, I got used to it. Now, I can see all I could not last night; odd feeling this was to me. I quickly found a place to move my tent to, out of the meadow, away from all the elk scat.
I chose a place along the river, with a nice view right outside my door. I moved all my gear after getting my tent set up as best I could on the semi-even ground. I liked this place as there was no body else around to disturb the pristine calm.
After setting up my camp, I gathered a bit of firewood. There is no shortage of wood here in the rain forest. The hardest thing to do is finding dry wood. About 30 minutes later, I wandered over to Bob's tent, still in the meadow, to see if he had awakened yet. He had as he was shaking his head outside his tent. He was thinking how different things were and was confused by the lack of wildlife.
Last time Bob was here, elk were within 5 feet of his tent. By all the scat laying around, I do not doubt it. It was truly a mess. I wandered around after telling Bob of the campsite I found, which he loved and proceeded to move his tent and gear. I saw a sign that sent only a slight chilling up my spine. I know there have been bear where I usually go hiking, but they are rare in areas that allow hunting. Here, they are free to roam as this is their backyard.
Glancing to my right, I spotted the shelter that allowed us to change and make dinner out of the rain last night. It was a cute, if simple shelter, complete with bunks. It gave me the odd feeling of companionship as I have never seen a shelter in the wild before.
Bob was over enjoying the fire with his tent now all set up. He truly loved the site selection as we hashed over plans for the day. My feet were rather tired still as that was the most mileage I have ever put on them with that much weight. Speaking of weight, I could also stand to lose about 40 pounds as well as I am sure that would help my barking dogs.
Bob had quite a view out as we packed up minimal things to make our way up the valley. The plan for today was to hit up the High Hoh Bridge, where the Glacier and Martin creeks make their way into the Hoh River. On a day like this, nothing could be poorly planned as just being here was a privilege.
We sloshed our way up the muddy valley floor, admiring views when they came out to greet us from behind the thick canopy of the rain forest. I knew it was cold last night but I did not know the freezing level was so close as the snow was visible in the surrounding hillsides.
We soon passed the Hoh Lake Trail. While making our way up the valley, we spotted the burn area of the Hoh Lake Fire of 1978. To see an area so barren after hiking in such a rich and life-filled valley such as this, it makes one feel a bit blue. Knowing that it will bounce back without any human intervention makes one feel better.
We stopped to take a break and admire the scenery. I could not believe the amount of trees left on the river's bed. Some were small, but some were simply enormous. We soaked up the sun as there was nowhere we needed to be any time soon.
Sometime we were blessed with bridges over the sloppy mess of a trail. Thick mud on both sides of the path promised stolen boots to anyone careless enough to trample off the wooden walkway.
A couple hours after leaving, we arrived at the bridge, complete with humming birds, sun, and nothing else to do but lie around. We stripped down to shorts to soak up some rays as the sun hit us full on. 30 minutes later, lunch.
With views taken in and fully sun bathed, we made lunch, afterwards headed back to camp for a big dinner, big fire, and a full nights sleep. Bob was still perplexed as he has not seen one shred of wildlife yet.
Morning came too quickly as we struck camp in the chilled morning air. I was looking forward to the hike out as there were many features of the terrain we could not see during the black hike in.
The log we crossed during the hike in seemed much farther up from the creek than it actually was. It was still a dangerous crossing as it was very wet at the time and a slip could have resulted in a broken something.
Finally, I saw some wildlife. Although not what I was expecting, it was good to see anyway. My dogs were barking once more as we stopped frequently to rest my weary feet.
With only a few short miles to go, we started passing many day hikers. We stopped before we got any closer to the trailhead to admire the little details of the rain forest. It gets inside you, this park. The Olympic forests are wondrous places to visit. The only requirement is having enough time to actually take in what nature is trying to accomplish.
I was glad I came along on this trip. On the way out, we found out why everything seemed so out of place. October of 2003, there was a huge amount of rainfall that melted all of the upper slope's snow pack. The massive amounts of rain caused historic flooding throughout the park, driving the local wildlife father up into the foothills.
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