Hiking west on the South Fork of the Hoh River Trail.
At Christmas my brother-in-law asked if I wanted to go hiking in the Olympics and I jumped at the chance. I have always wanted to visit the mountain range to the west of Seattle (my unofficial “home away from home”) and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
I didn’t do a whole lot in preparation for this trip until summer rolled around. Once summer arrived I started regular visits to the local REI for equipment and advice (Thank you Ginger!) and I signed up for classes on Backpacking, Reading a Compass in the Backcountry, Wilderness Survival Skills. On the daily trips to walk the dog I started carrying a loaded backpack to help get used to carrying the weight. Finally, I ventured to Afton State Park and did some hiking and camping there. Thank goodness I did some preparation, because I had no idea what laid ahead.
In early August I loaded up my gear and flew west. We met in Portland and drove north and then west to get to the South Fork of the Hoh River Campground. Thankfully the bridge to the campground was finished and that saved us another 3.3 miles of hiking. After a “quick” stop at the campground, where I lost my wallet in the pit toilet, we were off to the trailhead and the start of a great adventure.
Within the first thirty minutes of hiking we came across a herd of Roosevelt elk and this was just the beginning. I came to be quite fond our friends the elk. They are gracious enough to create trails through the woods and river bottoms; and there is nothing better than hearing the elk call out to one another as you move through the forest. At the end of day two we stumbled across a herd that had been sunning themselves. I was so tired, that I didn’t get a good picture…
Out of focus shot of the elk getting ready to leave.
The scenery was wonderful. In the morning and the evening the fog would roll in over the mountain tops and sometimes even sink down to the valley floor. Some locations were just out of the wind enough that they seemed to always be generating fog.
Fog poured out of the same spot in that mountain almost all day.
Our first two days were blessed with sun, almost too much sun, and our last few days the sun was more “hit or miss”.
I learned a lot about second-growth forests and how the trees change as you gain altitude, but most of what I learned was about myself. There was something comforting in working so very hard and then setting up camp and having a wonderful dinner. It was fun to learn how to be more comfortable and to learn about what items I packed, that I really should have left at home.
We took some routes that I wouldn’t travel on again, and I was reminded about how much of life is your attitude and mental flexibility. At times I let the degree of difficultly beat me down a bit; but as always, there was more to the story. Good things happen if you just keep moving forward.
One of the many joys of the trip was the opportunity to refocus on what things are important to me. When I was most tired and weary my journal was a source of assistance, but the main force that kept me going was wanting to be reunited with my loving wife. Funny that a trip outside my comfort zone helped refocus me on what is important.
Hat tip here to my guide and partner in crime on the trip. I have never travelled with someone who was better at finding the trail and reading how far we could push it in one day. Amazing experience.
I also owe my wife and Oregon friends a debt of gratitude for getting my passport to Portland so that I could fly home.
It was nice to brush up the the edge of my boundaries and push them out a bit. I am a better man for having walked in the woods.
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