Category: Pacific Northwest Trail

Thursday, August 25th, 2022, 0640-2010Olympic Hot Springs to Hyak Shelter, WEBO mm 1161.1, Segment 9 Olympic Mountains28 miles, Gain 7730′, Loss 8170′, elevation 1370′ I didn’t pay attention to the elevation totals for this day, since I left it up in the air as to where I was going to stop and also because I took an alternate route that wasn’t on FarOut. Calculating later and realizing the big numbers, no wonder it was such slow going. The PNT was full of 6, 7, and even 8 thousand foot days, so this was nothing new. Still, it was a long day…but beautiful! I also took some long breaks at the lakes along the way, which were very refreshing. I contemplated[…]

Wednesday, August 24th, 2022, 1200-1820Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center to Olympic Hot Springs, WEBO mm 1132.8, Section 9 Olympic Mountains21.3 miles (plus 1.5 town), Gain 2850′, Loss 5780′, elevation 2050′ I took it kind of easy in the morning and didn’t make it to the ranger station until 10 am. Luckily things went well and it took me only about half an hour to get the permits I needed. It was much easier doing it in person. Sometimes it’s challenging to plan for travel along the beach section, because of limited tide windows. But I got lucky with low tides around 8 to 9 am, meaning I had ideal conditions from 6 am through noon each day. I went with a[…]

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022, 0615-1215Upper Cameron basin to Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center, WEBO mm 1109, Section 9 Olympic Mountains17.6 miles, Gain 4960′, Loss 5140′, elevation 5250′ I was motivated by a town stop this day, so the miles came quickly despite more big passes. Eating mountains for breakfast…my favorite dish. I got a reasonable start but shortly stopped to talk with a camper near the trail. Wolverine had stayed next to him overnight, asking if he’d seen me. As we chatted, I noticed 2 juvenile deer standing a few feet away, looking like they expected something. I mentioned their noted thievery of anything salty and just then I saw an adult chewing on an article of clothing, off in the willows.[…]

Monday, August 22nd, 2022, 0640-1830Boulder Camp\Shelter to Upper Cameron, WEBO mm 1091.6, Section 9 Olympic Mtns23 miles, Gain 7360′, Loss 6900′, elevation 4270′ Mileage-wise, I thought it would be a pretty easy day. I was wrong. I did know that the passes would be super steep and they did slow me down a lot. Still, it was an incredible day and worth every bit of effort. I slept great and felt very good as I started off. I’d found an ideal system for dealing with my bear can by stuffing my quilt and thermarest inside and the rest of my clothes around it in the bottom of my pack, laying horizontally (luckily I’d been able to borrow the smaller BV450). I[…]

Sunday, August 21st, 2022, 0630-1930Mt Zion Blue alt to Boulder Camp\Shelter, WEBO mm 1074, Section 9 Olympic Mountains29 miles, Gain 7860′, Loss 4600′, elevation 5000′ My campsite was dead silent overnight..for the longest time I hadn’t heard any bird song in the mornings. It was too quiet. Had the bird all migrated south already? I picked a good spot because my tent was mostly dry when I woke up. Fog filled the air and I could hear dripping noises throughout the forest. My tree did a great job protecting me. I was off somewhat late because it was still so dark. The days had been getting rapidly shorter…it happens quickly this far north. It was barely light by 6 am now.[…]

Saturday, August 20th, 2022, 1030-1930Port Townsend to Mt Zion Blue alt, WEBO mm 1046, Section 9 Olympic Mountains20 miles, Gain 2400′, Loss 630′, elevation 1970′ I had a slow start in the morning. It was too much fun hanging out with all the other hikers. We reminisced and compared notes about the upcoming stretch. Everyone was trying to get their permits for Olympic National Park sorted out. I was glad to be done with mine…at least for the first stretch to Port Angeles. I’d only had to commit to one night. The rest of the nights could be figured out later. Baby steps. I got to meet Dan in the morning…what a wonderful character. Besides riding much of the length of[…]

Friday, August 19th, 2022, 0750-1800Dike rd to Port Townsend, WEBO mm 1020, Section 8 Puget Sound23 miles, Gain 2000′, Loss 2000′, elevation 50′ In the morning, Skip dropped us off at our respective stop locations from the day before. I guess I could have gone straight to the ferry, since it looked to be mostly road walking all day. The south end of the route takes walkers onto the beach, but is only passable during low to mid tide. I’d be reaching it on a rising tide, so was resigned to the roads. As such, I decided to take a slight alternate to connect to HWY 20 more directly, cutting off about a mile. Missing out on a trail is one[…]

Thursday, August 18th, 2022, 0750-1830Whitney junction HWY 20 to Dike rd on Whidbey Island, WEBO mm 990, Section 8 Puget Sound28 miles, Gain 3060′, Loss 3030′, elevation 20′ It ended up being a very early morning. Alarm clocks went off at 02:30 am as the Germans and Wolverine woke up and prepped for a 60 mile hike. They’d hatched the idea a few days before, wanting to set a new personal best through a road section that would allow for it. They were pretty quiet and I tried to sleep through the rustling but came up short. After a bit, I gave up and just read some stuff on my phone. They were off shortly after 3 am, when it grew[…]

Wednesday, August 17th, 2022, 0940-2000Lake Samish to Whitney junction HWY 20, then Mark’s Way cool barn, WEBO mm 959, Section 8 Puget Sound24 miles, Gain 2240′, Loss 2430′, elevation 7′ I had high hopes of getting back to hiking early in the morning. I was a fool. It’s not possible when trying to depart the Walkers, one of the strongest hiker vortexes on the planet. A hiker I know, Coyote, stayed for 4 days the previous year. But luring me on were a string of pearls…trail angels interspersed throughout the Puget Sound. Given the lack of free camping in this urban\suburban setting, it’s a very lucky and helpful thing. I had my sights set on the Way Cool Barn, a short[…]

Monday, August 15th, 2022, 0620-1300HWY 9 Hobo Camp to Lake Samish & the Walkers home, WEBO mm 935.5, Section 8 Puget Sound20 miles, Gain 3800′, Loss 3800′, elevation 515′ I slept great overnight but had some anxiety over all the road traffic, thinking about how I’d need to walk alongside it for 3 miles in the morning. The highway had little to no shoulder, tight turns, and guardrails intermittently. Huge trucks, including double trailer logging rigs, were frequently driving by, using the route to skirt the weigh stations on I-5 (as was later explained to me). A posted speed limit of 50 mph was laughable. Most traffic was traveling much above 60 mph. I waited a little bit for the light[…]