Nick's Blog

We decided to combine a trip to visit some friends of ours in Tahuya on Saturday and be a little closer to the Olympics for a good hike on Sunday.  So after a late start Sunday morning, we made our way up to the trailhead for the Lower South Fork Skokomish River Trail along FS2353 in the Olympic National Forest.  Although we had hoped for the same kind of mostly-sunny weather we had the day before at Deception Pass, we were not disappointed to find foggy vistas on our way. At the trailhead, we quickly sorted out out ten essentials.  The hardest part was picking which foodstuffs we would take with us for our lunch.  We signed the trail register and I took note of the "Couger sightings" notice on the kiosk before starting the climb up the hill into the river basin. Trails that start out instantly uphill are the damnedest thing.  No time to warm up the lungs or ligaments... just straight into it.  Several hundred feet later though, and we ha...

Jenny and I joined The Mountaineers and this was our first outing with the group.  We picked up our assigned carpool rider and met the group at the  Sharpe Park trailhead at 9am.  After a brief introduction, we set off towards the bluffs.  It looked like it would be another soggy day but before long we were seeing rays of sunlight peeking through the heavy forest canopy.  We transited to the second half of our trip, Deception Pass State Park, and by now the sun was fully out.  As you can see from the photos, this is an extremely beautiful place, with stunning views of Whidbey Island, The San Juan Islands, Olympic Mountains, and Deception Pass itself.  A kayak would be fun here, as there were countless coves to explore. Photos can be seen HERE .

Not wanting to limit ourselves to hills alone, we decided to see what a hike along one of the many scenic shore areas of Washington would be like.  Consulting our copy of Dayhikes On The Olympic Peninsula, we chose Dungeness Spit right at the NE corner of the peninsula and plotted our course.  The views from the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry hinted at the views we'd have for the rest of the day. Once we got on the trail, we soon realized it was going to be something of a sand slog along this 5.5mi spit of shore that protrudes deep into the Straight of Juan de Fuca.  We were instantly gratified with a beautiful view of Mount Baker far in the distance.  Our target was the lighthouse at the end.  After a couple hours of skipping stones, pointing out sea birds, and inspecting the myriad things washed up on the shore, we arrived at the end.  We were greeted by the lighthouse keeper who gave us a tour and several minutes in the top of the lighthouse. Looking back to...

Looking for something quick and easy to access from Seattle, Jenny and I drove up to North Bend with the  intent to do Rattlesnake Mountain.  When we got there though, we were somehow drawn to Little Si, which Jenny had been wanting to do since September.  So on to Little Si we went.  We had bluebird weather and very reasonable temperatures.  At the summit, we found outstanding views of Mount Si as well as the Snoqualmie River valley towards Seattle.  Feeling spry on the way down, we opted to add the Boulder Garden loop which roughly doubled our elevation gain for the day and took us through some stunning forest scenes.  We spotted a few places with evidence of sport climbing and noted them for summer use once things dry out.  A great day out! More photos can be seen  HERE .

Well, some of you asked for it so here it is. The hot link to all my trip reports, photo galleries, road trips, outings, and pontifications. Now, just what will it take to get my parents to use an rss reader?