as seen from behind by Jack M

May 7, 2010

Hi Hikers,

The weather was not forecasted to be a great day for hiking, but what’s a few showers? We were dumped on by heavy rain at our morning Quilcene Ranger Station stop. Some thoughts of splitting the day hanging out at the Ranger Station and the TWANA Cafe were squelched by, “Let’s see what it is like at the trailhead”.

I have not hiked for a month and a half and was feeling comfortable with that. There is motivation in this famous quote from Bob Moawad:

"You can’t make footprints in the sands of time if you are sitting on your butt. And who wants to make butt prints in the sands of time"

Trailhead was not bad, heavy overcast, 47° F, light mist. The question then was: "Dress light to dry quick or wear rain gear - sweat - and suffer heat exhaustion". You will see in the pictures that our lead Goats wore the least.

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Goats Notes, Lower Big Quilcene River

by Gunda Meissner

April 19, 2010

Monday Hikers and friends,

The closeness of the trail (in contrast to prior week’s hike to Mt. Muller) brought out many goats from their winter hibernation – 22 of them – having shunned their snowshoes and micro spikes for lighter summer gear, met in Poulsbo to carpool to the trail head.

This 6.2 mile long trail roughly follows the Quilcene River. It starts high above the river on an old roadbed at an elevation of 1400 feet. The trail climbs a mere 1200 feet in its journey. Walking is fast and easy on this well-groomed and well-graded path. After a slight descent in the first mile the trail enters a steep-walled canyon. (more…)