Barefooting the Ozette

Barefoot Jake

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Barefooting the Ozette

Barefooting the Ozette

I was born to be Outside. So when a friend wanted to plan an Adventure to the Coast and looked at the Weather Forecast. I got really excited and day dreamed for days about a much needed relaxing time on the Beach. I will admit I don’t much like the Coast in the Summer for the high numbers of Backpackers. I also have never stayed 2 nights in one Camp since the 90’s. The chance to play in a Photographers Playground.

I for sure couldn’t pass up the chance. Seems like every square inch there is some form of Life happening.

Trail in is over 90% Board Walk made up of new, old and really old planks that have been in place for probably longer than I have been born. Figured this would be a perfect opportunity to to break in my Luna ATS Huaraches further.

Felt great to let the feet air out, perfect Sole Pattern and the Thickness still gave me ground feel. The lacing system is a great idea, but i feel that they can be tweaked just a bit to make an Epic Backpacking Tool.

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Elwha Lakebeds with the Klahhane Hiking Club

By Bret Wirta-The Incidental Explorer

Distance: a couple of miles – Time out: 4 hours

Degree of Difficulty: 2 – Pet Friendly: No

April 11th 2012

Bret and Lake Mills waterfall

Bret and Lake Mills waterfall

I hiked with the Klahhane Hiking Club again, but instead of climbing up to a mountain pass we hiked down to dry lakebeds on the Elwha River. The reason the lakebeds are dry is because, here, in Olympic National Park, the largest dam removal project in the country is almost complete. The 108-foot tall Elwha dam has been completely removed and most of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam is gone. The result – the almost century-old reservoirs that flooded huge sections of the Elwha River Valley have drained away. Last year, my wife Trisha and I hosted some of the “Celebrate Elwha!” festivities that culminated in the dam removal ceremony on September 17th. Now, I wanted to see what progress was like.

First we visited the former Lake Mills. We reached the upper Lake Mills trailhead along the Whiskey Bend Road. The trail down to the river valley was a short half-mile but a steep 500 feet. Crushed stone had been shoveled onto the more muddy sections so the trail was easily passable. We heard the drumming of a grouse along the way. As I walked down toward the river, I considered what I’d find. Would there be the remains of water-logged fishing cabins or ramshackle tourist lodges that used to dot the Olympics before paved roads? My mind began to race. I dimly recalled a children’s story where a Chinese brother swallowed the sea so his companion could gather up all the treasure that l lay about. Like the storybook companion, would I find flopping fish and sunken ships?

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Griff Creek with the Klahhane Hiking Club

By Bret Wirta-The Incidental Explorer

Distance: 6 miles round-trip – Time out: 5 hours

Degree of Difficulty: 2 – Pet Friendly: No

April 4th 2012

Griff Creek is a short trail but provides the hiker a wide variety of terrain and weather. It is a steep trail that gains around 3,000 feet of elevation in just three miles. The trailhead is located in back of the Elwha Ranger Station. There is a parking lot in the front next to the road. The Elwha Ranger station is located in the Elwha River Valley and so is only at about 350 feet in elevation. The station was built back in the 1930’s and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Trailhead is in back of the ranger station

Trailhead is in back of the ranger station

I was hiking with the Klahhane Hiking Club again. They are a hiking club organized back in 1915. It was my second hike with the group. To become a member I need to keep up with them on six hikes and then lead a hike on my own. For this hike up the Griff Creek Trail a half dozen of us started up though the mud, moss and ferns and in the shadows. After a mile or so the forest thins and mosses carpet the ground. Though the trees we glimpsed what was left of Lake Mills and the Glines Canyon Dam. We could see the crane that was dismantling the dam towering over the trees.

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Hiking Deer Ridge with the Klahhane Club

By Bret Wirta-The Incidental Explorer

Distance: 10 miles round trip – Time out: 5 hours

Degree of Difficulty: 2 – Pet Friendly: Yes

March 8th 2012.

The Klahhane Hiking Club is an Olympic Peninsula-based hiking club. The club hikes regularly all year long. I was invited to join the group for a hike, but I was a bit nervous as I don’t head into the forest much in the winter. I bought a pair of micro-spikes and gators for my hiking boots and lashed my snowshoes to my daypack. My equipment ready, I met the group, ready for a snowy adventure.

We started up the frozen trail around 10am. Though it had snowed recently, there was just a skiff of snow on the trail. There was more snow on the last few miles of road than at the trailhead. Our four-wheel drive bottomed out a few times on the last mile of rutty road. The light snow on the frozen trail was slippery, so I pulled on my micro-spikes.

The group told me that the Klahhane Club, like the Sierra Club in California, the Mazamas in Oregon, and the Mountaineers in Seattle, is an old hiking club. The Klahhanes trace their beginnings back to 1915. In Chinook jargon, Klahhane means, “Good times outdoors.” They even have a cabin of their own at Olympic National Park.

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Reclamation and Renewal on the Dosewallips

This entry was from the 2011 Celebrate Elwha! Writers Contest.

I think it’s a wonderful narrative and it makes me want to head

right up the Dosewallips! – The Incidental Explorer.

Story and photos by Mary Ann Kae

Road ends at the river washout

Road ends at the river washout

If you crave solitude on a day hike, it’s not difficult to find in the Olympics if you can work the geography, weather and calendar to your advantage. Head out on an off-season, mid-week day with the forecast threatening showers, and pick a destination in the Olympic rain shadow, where it’s likely to be driest. This strategy worked well on a recent pre-Memorial Day excursion to Quilcene.

The plan was to introduce my friend Yeshe to the Dosewallips River valley and see the transformations wrought by the 2002 flood which had washed out the road about three miles from the park boundary and the lightning fire in 2009 that obliterated the Lake Constance trail.

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White Water Rafting on the Elwha River

05_26_11

By Cara Patten

White Water Rafting on the Elwha River Pt1

I arrived at Olympic Raft and Kayak with three of my best friends for a day of whitewater rafting on the Elwha River. My nerves concentrated with anxiety and excitement. As the weather of Western Washington so often disappoints, we donned wet suits, rain coats and water shoes to combat the cold and windy, yet beautifully sunny day. After being fitted for life jackets and taking pictures of our ridiculously insulated selves, we were given instructions on rafting etiquette and set off for the river.

After a short drive, we pulled over and boarded the rafts, commencing the journey with our tour guide, Heather, taking up the steering at the back of the raft. After realizing that the Class II+ rapids which we were riding were not nearly the thrashing, murderous waves I imagined, I began to relax and enjoy the scenery. We were surrounded by forests of dense, green trees set against a background of snowcapped peaks of the Olympic Mountains, Mount Carrie appearing prominent and picturesque. The Mount Carrie glacier is responsible for the icy, yet clear and strikingly turquoise water of the Elwha River.

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Copper Creek Staircase

04_04_11

by Jim and Neil

Thanks Gary, whom is streaking past the trail sign below

Thanks Gary, whom is streaking past the trail sign below

April 4, 2011 began in Bremerton as a gray rainy day. The appointed carpool location was
Bremerton airport. Four goats were there ready to go and gathered in a car to stay out of the rain.(ok, maybe we felt we were nuts!) All ready to go at the appointed 8:00 (ok, maybe it was 7:56) – so we left.

Drive to Staircase and Copper Creek was uneventful though with windshield wipers in force. And, because of snow, rain, fatigue of stomping to our knees, we turned back before the top, saving that stretch for another spring day of the future.

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Lady Washington-Part Four (Wednesday)

Wednesday Morning March 15th, Crossing the Bar at Eureka into Humboldt Bay

Read Part Three HERE.

Eureka Harbor

I awoke just as I was skidding out of my berth and into space. I grabbed the edge of the trim above me before I crashed to the floor. We were rolling in twenty foot swells. Shauna cursed as a dozen eggs leapt out of their bowl splattering all over the galley. Because of the storm’s strong southerly winds we had arrived off the coast at Eureka full day ahead of schedule. Just ahead of us was the shelter of Humboldt Bay. But first we had to cross over the bar of sand that guarded the harbor entrance, the graveyard of many ships.

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Lady Washington-Part Three (Tuesday)

Tuesday Morning, March 15th, Sailing on the open sea.

Read Part Two HERE.

Crew on deck in choppy sea

I was jolted awake by the chief engineer, flying shards of his coffee mug and a wave of seawater all crashing down the galley ladder in a jumble. It was raining hard and the ship was rocking in ten to fifteen foot swells. All was wet and slippery. Shauna, the cook, had made breakfast in between bouts of seasickness. The good news was that theses gusty winds and giant waves from the south meant we were sailing fast! At this rate we’d reach Eureka well ahead of schedule.

There had been no cell phone reception because we were so far from land, but in the middle of the night I had received a burst of text messages and emails. One spam message, "Morning Psalm 34" said, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” I paused. It was easy to understand why sailors of old were either superstitious, religious or both; you need somebody by your side in the stormy sea. Suddenly, our fog-horn bellowed. I saved the email and climbed the ladder to the deck.

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