When I lived in Portland, Mike and I went for hikes most weekends that weren't cold and rainy. Since moving up here, we have hardly done any hiking due to his plantar fasciitis, ie, right heel pain. However, we had thought about going camping/hiking this weekend since I had the time off, and I received a fortuitous email from a friend in Seattle asking if we were interested in hiking together. We had all of the backpacking paraphenalia but hadn't ventured out together on such an adventure.
I wish I had a picture of us loaded down for a one night hike. My pack weighed about 30 pounds and Mike's about 40.
Due to ferry waits, Katie didn't make it over to the peninsula until mid-afternoon, which meant we didn't get to the trail-head until 3:30. We only hiked in 2.5 miles to the first camping area, but I was too pooped to keep going to the next camping area at 4.5
miles.
The next day we hiked (without our heavy packs) up to Marmot pass, allowing for a view of the Olympics, Hood Canal and even a glimpse of the Cascades. 2 marmots came out of the marmot caves to gape at us and sun themselves on the rocks.
Katie found the trail by searching online with "olympic national park" and
"huckleberries" as her key words. It was the perfect season for picking huckleberries and salmonberries and a few thimbleberries. On the way back to the car we stopped every 1/2 mile or so to pick berries. We each picked a liter of berries. We made a huckleberry sauce to go on grilled salmon. The sauce was 1 cup berries, 1/3 cup water, 1 tablespoon sugar and and juice of 1 lemon. The leftover sauce went deliciously on ice cream. Yum. An all local meal to boot.
3 days later, our legs are still sore from the hike. I discovered some muscles that haven't made their voices known in awhile. It was a good weekend.
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