Laurabelle’s Blog

After my last hike in the north Olympics, my dad wrote me an email.

From: Dad
To: Laura

Laura,

I just did your blog. Spectacular scenery. I wish I had a chance
to take such a hike.  I'm glad that you are safe.

Dad

I replied:

From: Laura
To: Dad

We should take you hiking the next time you're up here.  There are some
really spectacular day hikes at Mount Rainier, and there are also some
really pretty hikes that would be good for an overnight.  Jeff and I
have an extra tent (Jeff even has a bivy-sack, lighter than a tent), and
you could rent a backpack, sleeping bag, and pad at REI.

I think you should plan a hiking vacation up here... maybe sooner rather
than later because Jeff and I might move away from Seattle.

Mom is welcome to come, obviously, but I don't know if she would be as
keen on hiking as the rest of us.

lbm.

From: Dad
To: Laura

Mom would be LESS keen!

I am savoring the invite.

Dad

That was at the beginning of June, and I kind of figured Dad wouldn’t make it up here any time soon, but I was wrong! About a month ago he called me up and suggested flying up here for Labor Day weekend, so I said sure. I was tempted to pick an easy hike, like Lower Lena, but I knew it would be crowded on the holiday weekend. I suggested Heather Park, the hike that Dad was so enthusiastic about in the first place, and he said he thought he could do it.

Jeff and I hiked to Upper Lena Lake on August 20-22, sort of on a whim. I say sort of because Jeff had wanted to make this trip for a while. On the other hand, this specific trip was not planned more than about 2 days in advance, and I hadn’t yet found our hiking maps after the move. If I had looked more carefully and not trusted in Jeff’s memory, I might have been more careful about committing myself.

I don’t mean that there were any nasty surprises on the trail; there was just a lot of Up. It was almost more than I could bear. The trail’s about 7.5 miles, fairly gentle for the first half and then progressively steeper. One stretch involves scrambling up rocks, and towards the end there are some evil, steep and treacherous switchbacks up a sloping meadow. By the time we got to that point, I was just about ready to drop. (Ooooh, rocky trail, so comfortable…)

But the scenery at the top was worth it.

Last weekend Jeff and I went to Flapjack Lakes. It's a 16-mile hike, 8 miles in and 8 miles out. It's somewhat like the Heather Park trail in that it's a relentless slope (never a downward step on the way in). Although it takes 8 miles to gain about 3200 feet, almost all that gain is in the last 4 miles, just like Heather Park.

Like our previous hike, the drama started the night before. (I broke the frame of my glasses the evening before we left for Heather Park.) I had a headache most of the evening, and in the middle of the night I got up for some aspirin and then was sick. Still, I was determined not to let it stop me, and in fact I felt better almost as soon as I set foot on the trail.

Remember how good Jeff and I are about misjudging our hikes? (Witness Lena Lake, Mount Rainier, and Annette Lake.) We did it again—but I’ll get to that later.

This weekend’s hike was in Olympic National Park, just south of Port Angeles. There, three connecting trails form a loop that winds up and over mountain ridges for most of its length, affording spectacular views to the north, east, and south. The plan was as follows:

• Saturday: Heart of the Hills to Heather Park (4 miles, steady ascent, ~3500 feet elevation gain)
• Sunday: Heather Park to Lake Angeles along the Klahhane Ridge (~4.5 miles, up and down over the ridge with a net descent to the lake)
• Monday: Lake Angeles back down to Heart of the Hills (~3.5 miles, gently downhill)

Unfortunately I can’t point you at a map, but I had one, and it sure seemed like a good plan. We could have gone around the loop in the other direction, but I figured that it would be better to get the worst over on the first day. That way, the second and third days would be relatively easy.

The catch is that maps don’t tell you everything. Neither do guide books.

Yesterday Jeff and I went back to Lower Lena Lake. The weather had been sunny for the last six weeks, so we assumed we didn’t need to worry much about rain. Think again, roared Mother Nature. The water poured down in buckets.

Not that we minded (much). Washington is already in an official drought emergency this year, so we were overjoyed to see rain. The woods and and the lake were beautiful in the rain and mist, and the only people we saw on the trail were nutjobs like ourselves.

I wouldn’t have been half as happy if it weren’t for my gear. (Even though we didn’t expect rain, we had prepared for it anyway. Thank heaven for over-preparedness.) My new rain hat, which I had bought mainly for its sun-blocking potential, kept my head (and more importantly, my glasses) perfectly dry. My extra-dorky poncho covered my body and pack, earning the envy of Jeff, who became ever-more soaked during our hike. New nylon pants, while not exactly waterproof, politely refused to absorb any water. Last but not least, my weather-proofed boots allowed me to slosh with complete impunity through the running water on the trail. (Jeff, whose boots needed to be re-treated, played the rock-hopping game in an attempt to keep his feet somewhat dry.) On the other hand, I envied his wool gloves, which kept his hands warm even though they were completely soaked. Luckily I know where he got them. ;-)

We carried our full packs up the trail, in the hope that the weather would turn. Since it didn’t, we turned around and headed back down to the car again. This made it a harder hike than we had planned, and my feet were toast by the time we got back down. Nevertheless, I’m glad that we went and that we carried our packs with us. It was good training for the next hike, and in any case, the weather would surely have turned once it was too late to change our mind.

Oh, and still no pictures. The camera isn’t waterproof, so I left it in the car. Maybe next time! (There will be a next time.)