When heat hits the Pacific Northwest, people flock to the lakes and higher elevations. Most homes do not have air conditioning – nor have they needed it, until recent climate change. That’s why we escaped Bremerton to backpack in the Olympic National Forest at the end of June. We chose the Gray Wolf trail for two reasons: it was a moderate trail that was somewhat higher than sea level and Kona, our dog, could come with us. You can follow along in our Youtube channel:
Backpacking with Kona (our dog)
I’d like to say that all dogs can backpack with their humans, depending on their temperament. Kona loves to come with us everywhere we go, hiking no exception. However, pets are generally not allowed on the trails in National Parks. Thankfully, the National Forest does allow pets.
Kona is in really good shape. I take him running with me and he hikes with us when we aren’t in the National Park. We rolled the dice, though, on whether he could carry his own food and water on his first trip, as we had never practiced with him before. We were fully prepared to have to carry his pack if needed.
We bought a pack for him at Sierra, which is like TJ Maxx or Marshalls for outdoor gear. However, we only found out once we were home that a buckle was broken. We decided to brave it, though the pack did not turn out to be a good fit after all. Kona did not mind, but it was annoying for us to readjust the pack often.
After this first lesson learned, we bought Kona a Roughwear pack from REI. He tried it on the store and walked around with 10lbs of weight in the store while we shopped, and it was a great fit. We’re super excited to try it out in the wild.
We’ve read that your pup should not carry more than 30% of its weight. If it’s your first time hiking with your pup, try with just a small water bottle or some treats first. Kona weighs 90lbs, so theoretically he could take up to 30lbs. With a 10lb weighted pack, he should be able to carry water and food for one night on the trail, assuming water sources are available for filtering and filling bottles.
Hiking in the Heat
The day we set out, the outside air temp was exceeding 100F down on the Puget Sound. Up at the trailhead, the temp was about 90-95F, so a little cooler. However, in the forest, it was humid and we were sweating like crazy.
We took the Slab Camp trail down from the trailhead to the Gray Wolf River. The lower Gray Wolf Trail is closed due to a bridge wash out over the river. However, the Upper Gray Wolf Trail is open. The step descent made us groan, thinking of climbing out in the heat the following day.
The river was full and fast but provided an excellent source of water for us to filter and refill our bottles. Though many seasonal streams shown on our trail map were dry, this river was a force of nature.
To prepare for the heat, Phil and I carried out 2L hydration packs in our backpacks, plus two extra 1L bottles each. Kona carried two, 1L bottles for himself. We went through 3Ls each before reaching our camp, Slide Camp.
Always Carry a Topographic Map
From our Dungeness Trail hike, I learned that you definitely need an accurate, physical copy of a map with you when you hike. I had saved a map to my phone, but it did not show geographic features to help really guide us. Though my phone can last more than a day on the trail and I always carry battery backups, accidents can and do happen, and you should never rely just on a digital map to get you home.
The map we chose was fairly accurate, but we found that our phones and fitness watches actually estimated the distance to be about 10% longer than we expected. From the map, we thought the Slide Camp we planned to camp at was about 5.4 miles from the trail head. Our phones and fitness trackers showed more like 6-6.5 miles.
Because the camps are not always marked, we were worried we had overshot the camp. The camp was supposed to be along a creek to serve as a water source. However, since the weather had been warm and dry, we worried that the creek might be dry and we would have walked past it without realizing it. We lucked out, though, and the small creek had running water and we managed to find the camp, but having the map was crucial.
Alone in the Woods
Until this trip, we had always camped in locations where other people were camping. This camp was isolated and not very popular. We were completely alone, no other people for several miles around us. We took extra precautions for a triangle of bear safety, storing our bear vault 70 paces from our tent and cooking 70 paces away from both the vault and the tent, downwind.
During the night, we definitely heard an animal walk along the creek near our tent. Thankfully, we were undisturbed and Kona never even woofed.
The next morning, we made coffee and breakfast in the coolness under the trees. As we relaxed and packed, the shadow of the mountains receded, reminding us that we needed to beat the heat out of the valley.
