The more I visit the Olympic National Park, the more I consider it one of the forgotten National Parks, especially visiting Lake Quinault during the late winter/early spring. Compared to other popular parks, the Olympic NP is a sprawling, untamed wilderness, barely eeked back from the devouring rainforest every season. Lake Quinault experiences its own…
The Olympic National Park is known for its wilderness and staggering beauty. The park is huge, encompassing much of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. The South Olympic Coast is just a small portion of the Park. Not many realize, though, that the park is not continuous. One portion of the park contains the Hoh Rainforest,…
Every beginner backpacker should learn the “Ten Essentials.” With these ten essentials covered, any new backpacker should be comfortable along the trail. In this post, I’ll cover why the ten essentials exist, who created this list, and what the list includes. Why Ten Essentials for Backpacking? Beginner backpackers tend to overpack or underpack. They don’t…
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…
Over Memorial Day Weekend, we backpacked for the first time on the Upper Dungeness Trail. The trail was absolutely stunning and not overly crowded, making it a great getaway for the weekend. Last weekend, I wrote up a post about exploring the Olympic Penninsula, check it out here. Trail Difficulty Alltrails.com lists the Upper Dungeness…
Life Pro Tip: If you plan on doing anything outdoors during the summer in the Pacific Northwest, be sure to book your AirBnb, Hotel, camping permit, or anything else requiring reservations, FAR FAR in advance, especially on the Olympic Peninsula. Even though we remembered to take vacation time for an extended Memorial Day, Phil and…
Silverdale has a wonderful network of trails, centered around the Clear Creek Trail. The Clear Creek Trail follows the Clear Creek, which is a habitat for many species of salmon. Various entities have come together to create storm water control systems, build and maintain the trails, and restore precious habitat. The main trail is about…
Don’t let the impression of just a few miles sound like an easy hike; Mount Walker is a steep, 2000′ elevation gain hike that is rated as moderate by the rangers and by All Trails. To be fair, the trail is well maintained, easy to follow, and pretty smooth. However, the slope is relentless. During…
When an errand ejected us from the Kitsap Peninsula during the middle of the pandemic, Phil and I decided to make a socially distant day trip out of it. In the middle of the Southworth to Fauntelroy Ferry, there’s a short stop at the Vashon Island dock. Neither one of us had ever explored the…
There is nothing like wandering around a grand, dark forest to feel in tune with nature. With towering trees above you, the gentle patter of rain, and the rush of wind, you can feel lost in the untamed wilderness from the safety of the trail. We had the fortune of escaping into the Olympic National…