Trapper Creek Wilderness - Memorial Day Weekend

Trapper Creek Wilderness

Southern WA

Mileage:??

Elevation Gain

Difficulty: Intermediate-Hard

Dog Friendly

With how long it takes to drive down to the Washington-Oregon border from Seattle, we figured we better do another hike down there besides Dog Mountain. Unfortunately because it was so early in the season I didn't have the option of doing some of the hikes I really wanted to do (Indian Haven, The Tieton River, Goat Rocks etc.). After some looking we settled on Trapper Creek Wilderness since it was the most likely to be melted out. 

This overnight was not nearly as successful as Dog Mountain. We camped at an actual campground between Dog Mountain and the Trapper Creek hike, though I am sorry we did that, it was nice to have some creature comforts at the campsite, but I think we could have made more of the day had we camped a mile or so in. The one bonus is that we got to "Ice" our friend David. Now for those who are unfamiliar with this particularly cruel, though very funny prank, you hide a Smirnoff Ice where somebody is bound to run into it. If they see it they have to take a knee and drink it, but here's the rub, if THEY have their own Smirnoff Ice you have to drink both. However, we were relatively certain that David hadn't brought any with him. So we parked one outside of his tent first thing in the morning, cause we're sadists. 1 down 5 more in the six pack to go, and Chris was committed to bringing them with us.

After the Icing we had breakfast, struck camp and headed for the trail head. It's worth noting that the directions to Trapper Creek Wilderness in my hiking book were... insufficient. At best. We ended up having to do some exploring and there was absolutely no cohesion between what was written and the actual numbers on the forest service roads.

The hike itself was very nice. You start off walking through the forest and for most of the hike you're walking alongside Trapper Creek itself. We were trying to get to Observation peak, but either because it was one of the first real backpacking trips of the season and we were all out of shape, or because there were some major discrepancies on the mileage we didn't make it. The other unfortunate part is that it was Memorial Day weekend and part of the reason we didn't push through to the peak had to do with reports that there was no way we were going to find camping up there, apparently there were tons of boy scouts and folks who had taken both of the main campsites. We pushed on hoping we'd find some smaller campsites.

Around this time folks started to get really tired. I kept pushing, but we were taking frequent breaks. We ran into some people and they told us there was still a good 3.5-4 miles to go. About 10 minutes later 2 people in our group ran out of water. We had passed a stream back a little ways, as well as a smaller campsite. So we talked it over, and after taking a long, hard look at some of the group Chris and I made the executive decision to turn back and bed down for the night. 

There's something especially disappointing about not being able to finish a hike, it irritates me like a bug bite on my back that I can't quite reach to scratch. So I was disappointed, but it was the right choice. Knowing when to stop, and seeing the limits in others is SO important. When I was a kid my mom told me if you think you can do one more ski run, then you're already done. It's so true, pushing yourself is a very good thing sometimes, pushing yourself too far means you're more likely to get injured and ruin your whole weekend, or more... 

Just as we got back to the place we were going to camp it started to rain. Hard. All of the established campsites were full. So we ended up flattening out, and in some cases digging out, some space by the creek to pitch our tents. We also strung up some tarps to have a bit more coverage, a couple of us spent a very wet night. Even so, there's not much that beats sitting around a campfire, having some food and spending time with friends.

EXCEPT ICING DAVID. AGAIN AND AGAIN.

The next day we walked out, and headed back to civilization. Even though it hadn't been anywhere near perfect we were all better for having done it. Except David.

Hoh River Trail: Part 2

Con't from Part 1

Bear Scratches

If there were ever four words that instantly killed morale and simultaneously made everybody jittery and anxious it was those four little words.

"Guy's there's a bear." Effffffff.

The bear was not acting aggressively and we were quite far away so we took a second to discuss our options. #1: We could try to scare it off, in the hope that it wouldn't come back later that night. #2. We could try to find an alternate path around the bear and see if there were campsites a reasonable distance from him. #3. We could backtrack and try to find another place to camp. We settled on three, which I think was absolutely the correct decision. We actually found out later that particular bear is a regular at the campsite, and while he has never attacked anybody or gotten into people's food, he's very difficult, if not impossible to scare off.

We had seen a sign for horses a ways back, but couldn't remember whether it was a sign for the horse camp or just a ford. So, we started heading in that direction. The tricky thing about the rain forest and camping is that you are required to camp in established spaces, or on the river bed. Aside from the place we hoped the horse camp was, we knew that the next camping site was 3-4 miles back. So not a great option, for a bunch of kids with tired feet.

After about one mile of back tracking we came to a place that had very easy access to the river and didn't require a lot of walking off the trail. It was the first time we'd been close enough to get to it without walking a long way through the undergrowth. Places like temperate rain forests, alpine meadows, etc. often have very fragile plant life that does not respond well to trail cutting, So rather than hope that is wasa horse camp and not a ford, we decided to head out to the river. This was a good decision, since it was in fact a ford and not a camp.

We dropped our packs and did some exploring of the river bed to try and find a place that was on high ground and sandy rather than rocky. We found a great little spot that was almost at the tree line, and surround on 3 sides by trees, but still river bed. This was crucial, camping next to water, especially if there isn't a wind break can be very cold. Not to mention, that sand sucks body heat away from you really effectively. Despite our concerns, nobody was too cold.

Prior to bedding down Chris and I told everybody that we needed EVERYTHING that had any kind of odor, including toiletries, food etc. 3 of our friends apparently didn't get the message because we were about to go hang the bear can when I asked:
"So is there anything else?"
"Weeeelll I do have a vitamin water, but it isn't opened."
"No, I'm serious guys even if it's sealed, but it has a smell we need it, we just saw a bear!"
Then another friend sheepishly steps forward...
"I've got all this unopened food in my tent."
At this point Chris and I are looking at each other like we must have somehow ended up in an alternate Universe where everybody is stupid AND deaf, but we're trying to be patient cause they're noobs. So we take everybody's stuff and go to hang the bags. Now our friend Koko had accidentally saturated his backpack with aerosol sunscreen we we had wrapped it in some backpack covers and garbage bags and we're just planning on leaving it on the ground next to the bags, but he looks at us with these pleading eyes saying "....but it's very expensive." So we end up hanging his bag as well.

Tent in lower left corner for scale.

After that we went back to the campsite to enjoy our campfire and relax. I made all the boys pee around the perimeter of our camp and we let the fire go into the late hours to help put off any predators. Our precautions weren't necessary, but it was comforting doing them. The most eventful part of the night was that our friend David, who had never camped, backpacked, anything ever, got up in the middle of the night, his tent was right next to Chris and I so we woke up when he started shining his headlamp all over the place.

He went to relieve himself and must have got a little freaked out being in the woods in the middle of the night, he came sprinting back into camp. This was irritating/hilarious for a few reasons, the biggest being that we had spent several minutes explaining that you should never run away from predators because it makes you look like prey. The other being that it was amusing to think about him getting all freaked out by the woods while peeing. But I'm a jerk.

The river bed had been pretty the evening before, but we were maybe too tired and a little to apprehensive to appreciate it. The next morning it was glorious though. The river was beautiful and the sun on the surround mountains was gorgeous. It actually made me really thankful that the bear had been where he was. If he hadn't we would have spent the night in the woods, which while wonderful wouldn't have been nearly as stunning the next day.

The walk back the next day was pretty easy and nothing really of note happened. We were all tired and foot sore. Flat terrain tends to make my feet ache. After the hike we drove back, taking a detour at Hurricane Ridge to show everybody how beautiful the mountains were. Then headed back to Seattle. All in all it was a pretty successful first overnight of the season.

Bonus: I am a banana!! ...slug. 

Hoh River Trail: Part 1

Hoh River Trail - May 9th-11th
Olympic National Park
Mileage: 19.7 round trip
Elevation Gain: 1000 feet

No Dogs Allowed

Our first overnight of the season and it was pretty eventful! We drove out to the peninsula Friday afternoon, stopped for burgers (decent) and shakes (outstanding) at Sully's in Forks. We car camped at the main campsite the first night so we could make a good start in the morning. There was a notice on the bulletin board at the main campsite saying there was an aggressive bull elk that had rolled a couple of tents in the past couple weeks. We had two people who had never been backpacking and one who had never even been car camping before. So that night (somewhat prophetically) we did sort of a brief overview of what to do should we run across wildlife.

Mostly the best thing to do with any animal is keep away from animals, they are not pets, they are not nice fluffy toys, they will fuck your shit up. We discussed getting the fuck out of dodge ASAP when it comes to things like Elk and Moose which are typically aggressive while rutting. They're mostly trying to get you to leave their territory. So you leave. But recently there have been some changes to the protocol with Black Bears. However, if you do run into a black bear (NOTE: This absolutely does not apply to Grizzlies, or more aggressive bears) and they notice you and begin to move toward you, you want to make yourself as big and load and threatening as possible. Previously the recommendation was to just curl up like a ball, to protect your insides, which is in fact the second step if the bear doesn't leave after you make a big ruckus. Then if they don't back off after you've made yourself small you roll over and, literally, punch them in the nose. Anyway, we discussed what to do and then spent some time enjoying the campfire and went to bed.

Next morning there was two elk in our campsite, they weren't aggressive and they moved off as soon as we started to stir. Some of our group was planning on just doing a day hike and then staying at the main campsite and car camping, but 7 of us started off hiking that next morning. Before we took off we stopped at the visitors center where there was an older notice about black bears but we weren't too worried about it, since we felt comfortable that we could get through the situation if it came up and the notice was a month old so...whatever.

The Hoh river trail is gorgeous. Really the only word that accurately describes a temperate rain forest is lush. There are tons of huge trees, which would probably be more impressive if I wasn't from the land of redwoods. Cedars and spruces are big, but they're not behemoths the way redwoods are. Even so, there were some giant cedars, which had recently fallen and been cut up, which made the whole place smell like clean hamster cage, which I really like.The trail stays pretty close to the river the whole time, but it's really the forested areas that are the best.

We had planned to camp about 10 miles in, attentive readers will notice the word planned, about 8 miles in we started to notice a bunch of the birches had bear scratches on them. We pressed on, aware, but not concerned. Bears are a fact of life when it comes to hiking and really the only thing to do is make plenty of noise and try not to startle them.

Everybody was starting to wear down a bit. 10 miles with a full pack is no joke especially for people who haven't ever really backpacked before. So we were pretty excited when we came around a corner and saw the campsites. Right about then Koko said "Guys there's a bear!!" We assumed he was joking... We were wrong. There was, in fact, a bear and he was, in fact, standing directly in the campsite...

Continued in  Part 2 next week!

Trail Review: Baker Lake

Baker Lake East Bank - May 18th

14 miles ONE WAY

500ft Elevation Gain

Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest

Good for Dogs

NW Forest Pass 

Rating: Very Easy (except for distance)

Oh Baker Lake. You had me so goddamned confused.

This hike is a perfect example of why it is important to carry topo maps with scales on them. I had just neglected to get one, because in order to get the entirety of Baker Lake from USGS topo maps I would have needed to download and stitch together 3 different maps. I was feeling lazy and just decided not to. Obviously a poor choice.

On WTA’s site there are two hikes listed for Baker Lake, the hike to Maple Grove and “East Bank” which supposedly terminates at Noisy Creek Campground. Maple grove is 8 miles round trip, and the East Bank is 9. It looked like each of the WTA’s hikes started out at a different trail head, Maple Grove at the southern trail head and East Bank at the north. I figured we could at the very least do one hike one day and the next day do the second. Then my hiking book says that Baker Lake East Bank is 14 miles. I assumed there was just some wonkiness going on with the mileage, especially since Noisy Creek Campground is on the northwest bank. I just figured WTA had a seizure when writing that post.

Now normally my hiking book lists hikes with round trip mileage, very seldom does it list mileage one way. I had looked at both posts on WTA, and just skimmed the entry in my book, and didn’t think it was necessary to carry the book with me. Well, you can see where this is headed.

The east bank of Baker Lake is 14 miles one way. We got 7 miles before we started to get a bit suspicious. However, as previously stated, we’re a bit stubborn. We decided we’d go a bit farther. We went about 10 miles total and came to an important conclusion. We were 4 miles from the North end of the lake, but were not completely sure where there would be a campground, and if we did go all the way, we would have to hike 14 miles back the next day. We decided it was a little too early in the season to be thinking about 28 miles in two days and turned around, hiking 5 miles back to Maple Grove campground. I can tell you, 15 miles with an overnight pack is about my limit.

Aside from our issues with not reading this properly and a lack of maps. It was a very lovely day. Cool and cloudy for most of the day, which was nice it actually made the lake look a bit mysterious. Then it started to open up in the late afternoon and evening (top two pictures). I seriously wish we had remembered to take photos of the sun going down over the west bank. It was really gorgeous, we sat on a log jutting into the lake and watched it go down. Not to mention the huge quantities of wildflowers that were everywhere.

We made camp near the lake, in an established site. There were some other people around us but it wasn't terribly crowded, thanks probably to the weather. I fell asleep really early and the next day we had my favorite backpacking breakfast: instant cream of wheat with dried cherries and almonds. We dragged our poor tired butts the 5 miles back to the car in the morning. On the whole I would say this was a pretty good hike, would be great for beginners, as long as they weren't planning on doing the full East Bank. If you had two vehicles it might be a pretty nice key swap or shuttle option.

Backpacking Gear List

I love packing for overnights. They’re less stressful when it comes to packing because you don’t have to agonize over every ounce and cubic centimeter of space. This list is pretty exhaustive, I’ve divided up the list by what each individual should have and then things like sunscreen etc. that only one person needs to carry. That being said I would almost always recommend that for every 2-3 people you have secondaries of these items. There are some items that it’s good to have different people carrying. For instance when Chris and I hike one person carries the water filter and one person carries the first aid kit which has iodine tablets. That way if we lose a pack we have a way to sanitize water. Other things we typically split up are fire-starting equipment and food, which can be a pain on multi-days when we’re both unpacking to put stuff in a bear bag. However, I feel better knowing we won’t have all our eggs in one basket if something were to go wrong.

This list is a good starting point for multiday trips as well, you’ll just need to adjust the amount of food and spare clothes you’ll need. As long as we’re on the subject of clothes, and since I can’t think of a better place to mention this, let’s talk about when you’re sleeping. I have a 30 degree bag, which if you're a girl you know means you're not comfortable after about 38-40 degrees. So for early season hikes, or when I know I'm going to be somewhere that's going to be particularly chilly during the night I have to bring extra clothes to sleep in. For me this is sweats, a long sleeve cotton thermal, slipper socks and a sweater. I can shed a layer if I need to but I don't sleep if I'm cold.

My trip for this weekend got cancelled so I won't have pictures. The next time I'm packing for a trip I'll take some photos. Also as I continue to post gear reviews the items will link to examples.

Gear List
Sleeping bag and mat
Water Reservoir or at least 2 one QT bottles,
Multi-tool
Food
Clothes: I always bring 1 more pair of socks and underwear than I need
Mess Kit
small flashlight/headlamp (we also keep one in our tent as a backup)
Backpack cover or large garbage bag

Tent (make sure you have your poles, stakes, etc.) and footprint/tarp
3 kinds of fire (ferro rod, butane torch, lighter, matches in waterproof container, magnesium rod etc.)
50 ft of 300 lb test cord
First aid kit
Compass
Map (if needed)
Water filter and iodine tablets
Stove and fuel
Cooking pans
Toiletries (Small Hand Soap, Small Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Comb, Floss, small Fast-Drying Camp Towel)
Sunscreen/Bugspray
Bear Bag (we just hang an OR Stuff Sack from a tree)
Garbage bag

My dog carries all his own stuff except for his water. This is possible as long as long as your dog is big enough, they really don’t make packs for dogs under 25lbs, here’s a list for your buddy

Dog Gear:
Dog Backpack
Food (don’t forget to put in bear bag at night, even if there aren’t bears it’s good to seal this guy up in case of raccoon etc.)
Treats
Poop bags
Toys
Cloth travel bowl

Sweater (if needed) for when you stop