We awoke a little before 7 and were on the trail before eight. Today would involve the continuation of following the Duckabush over to the junction, then going up 4000 feet in elevation, then going down until we hit the Dosewallips at Honeymoon Meadows after 13 miles of hiking. It was a slow climb up the Duck through the forest occasionally getting good views of the river as it plunged through some narrow canyons including some small cataracts. Dad was betting on getting by with his one water bottle on the trip, but he ran into trouble as we were approaching the junction with Lacrosse Pass trail. We ran out of streams even in the Olympics during summer. So once we hit the junction, Dad had to keep going on the hike and get some water.
I just chilled out and waited for the climb. I was feeling pretty good today despite the soreness in my clavicles from the heavy backpack. The climb was steep with a plethora of switchbacks. Dad's plan to attack it was to keep track of elevation and take a break every 500 feet. That seemed to go well with both of us happy to take some breaks. It was a good idea to get some water, because it was rather dry. We had a little bit of wet near the bottom, but the rest was just a forest of fir. We climbed and climbed and eventually popped out above the big trees and got an impressive view. We could see Mt. Steel and O'Neil Peak.
We also could see First Divide which would be the last pass to go over. But at 2:30pm, we still had not made it to the top of Lacrosse Pass. We saw a group of people right near the top of the Pass. We talked to them about the trail and snow conditions. They were only the second group we saw all day. We saw another guy near the junction and he seemed like he had his stuff together. This group seemed strong being about six people all doing fairly well. A little before 3pm we found our way to the top of the pass . It was nice for both of us to chill out and relax for a bit. I threw on the sunglasses because there sure was a lot of snow. We even pulled out the ice axes. The crampons stayed in the pack as the snow was nice and soft. We had thought about climbing one of the peaks when we were sitting in the comfort of my dad's home in Port Angeles. Once we were up at the pass, we looked over to White Mountain and said, yeah right. The snow conditions were not great, but it was more the shear work of going to the top of a peak
after we had put in the effort to get to the top of the pass. Luckily we had some footprints to follow off the pass and make our way down. We still had a good 4-5 miles to travel down the hill to get to our destination. When we were above the thick trees, we were dealing with snow and I would say that the ice axes were actually helpful. Once we got back in the thick trees, the snow melted away and we could ju
st pound our way down the hill. As we were getting close to pulling into camp around 5pm, we ran into a river with no bridge. So we had to take off the shoes and throw on the sandles. As we crossed, we realized that we were now at the campsite near Honeymoon Meadows. We took a look around and realized that we were going to be camping near some park service people. Dad knew one of them and we talked to them a bunch. They shared some info on the routes that we were going on since they both went different ways, but had good info. Mainly it was that up high we were going to get some snow. We settled in for the evening and actually had a few bugs on this night. It did not bother us as we got some cribbage in and played some golf too. We could now relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor; a nice comfortable campsite in a beautiful place. Of course there was work to do like making dinner and pumping water, but it was nice to do it without a heavy pack on the back.
I just chilled out and waited for the climb. I was feeling pretty good today despite the soreness in my clavicles from the heavy backpack. The climb was steep with a plethora of switchbacks. Dad's plan to attack it was to keep track of elevation and take a break every 500 feet. That seemed to go well with both of us happy to take some breaks. It was a good idea to get some water, because it was rather dry. We had a little bit of wet near the bottom, but the rest was just a forest of fir. We climbed and climbed and eventually popped out above the big trees and got an impressive view. We could see Mt. Steel and O'Neil Peak.
We also could see First Divide which would be the last pass to go over. But at 2:30pm, we still had not made it to the top of Lacrosse Pass. We saw a group of people right near the top of the Pass. We talked to them about the trail and snow conditions. They were only the second group we saw all day. We saw another guy near the junction and he seemed like he had his stuff together. This group seemed strong being about six people all doing fairly well. A little before 3pm we found our way to the top of the pass . It was nice for both of us to chill out and relax for a bit. I threw on the sunglasses because there sure was a lot of snow. We even pulled out the ice axes. The crampons stayed in the pack as the snow was nice and soft. We had thought about climbing one of the peaks when we were sitting in the comfort of my dad's home in Port Angeles. Once we were up at the pass, we looked over to White Mountain and said, yeah right. The snow conditions were not great, but it was more the shear work of going to the top of a peak 
after we had put in the effort to get to the top of the pass. Luckily we had some footprints to follow off the pass and make our way down. We still had a good 4-5 miles to travel down the hill to get to our destination. When we were above the thick trees, we were dealing with snow and I would say that the ice axes were actually helpful. Once we got back in the thick trees, the snow melted away and we could ju
st pound our way down the hill. As we were getting close to pulling into camp around 5pm, we ran into a river with no bridge. So we had to take off the shoes and throw on the sandles. As we crossed, we realized that we were now at the campsite near Honeymoon Meadows. We took a look around and realized that we were going to be camping near some park service people. Dad knew one of them and we talked to them a bunch. They shared some info on the routes that we were going on since they both went different ways, but had good info. Mainly it was that up high we were going to get some snow. We settled in for the evening and actually had a few bugs on this night. It did not bother us as we got some cribbage in and played some golf too. We could now relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor; a nice comfortable campsite in a beautiful place. Of course there was work to do like making dinner and pumping water, but it was nice to do it without a heavy pack on the back.
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