I was completely stoked for the outdoor adventure of the summer. My dad and I had been planning a backpack for a couple of months. We were hoping to do the Bailey Range traverse, but snow conditions in Early August forced us to come up with another plan. We chose a five day trip starting up the Duckabush, over to Dosewallips, and then coming out in Staircase. It was an ambitious project that would take us 6 days over 60 miles. We first had to deal with the vehicles. We drove out to Staircase and left a car, then went over to the trailhead for the Duckabush. We started out the hike in the Brothers Wilderness. It would be about four miles before we got into Olympic National Park.
Throwing on the backpack for the first time was like wooh, this thing is a lot heavier than a daypack. With food and gear for six days including ice axe and crampons for the snow, we were in for a heavy haul. On this day we had two minor obstacles, first the Little Hump, then the Big Hump. The hiking was good especially since it was like a giant fruit salad. Huckleberries, salmon berries, blackberries, thimbleberries, blueberries were all on the menu today. Also we would catch glimpses of the river that was flowing by at a swift pace. Since Dad was now at the ripe old age of 60, we took the hike at a more relaxed pace. We made sure to stop every hour and take a short break. I did not say it, but I was always relieved when these breaks came around because the pack was a lot lighter when it was sitting on the ground next to me rather than on my back. As far as the humps went, Little Hump was no big deal and we rolled right by it. We saw our only party actually hiking near the top. Big Hump was more work and was ma
de more troublesome by the fact that I was a bit overdressed wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt. I was sweating like crazy, but just had to go with it on this day by rolling up the shirt sleeves. The trail up until Big Hump looked like it was most likely an old road cut, but I could see why they could not continue their road as it ran into issues with the steep rock that we needed to climb to go up Big Hump. We made it, though and soon were entering the park. We passed the first campsite which was named Five Mile. You can guess why it was named that. From there, the forest showed the signs of forest fire. Dad soon remembered that last year the Duck was closed for so
me time because of forest fire, which we could tell since it looked pretty fresh. Our hike took us near the river, above the river, away from the river, and eventually back to the river where we wandered into our camp for the night Tenmile at about 5pm. Once again, take a wild guess why it was named that. We had climbed 1500 feet over 10 miles. When we rolled in there was another party camped there. They were a larger party with a few adults and a few kids and about four tents. We went over and talked to them initially. They were not particularly friendly, but we learned that this was their second day out already. I found us a campsite on the other side of the big, open
wooded area behind a big dead log. We proceeded to get about camp business of getting dinner cooked, water pumped, and a nightly cribbage competition. As we were playing cribbage, someone from the group ca
me over to let us know that they did not want to be unneighborly, but down the trail aways there were some good campsites with fire rings. Dad's response to that was to say that we do not need a fire ring. The guy was like okay, but we figured out later that they were trying to be unneighborly. It was odd because usually in the wilderness, people are so friendly, but we determined they must have had internal combustion within the group causing them to have problems with each other and thus deflecting those to try to get rid of us. It was silly, though, because the river was so loud in camp we could not hear them and I am sure they could not hear us. We relaxed for the evening as I read my novel about the prison system in colonial Australia. Heavy reading, while Dad chose a science fiction novel about Neanderthals. We settled into the tent for a good sleep preparing to get up and hike another ten miles the next day.
Throwing on the backpack for the first time was like wooh, this thing is a lot heavier than a daypack. With food and gear for six days including ice axe and crampons for the snow, we were in for a heavy haul. On this day we had two minor obstacles, first the Little Hump, then the Big Hump. The hiking was good especially since it was like a giant fruit salad. Huckleberries, salmon berries, blackberries, thimbleberries, blueberries were all on the menu today. Also we would catch glimpses of the river that was flowing by at a swift pace. Since Dad was now at the ripe old age of 60, we took the hike at a more relaxed pace. We made sure to stop every hour and take a short break. I did not say it, but I was always relieved when these breaks came around because the pack was a lot lighter when it was sitting on the ground next to me rather than on my back. As far as the humps went, Little Hump was no big deal and we rolled right by it. We saw our only party actually hiking near the top. Big Hump was more work and was ma
de more troublesome by the fact that I was a bit overdressed wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt. I was sweating like crazy, but just had to go with it on this day by rolling up the shirt sleeves. The trail up until Big Hump looked like it was most likely an old road cut, but I could see why they could not continue their road as it ran into issues with the steep rock that we needed to climb to go up Big Hump. We made it, though and soon were entering the park. We passed the first campsite which was named Five Mile. You can guess why it was named that. From there, the forest showed the signs of forest fire. Dad soon remembered that last year the Duck was closed for so
me time because of forest fire, which we could tell since it looked pretty fresh. Our hike took us near the river, above the river, away from the river, and eventually back to the river where we wandered into our camp for the night Tenmile at about 5pm. Once again, take a wild guess why it was named that. We had climbed 1500 feet over 10 miles. When we rolled in there was another party camped there. They were a larger party with a few adults and a few kids and about four tents. We went over and talked to them initially. They were not particularly friendly, but we learned that this was their second day out already. I found us a campsite on the other side of the big, open
wooded area behind a big dead log. We proceeded to get about camp business of getting dinner cooked, water pumped, and a nightly cribbage competition. As we were playing cribbage, someone from the group ca
me over to let us know that they did not want to be unneighborly, but down the trail aways there were some good campsites with fire rings. Dad's response to that was to say that we do not need a fire ring. The guy was like okay, but we figured out later that they were trying to be unneighborly. It was odd because usually in the wilderness, people are so friendly, but we determined they must have had internal combustion within the group causing them to have problems with each other and thus deflecting those to try to get rid of us. It was silly, though, because the river was so loud in camp we could not hear them and I am sure they could not hear us. We relaxed for the evening as I read my novel about the prison system in colonial Australia. Heavy reading, while Dad chose a science fiction novel about Neanderthals. We settled into the tent for a good sleep preparing to get up and hike another ten miles the next day.
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