Loucks Skywalker

On Saturday afternoon, I drove to Deer Park campground, in the northeast corner of Olympic National Park, to camp the night and hike a 15 mile trail on Sunday. It was INCREDIBLE! Sit down a while, and I'll tell you all about it

Although I wanted to go, the Gods seems to have determined to discourage me from going. First, there was the horrible 1 hour wait for the Edmonds to Kingston ferry. It cost $14.25 for an hour long wait and a half-hour ferry! I could have just headed south from Seattle and headed back up with roads, but I though that would take longer; I was wrong. This angered me. Then, when I finally got the campground, the park ranger said that it was full! You can imagine my dismay as I heard this news! He thought that there might be one spot left, but he didn't think so, but I should check to be sure. Luckily it was available!

So, it all turned out, and I set up camp and ate dinner. I forgot something about camping at high elevations: it gets freakin' cold at night! I was freezing cold, and I just barely packed enough stuff to keep me reasonably warm. Luckily I also had firewood to build a fire, so that helped a lot. In the morning it was just as cold as I was taking down my tent, but luckily I packed my "Little Hotties" that Bridget gave me a few years ago - I don't know how they work but the are little pockets of warmth.

Anyway, the next day, bright and early at 8:30 am, I headed out on the Grand Ridge Trail. This 7.4 mile trail starts out at 5,380 feet (the elevation of the campground), climbs to a maximum 6,650 along the way, and ends at Obstruction Point, which is 6,150. What they don't tell you is that there a lof of additional ups and downs along the way! You are basically walking along the sides of many mountains/ridges. This was a tough hike, but is one of the coolest hikes I have ever been on. The reasons are many:

Reason #1: Mountains on one side



Reason #2: Ocean on the other side



Reason #3: Flowers



Reason #4: Marmots! (I saw many birds, bunnies, and deer as well)



Reason #5: Mount Olympus


More pictures are posted on Facebook. Meredith, get Facebook and enjoy all of the photos!

Since I started out so early, I was the only person on the trail for a good 3 hours. That was really neat, and very peaceful. Another cool moment was, on the way back, looking out to the ocean, and seeing Victoria, British Columbia! It was barely visible at that distance, but I definitely saw it, across the straight from Port Angeles. It made me think of home and how much I miss living in Canada :( Will I ever return?

The last 2-3 miles of that hike were very hard on me - I was so tired! Going downhill is really hard on your legs. But, I made it, and felt very accomplished. I went to Port Angeles for dinner, looking for a rewarding and hearty seafood meal, and instead got a really crappy crab cake sandwich at a restaurant that was really just a Red Lion (and it was expensive!). I was really disappointed, so I got a Snickers DQ Blizzard to even things out. That felt good :)

Although it was a super-cool hike, it would have been much more fun to do with a friend, or a WIFE! So all of you readers out there should really consider coming out/up here to visit me. I can make you waffles. I can show you the city. I can take you hiking. In short, I can give you the life you've always wanted.