Distance: 7 miles

Obstacles:        Headland near Diamond Rock, low tide is required

                        Sand Ladder to Hoh Head

 

 

 

 

Picture looking north from the highway, the first headland is Hoh Head.

 

 

 

We got differing information from guide books, Park Rangers and chamber of commerce people, so I will give you my take based on one visit.

 The low tide that was required to get by Diamond Rock was early in the morning so we elected to camp at the mouth of the Hoh River.

 

At the mouth is a large area of drift wood that in some guides is listed as an obstacle. We hiked down at the evening low tide and could walk around most of it, even without that it would not have been too bad.

 

 

As with all of the camps in this stretch they are all primitive/wilderness camps. The water source was up the Hoh River, you have to go a ways to avoid the brackish water. We carried water from our car since it is just a couple miles. One surprise for me was the number of other people doing the hike or day hiking in, although there is plenty of room to spread out.

Because of the outstanding weather sunsets became daily routine.

We got started early on the first day on trail so that we could get around Diamond Rock near the low tide. The guide book says that you need a 4-foot tide; the map says a low/medium and the rangers a 2-3 foot tide. What you have to traverse is a ¼ mile long boulder field that is under water at high tide. Because of the tide levels when we were there we could have gotten through 2-3 hours later with no trouble. There is no inland way around this area.

 

Aside from the ocean level the other challenge is that the boulders are very slippery. We use and were thankful for having Trekking Poles, I further used a pair of studded sandals, I think that was overkill.

 

 

Once past Diamond rock it is a nice walk on the sand around Jefferson Cove; at the end of which is the first of several sand ladders. We had read about these ladders, but had no idea of what we were in for.

Actually they are not as bad as they may appear. The first set had three different sections with one nearly vertical. We carried leather gloves which were a real help as you grip the rope and use it for balance and to pull youself up. There are handrail/wires on the sides of some and the gloves keep the sharp loose ends from cutting you. You want to be sure to have both hands free so tie anything to you pack.

 From the top of the ladders you have approximately 4.5 miles of hike through the rain forest. There are a couple of campsites cut into the thick under brush, but any hiking off of the main trail would be nearly impossible.

 

 

The flora and fungi along way was fascinating.

 

 

 

Although the distance was only 4.5 miles the going turned out to be much more rigorous then one might think. Even with the great weather many sections of the trail were muddy and slippery. Every time the trail came to a creek it would drop down into a small canyon and then up the other side.

Our stopping point for the night was at Mosquito Creek. There was a large camp in the trees just south of the creek which we decided to pass on, it seemed very damp. A group of outdoor  camp people came in later and camped there and said that they loved to camp there so that they could watch the bio-luminecence in the surf at night.

 There was a group already camping at the mouth of the creek so we hike a hundred yards down the beach to set up camp.

Something to keep in mind is the tide; it would not be hard to imagine waking during the night to the surf engulfing your tent.

 

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 This is the beginning of a series around a hike that I made on the Olympic National Park coastline. This hike had several unique aspects so I am going to have this post with some details of the preplanning.

 To peak your interest this is a photo taken from one of our camps.

 

When I had originally thought of hiking along the coast I had a vision of a nice flat walk on the beach, as it turns out there are some logistical and regulatory details that you need to consider.

 Timing and Direction of hike

 When planning on hiking in this area keep in mind that it is a rain forest, which means it rains a lot. This has two impacts, the first obvious one is the need for rain gear and cover, the less obvious one is that much of the trail is on the headlands and the trail can be very muddy and slippery. We had perfect weather, with sun and no wind the trails were still muddy and at times very slippery. Our hike was the last week of August, but in the Northwest the weather is never very predictable.

 Another timing issue is the Tides; several of the headlands that you must cross on the beach are only doable when the tides are below a certain level, believe the books when they say this. The summer that we hiked two people that chose to ignore the warning had to be rescued from one of the headlands. At least one of the tide dependent areas has a on land alternative, but believe me you don’t want to have to take those, they are a true scrambles up very steep hillsides. I am excluding the Hoh Head section where the preferred route is inland. So as you are planning your trip you need to check out the Tide Tables and time your days to be sure that the tides are low enough, don’t assume just because you hit low-tides that the tides are low enough.

 In terms of direction you can either go south to north or vis-versa. We chose to start in the south. The only logic was that if there was a wind it would most likely come from the south and we wanted the sand to blow from our backs rather then in our faces. For some reason most guidebooks seem to start from the North.

Permits and Bears

 This hike is in the National Park and permits are required. You can pick them up at one of several convenient Ranger Stations. I would check the National Park Website to be sure to hours of operation and location of the most convenient stations (http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/). We got ours at the Quinault station that is close to the Hoh River our starting point. A nice aspect to getting them there was that we got to have lunch at the Lake Quinault Lodge, a spectacular old lodge (http://www.visitlakequinault.com/index.cfm).

If you are planning on fishing, licenses are not required when you fish in the rivers and streams within the park, but they are required if you fish in the ocean, go figure.

 The Olympic Park requires all hikers to use Bear Canisters. These can be rented at the Ranger Stations. I would ask that you obey this rule as we had no problems with either bears or raccoons, at least in part because these animals have not be conditioned to see campers as a source of food. We actually saw no sign of bears, but we did see many sets of raccoon tracks.

 Cars and Shuttles

 We arranged to have our car shuttled from the Oil City Trail head to our takeout point. Unfortunately I don’t have the contact information on the person that did it for us, but I would guess that by calling the Forks Chamber of Commerce you can get the name (http://www.forkswa.com/index.html). If you haven’t used a shuttle service before it is very common in areas where people use drift boats to go down river and my experience is that they are very reliable. Generally you make arrangements with the shuttle driver on where and when you are going to leave the car. Sometimes you pick up the driver and take them to the trailhead, other times they have you leave keys somewhere; it could actually be a place on the outside of your car. In Forks the driver took the car to their house versus leaving it at either trailhead where they do have break-in problems and then to drove it to the takeout spot the day we were planning on coming out. Remember to bring along a second set of keys since the driver will lock the keys inside the car when they drop it off.

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During the summer Corvallis hosts a Saturday Market along the riverfront park. Local farmers, musicians and artisans sell there goods. On a nice morning the place will be packed. If you are from out of town the easiest way to get there is to come across the bridge on Highway 34 from I5. Turn left at the light at the bottom of the ramp from the bridge, this is Second Street. Go down a block or two and start looking for parking. The market is on First Street between Van Buren and Monroe.

 The market is the starting point for a very nice walk; from the market go south along the river. You will pass under the road overpass, it is fun to stop and watch that skate boarders and bikers at the skate park under the bridge. The sidewalk splits with one branch going left across the Mary’s River to South Corvallis and one leg going into a tunnel under the roadway. If you go that way you will follow the Mary’s River through what I call the hidden park. The city maintains it, but I can’t really see how they access it.

 In this area there was historically a lot of Native American activity, primarily the Calapooia Indians. Just enjoy the Urban Forest that the trail follows. The paved walkway will intersect 15^th street; turn left there and across the bridge is Avery Park. There are several alternative pathways within Avery Park. You can stay on the roadway and go either left of right, the roads form a loop. The property was given to the City by the Avery Family and has been a park for many years.

 The trees are huge; unfortunately during wind storms many of the really big trees have been lost. Depending on when you do the walk the rose gardens can be very spectacular. At one time there was even a mini zoo in the park that included a family of black bears.

 An alternative pathway is used by the local cross county teams. Just over the bridge to the park watch for a dirt path to the right, this follows the river and takes you through very nice forest land. There are several access points to the river if you want to take a look. Although the river is very calm looking be sure to keep a sharp watch on any small kids the water can be deeper then you might expect.

 The park is a nice place for a picnic, so an alternative would be to park at the park, walk down to Saturday Market and bring a picnic back.

 To get back to the Saturday Market you have two alternatives, you can back track the route you came, or you can go out the east entrance down Crystal Lake Drive to Highway 99. Personally I prefer to back track versus walking along a rather busy roadway.

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I can’t attest to how good the products from FruitFast are, but reading through their web site I get the impression that they are good. If you have interest take a look at their web page: http://www.brownwoodacres.com/index.htm. They are blogging about a 18 year old that is hiking the Appelation Trail.

I did notice that the sugar content is rather high, so these bars may not work for Diabetic’s, although the sugar does come from the fruit which is generally better.

 

Rest at last, Aqua Dulce was Toby and Dena’s first long stop; this meant a couple of days off of the trail. Time to get things cleaned up, eat some normal food and generally replenish the batteries.

  

 

For Toby especially this stop was a big deal, the first part of the trail was taking a big toll on him, both physically and mentally. His mom and I were quite concerned at this point at the amount of weight that he had lost. At least the sickness that was caused by the diet was over, so hopefully he could stabilize his weight.

 

 

 

 

To me this picture shows a very content Toby, but not yet the excited happy Toby that will appear later in the mountains. 

 

 Departing Aqua Dulce has to be a tough decision for any hiker, and many end there journey at this point. It would be interesting to find out what the record stay has been.

 

 

 

500 miles, one month into the trip. Just to put things into perspective, that equates to 1,200,000 foot steps.

 Just another hazard along the way; Dena had a very near miss that could have ended her trip.

 

 

 

 

 

Beauty along the trail comes in all sizes and shape, be it on the horizon or right up close.

 

 

 

 

 

There are also the oddities, this is Hiker Town.

 

 

Some portions of the PCT are still really under development, this section follows a narrow fenced access trail. The Pacific Crest Association is trying to negotiate other routes that are more consistent with the overall theme of the trail.

 

An interesting juxtaposion with a hundred year old Joshua Tree and a modern wind turbine.

 

 

Another reminder of just how harsh this environment is.

 

 

Visits from family and friends was always welcomed and appreciated, by both parties.

 

Life on the trail for the Thru-hikers is Spartan; many of these camping spots became rendezvous locations as each hiker tended to establish a slightly different routine. On the trail there is a hierarchy of hikers. The top of the heap are the Thru-hikers and only a select few of these will actually make it to Canada. These are opportunities for comradery, sharing of stories and providing support for each other.

This is an appropriate picture to end this entry. I can only imagine what Toby was thinking about, given the very pensive look on his face I suspect he was deciding whether to stop or continue. It is also a bit eerie the way his hat is hovering above the ground. 

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In my Middle Santiam blog I mentioned a side story, well here it is. When we got down to the Middle Santiam there was a group of boys camped, they asked if we had been contacted by the rangers. Since we had seen no one the day before we responded no.

 They proceeded to tell us that there were search teams out looking for a lost hiker, a very large hiker. They said that the man weighted around 400 pounds. I hate to say this, but we quickly started jokes about hiding our food in the event that we run into a 400 pound man that had been lost in the woods for a couple of days without food.

 Along the trail, most of which at this point was quite narrow and was on the side of very steep canyons, we would stop at any area that looked like someone may have fallen. We weren’t quite sure what we would do if we found the person, we definitely didn’t have the gear to get him back on the trail.

 When we got to the trail head we were a bit surprised to find police crime scene tape cutting off some of the side roads and along the road out. We hoped that this did not mean that man had not survived.

 Later we found out that the man was actually a convicted felon and that the police were out looking for him and a group of people that he was supposedly camping with. After that we were very glad that we had not found him. The good news was that he was found walking along of access roads in good shape.

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I was looking through some of the pictures from my past trips and was struck by the flowers. My bet is that when most people think back on the trips they have taken the first things that come to mind are the mountains, the lakes or the rivers. One thing that completes the richness for me is the flowers. So decided to have a photo page today on some of the flowers I have seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I find the need to organize and protect my gear when I am out camping, especially with my Ultralight Backpack that is basically a large compartment with a minimal number of independent pockets. Ray Jardine in his book on Ultralight backpacking provides instructions on the construction of bags made from Sil-nylon.

 Sil-nylon bags are available at most backpacking retailers from a number of different companies; they are light and very tough. I find that sil-nylon bags has many advantages, which are: they are extremely light weight, the surface is very slick so stuffing things into them is a breeze and stuffing them into your pack is easy, they are tough and can withstand overstuffing and the material is waterproof.

 I have chosen to make my own as that provides more flexibility in terms of size and shape. Making these bags is quite easy if you have access to a sewing machine and have basic sewing skills. I have made two designs of bags, the first is a simple draw top bag with a square bottom, and the second a slightly more complex flat bottom with a semi-waterproof collar.

To make the simple draw top bag all you have to do is first decide how big you want to make the bag, I just did a trial and error and did several sizes and shapes to see which worked the best for me. I have one that is more of a tube that is about four inches in diameter and 12 inches long, another is eight inches in diameter and eight inches long. The first step is to fold over the top at one end to form the pocket for the drawstring. We found a trick to make it easier; you can use a glue stick to hold the pieces together as the material is very slick. I double stitch all of the seams. Once the pocket is complete you just fold over the bag and sew the side seam and the bottom seam, again double stitching the seam. I then pull the bag inside out so that the seam is on the inside of the bag. Remember not to sew closed the pocket for the drawstring. Insert a draw string, and if you want to use one of the drawstring clamps attach that and you are done. If you want to increase the waterproof ness of the bag you can seal the seams, I don’t bother to do this as I am really just making splash resistant bags.

 The make the bags with the flat bottom you do need to do a bit more work to create a bottom that is the same diameter as the tube, remember to leave allowance for the seam in the bottom circle. I find that the material is flexible enough that being a bit off isn’t a problem unless you are very anal about the final product.

 To make the waterproof collar you start like you are making the pocket for the drawstring and leave a long piece on the inside. To close the collar you just stuff your things into the bag, gather the collar together and spin the bag to twist the collar, then push the twisted collar into the bag and pull the drawstring tight. If you are careful this should be a nearly waterproof bag. On this one I do seal the seams and this is the bag that put my sleeping bag and also my cloths.

Another set of bags that I make are made from mosquito netting material. What I like about these bags is that you can see through them. I used the same basic assembly approach, I did find that seams can pull apart so you do need to be careful to double and even triple sew the seams. For my tent stake bag I added a thicker material to the bottom so that the sharp points wouldn’t stick out.

I also made a specialty bag for the times when I am going to fish; it is a shoulder bag that is great for carrying fishing gear and a camera.

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I have noticed a lot of interst in trail conditions. Another source of information is the Pacific Crest Trail Association web site, the URL for the conditions section is: http://pcta.org/planning/during_trip/current.asp . This information is limited the the various sections of the PCT, but it does often provide first hand observations both about snow and weather issues as well as the actual condition of the trail.

Fred and Dolores Beazell donated this land to the Benton County park system in hopes that it would be managed in a self sustaining approach into the future. This means that trees will be harvested from the forest to provide the necessary funds to preserve the forest. A set of trails are in place and a larger set are planned for the future.

 The hikes are fairly short, less than 2 miles and are well maintained with gentle slopes.

Rather then giving detail description of the various trail options there are signs and maps that provide detailed information. The trails are mostly out and back hikes with loops at the ends.

I would highly recommend this area for a summer time hike to get out of the heat of the summer. There are plenty of places to have a nice picnic.

To get there you drive out through Philomath, taking Highway 20 toward Newport. In approximately 4 miles you come to the Hwy 224N which heads to Kings Valley, turn right. Near that intersection is the little town of Wren; it is worth a stop at the Wren Store. The Beazell Memorial Forest will be on your right in approximately 5 miles, you can’t miss it.

 We spent time reading the historic information about the old house near the entrance before setting out on the Bird Loop Trail. The only bathroom was in the parking area so you will want to take advantage of that if needed. Keep in mind that the County is working to preserve the natural ecosystem, so it is important the people stay to the paths. The riparian zones along the creeks are especially fragile so take care with those children and dogs.

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