27 September 2015, Sunday We are ready to depart Mt. Walker Inn by 8 am. The socks smell amazinglyacceptable! We stop at the Cup and Muffin for our first cups ofcoffee and then get in line for the ferry. The morning is cool, butbright and sunny. O & I are convinced this is typical northwestweather. While we wait for the ferry, O goes off to another coffeeshop for a latte and
26 September 2015, Saturday Last night, as we were sitting under the tarp after dinner, we spied 2headlights coming down the trail into camp. It was dark and near 8pm. Ryan, the young man, exclaimed as he arrived, “Oh, thankgoodness! There really is a Ten Mile camp. We were beginning tothink it didn’t exist and we were all gonna die out here!” He andhis companion, Clarissa, were very grateful for the
25 September 2015, Friday There’s been a patter of rain on the tent fly all night. Well, sometimes rainand sometimes just dripping from the trees. O is out of the tent early while Ipack up inside. He goes down to check the water levelin the Duckabush. It’s up, but quite passable for today’s ford. I emerge from the tent. Everything is green-gray this morning. Mistshrouds the mountains. Our hot drinks taste
24 September 2015, Thursday We all slept very well and stayed surprisingly warm on the mountaintop.Breakfast is spinach mushroom frittata. We had considered hiking upto O’Neil pass before leaving the higher elevation, but rain is inthe forecast so we all decide to head back to Upper Duckabush Campand make sure we have a rain-worthy set up. As we head downhill, I catch a glimpse of something large moving amongstthe bushes and trees.
23 September 2015, Wednesday Last night some other hikers came into camp around 9pm. O & I lay inour tent as they stomped around and shone their headlights at ourtents. They seemed a bit disconcerted that our tents and our kitchenwere so spread out. I finally put on my jacket and went out to greetthem. I offered to make room on the bench we were using as ourkitchen counter, and told
22 September 2015, Tuesday We wake at 7 am. The sky is blue, but the sun has not reached the bottomof the river valley yet. We can see the bright green of themountain tops. It is a cool, damp 41 degrees F. We rehydrate our applecranberry French Toast for breakfast and have a fairly leisurelymorning. We are packed up and on the trail at 10:30. It’s hard totake off our extra
21 September 2015, Monday None of us slept very well last night. The Inn was fine – but ourneighbor was a mom with two children. The mom could have used someparenting classes. She spent much of the evening screaming at thekids. Interestingly, we did not hear the children at all.Nonetheless, we are up at 6 for final showers before breakfast at 7. It takes awhile to get organized at the trailhead,
20 Sept 2015, Sunday This morning we try to dispose of as many leftovers as we can at S &K’s house before setting off for the Olympic Peninsula. We have abreakfast scramble with mint-pistachio broccoli, bits of left oversalmon and potatoes. It is good! I finish packing my backpack, now that I can disassemble the sleepingsystem. My pack, without water is 15 Kg. That’s fairly heavy. . .we’ll have to eat
19 September, Saturday Homemade waffles for breakfast today, then Skyping with Grandpa, L & R. S heads off to work, K heads out shopping. I do a bit more research onboth our Olympic trip and our Grand Canyon trip. We learn we canself-register at the trailhead for the Duckabush trail. That willmake life easier. We won’t have to drive to Port Angeles. As far asGrand Canyon goes, I can now check
18 September, Friday Today S, K, O, and I head to Bellevue early to get Ferd’s oil changed, thetrue destination being Lil Jons Diner for a substantial breakfast.Breakfast is followed by a bit more of a wait at the Subaru Dealer. Oand I actually get to read most of a newspaper for the first timesince leaving home. Nothing much has changed in the world. We return home and wrap up all