Day 1 – Must Hike Must Eat - Primal Outdoor Members Portal

Final August I wrote about visiting Olympic Nationwide Park and the Seven Lakes Basin in 2023 after years of getting it on my bucket checklist. I shared about how the climate was lower than ideally suited and so I had minimal views for the three days I hiked the loop.

In my 2024 outside yr recap, I shared just some photos from my revisit and so it’s about time to write down up my backpacking journey finishing the circuit and this time with VIEWS! I’m not going to repeat a few of the particulars I shared from the primary time, you possibly can click on on the above hyperlink if you’re new to this traditional hike.

I used to be fortunate sufficient (I believed) to attain an evening up on the Excessive Divide at in style Lunch Lake and added an evening on both aspect to make a 4 day journey. Sure, the loop is barely 19 miles so it was going to be a leisure journey for certain. It turned out excellent for having the ability to take pleasure in every website with out feeling rushed.

Though my first evening was alongside Canyon Creek which solely meant a number of miles to hike in, I took the primary Edmonds-Kingston Ferry at 5:30am and made my approach over to the Olympic Peninsula. Remembering from final yr that the parking on the Sol Duc trailhead fills up fast within the morning, I felt like I wanted to reach by 9am to make sure I used to be not parking down alongside the highway.

As you possibly can see, Belle Barbie was able to go!

I did arrive on the trailhead as deliberate after which promptly frolicked for a number of hours individuals watching as of us arrived and left from their very own adventures. I reassessed my gear, had an early lunch and turned into my climbing garments.

Round midday, I began on my approach on the Sol Duc Falls Nature Path. The trailhead signage posted 2 days earlier than was not encouraging:

There weren’t a mess of day hikers as I made my option to the primary junction with Sol Duc Falls and in contrast to final yr, I took a couple of minutes to take a look at the Civilian Conservation Corps Canyon Creek shelter that was constructed right here in 1933. That’s a variety of “C”s!

Nonetheless, there have been fairly a number of individuals on the Sol Duc waterfalls themselves so I didn’t linger too lengthy.

From the waterfalls, the path headed up and alongside Canyon Creek on the Deer Lake Path, crossing over in about .6 miles.

Up and up!

I handed the primary Canyon Creek campsite round 1 pm however I used to be headed for #2. I did have a look, although, for future reference.

The path was verdant and mossy, true to the Olympic Rainforest atmosphere.

At 1:30pm I arrived at campsite #2 and set about discovering house for the evening. I do know, so early!

There was a flat spot in a detailed group of huge timber close to the junction however I used to be searching for one thing extra secluded and with the potential of hanging my hammock. After strolling a brief distance additional again into the positioning, I discovered simply was I used to be searching for.

There was a shallow water supply again behind the campsite.

I used to be clearly not the primary particular person to remain at this website, it took a short time to discover a location additional away the place I might have the ability to dig a cathole and never be like these of us.

I additionally found a enjoyable little discover. Was it left on accident? Or did somebody determine it was too heavy to hold? Both approach, it let me know that there most likely weren’t bears hanging out within the space.

The timber turned out to be excellent for my hammock and I used to be quickly settled in, hanging my allow on the man line in a baggie. As you possibly can see from the image, bear canisters are required for this and a lot of the in style trails within the Olympic Nationwide Park.

I pre-dig a cat gap away from camp, it took some time as a result of all of the great roots within the rainforest. Now that I’ve learn Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, I can’t assist however take into consideration the interconnectivity of all these lovely roots at the same time as they problem my capability to carve out a good depth of 6-8 inches.

I arrange my tarp and promptly relaxed for a while, having fun with the quiet lullaby of the forest and knitting a charity hat. I really like these initiatives as a result of it’s simply spherical and spherical.

Round time for dinner, I acquired as much as begin cooking. There was a pleasant log for sitting and resting my range on.

I heated up water so as to add to a dinner that included dehydrated barbeque sauce, hen and candy potato. What sort of barbeque sauce you ask? Effectively, it turned out I believed it was a rhubarb barbeque sauce I had made nevertheless it turned out to be rhubarb chutney I had additionally dehydrated. Pays to label the jars just a little higher. How did I do know it wasn’t barbeque sauce? The chutney has cranberries, ginger and cinnamon so after a number of bites I noticed what I had achieved.

Soaking within the boiled water inside my cozy.

It nonetheless turned out scrumptious and I might positively mix these components once more. I’ve plans to share my rhubarb chutney (and barbeque sauce) however till then, listed here are a number of examples:

Rhubarb Chutney

Rhubarb Barbeque Sauce

After consuming, I used some extra heat water and salt to rinse out my reusable container (the broth it makes is tasty to drink and leaves no gray water within the forest). Then, the container and comfy return within the bear canister.

Later within the night I took the poles out from my tarp for some privateness and acquired able to nestle in. This included wedging my bear canister tight into some logs so it was much less prone to wander away whereas I’m sleeping.

It wasn’t purported to rain in a single day however the clouds did sink decrease into the timber, obscuring the view of the ridge throughout Canyon Creek. I fell asleep questioning what tomorrow would maintain in the best way of views and mentally let any cougars within the space know that I didn’t style good. My plan was to stand up a 5am and out on the path so I may arrive at Lunch Lake round 10am in hopes of getting first dips on the campsites there. In contrast to Canyon Creek, they don’t seem to be numbered.