A Wholly Insufficient Synopsis of the Trip
So quadhome, mel16, pth_pennylane, and I went on a hike last weekend and had quite a bit of fun.
quadhome and I made our weekly (or at least what seems to have become weekly) pilgrimage from Pullman to grand ol' Seattle. Well--Puyallup actually--but anything north of Tacoma and south of Everett is actually Seattle anyway. We arrived well ahead of schedule, even with a stop at quadhome's parent's (which according to CPT theory, and experimental evidence has proven heretofore to have taken no less than an hour, regardless of intentions of brevity). Unfortunately, we failed to account for the fact that some rather inconvenient festival was occurring in the town (some would argue this) of Olympia that delayed our rendezvous with mel16 to our original schedule. Finally with girls gathered, we began the trek under the cover of twilight to the trailhead.
Upon arriving at the trailhead we double checked to make sure that we weren't missing anything (more on this later), and then began our evening jaunt. Unknown distances (three miles) later we arrived with flashlights casting beams in the mist over the lake and chose our campsite carefully. Some exploration and wistful viewing of a dark, mist encumbered valley (straight out of a horror novel) gave us a highly inaccurate mental model of the lakes geography. After this bit of sight seeing was over--and with the casualty of a bruised kneed and log to the chest on my part--the time had come for the most hallowed of camping traditions: the campfire.
Without going off on a large tangent here, its important for the reader to understand two things at this point before what follows can be truly understood.
1. We were camping in a rain forest.
2. It was raining (or at least "misting")
With those important things in mind, it would not be bragging to say that I was able to coax a fire out of waterlogged wood of insufficient size and shape long enough for us to satisfy this most sacred of traditions.
The time had come for rest, however, and will my small two man tent (three is squeezing) and a sleeping bag short we attempted the best we could. pth_pennylane and quadhome had the most success, while mel16 and I made due the best we could.
Morning finally came. We indulged ourselves on MRE's (Meal's Ready to Eat) and there was much discussion about how people of a certain ethnicity might have some predisposition to these meals. After pontificating for several hours on this and other subjects (and after the mysterious and brutal murder of a mischevious squirrel) the troops were rallied and the true trek began.
To say that the hike to Upper Lena Lake was a challenge would be accurate. It was not the hardest hike that one could imagine, but it was certainly not within the category of easy hikes. Especially not with 45-50 lbs of gear (there were a ton of day hikers who just came up with little or no gear and then went back down). A short list of some of the obstacles that were encountered follows:
1. Streams (by my count there were five) to cross.
2. Boulders to climb.
3. Meadows with bear skat to avoid.
4. Slippery cliffs to steer clear of.
After many a rest and many an hour of non-rest, we arrived in a sort of Jane Goodall Gorilla mist at our final destination. Greeted by a royal cadre of living hypodermic needles, we began our set up of the defensive perimeter (read: tent). As it turns out, much like fighting against Predator, soaking yourself in ice cold water to hide your heat signature (living hypodermic needles see in the infrared spectrum) seem to be the most effective bug repellent. quadhome and I took it upon ourselves to summit a cliff. Literally. During said summiting there was a lengthy discussion about how normal rock climbers are quite the pussies and how if they had any real ca jonas they wouldn't use safety rope. Of course, we nearly lost ourselves by climbing too far up the mountain (shock!) and almost overshooting our return to camp. Our return prompted a very reluctant samfu and quadhome to dive into the water that happened to be as cold as Satan's heart.
Late in the evening after our discussion of Mr. Pettigrewmerry and his Werewolf pals an unexpected guest arrived. quadhome's father had made the entire trek under the cover of moonlight and knocked on our proverbial door freezing to death and wondering if we had any food. After discussions and stories about two little children and their escapades with birds and wolves and other such creatures, sleep again fell. Whether it was due to exhaustion or some other environmental factor that remains unaccounted for, the second night's sleep was much sounder. And after a sound sleep we were awakened by a gorgeous sun and an even more gorgeous lake.
Those amongst us who weren't allergic to the sun (read: everyone but me) were happily sunning themselves on a pristine rock peninsula. I of course--after realizing that all forms of Ultra Violet Radiation protection had been left in the car--decided much like Icarus that if I'm this close to the sun, fuck it, I might as well burn off my wings. Twenty minutes later, also much like Icarus, I burned off my wings and was left with a hefty red radiation burn for my troubles.
The hike down was beautiful (all of the pictures were taken on the last day). We stopped at Lower Lena once more to freeze ourselves into shock for the final time before going to Outback in celebration of our accomplishments!
A small set of images can be found here. Rest assured that if quadhome and I had been in charge of the camera there would have been a great deal more.
quadhome and I made our weekly (or at least what seems to have become weekly) pilgrimage from Pullman to grand ol' Seattle. Well--Puyallup actually--but anything north of Tacoma and south of Everett is actually Seattle anyway. We arrived well ahead of schedule, even with a stop at quadhome's parent's (which according to CPT theory, and experimental evidence has proven heretofore to have taken no less than an hour, regardless of intentions of brevity). Unfortunately, we failed to account for the fact that some rather inconvenient festival was occurring in the town (some would argue this) of Olympia that delayed our rendezvous with mel16 to our original schedule. Finally with girls gathered, we began the trek under the cover of twilight to the trailhead.
Upon arriving at the trailhead we double checked to make sure that we weren't missing anything (more on this later), and then began our evening jaunt. Unknown distances (three miles) later we arrived with flashlights casting beams in the mist over the lake and chose our campsite carefully. Some exploration and wistful viewing of a dark, mist encumbered valley (straight out of a horror novel) gave us a highly inaccurate mental model of the lakes geography. After this bit of sight seeing was over--and with the casualty of a bruised kneed and log to the chest on my part--the time had come for the most hallowed of camping traditions: the campfire.
Without going off on a large tangent here, its important for the reader to understand two things at this point before what follows can be truly understood.
1. We were camping in a rain forest.
2. It was raining (or at least "misting")
With those important things in mind, it would not be bragging to say that I was able to coax a fire out of waterlogged wood of insufficient size and shape long enough for us to satisfy this most sacred of traditions.
The time had come for rest, however, and will my small two man tent (three is squeezing) and a sleeping bag short we attempted the best we could. pth_pennylane and quadhome had the most success, while mel16 and I made due the best we could.
Morning finally came. We indulged ourselves on MRE's (Meal's Ready to Eat) and there was much discussion about how people of a certain ethnicity might have some predisposition to these meals. After pontificating for several hours on this and other subjects (and after the mysterious and brutal murder of a mischevious squirrel) the troops were rallied and the true trek began.
To say that the hike to Upper Lena Lake was a challenge would be accurate. It was not the hardest hike that one could imagine, but it was certainly not within the category of easy hikes. Especially not with 45-50 lbs of gear (there were a ton of day hikers who just came up with little or no gear and then went back down). A short list of some of the obstacles that were encountered follows:
1. Streams (by my count there were five) to cross.
2. Boulders to climb.
3. Meadows with bear skat to avoid.
4. Slippery cliffs to steer clear of.
After many a rest and many an hour of non-rest, we arrived in a sort of Jane Goodall Gorilla mist at our final destination. Greeted by a royal cadre of living hypodermic needles, we began our set up of the defensive perimeter (read: tent). As it turns out, much like fighting against Predator, soaking yourself in ice cold water to hide your heat signature (living hypodermic needles see in the infrared spectrum) seem to be the most effective bug repellent. quadhome and I took it upon ourselves to summit a cliff. Literally. During said summiting there was a lengthy discussion about how normal rock climbers are quite the pussies and how if they had any real ca jonas they wouldn't use safety rope. Of course, we nearly lost ourselves by climbing too far up the mountain (shock!) and almost overshooting our return to camp. Our return prompted a very reluctant samfu and quadhome to dive into the water that happened to be as cold as Satan's heart.
Late in the evening after our discussion of Mr. Pettigrewmerry and his Werewolf pals an unexpected guest arrived. quadhome's father had made the entire trek under the cover of moonlight and knocked on our proverbial door freezing to death and wondering if we had any food. After discussions and stories about two little children and their escapades with birds and wolves and other such creatures, sleep again fell. Whether it was due to exhaustion or some other environmental factor that remains unaccounted for, the second night's sleep was much sounder. And after a sound sleep we were awakened by a gorgeous sun and an even more gorgeous lake.
Those amongst us who weren't allergic to the sun (read: everyone but me) were happily sunning themselves on a pristine rock peninsula. I of course--after realizing that all forms of Ultra Violet Radiation protection had been left in the car--decided much like Icarus that if I'm this close to the sun, fuck it, I might as well burn off my wings. Twenty minutes later, also much like Icarus, I burned off my wings and was left with a hefty red radiation burn for my troubles.
The hike down was beautiful (all of the pictures were taken on the last day). We stopped at Lower Lena once more to freeze ourselves into shock for the final time before going to Outback in celebration of our accomplishments!
A small set of images can be found here. Rest assured that if quadhome and I had been in charge of the camera there would have been a great deal more.