Dave 1970

Here are some more from the Red route traverse of the Olympics. I'm not sure of the locations of all of these photos, but pretty sure their all from this traverse. I'll put them in what I think is the correct order from south to north. This was on the ridge from Muncaster to Chimney Pk. We snuck up on these guys , chilling away from the wives- didn't have a zoom lens - they saw us and booked.Taking a break in the lupine. I'm into wildflowers, in case you hadn't noticed. Glacier Lilies. Did you know you can eat the leaves of avalanche lilies and glacier lilies? In fact you can eat the stem and flower, too, but we used to just pull off a leaf from individual plants to make a little salad. This time of year (September) , we could usually find blueberries and occasionally, even a wild onion. We came over a ridge and there was a large herd of elk near the crest. They immediately took off down the snowfield; a bull on either side, looking like they were draining down a funnel. By the time I got my camera out, they were pretty far down the slope. I don't remember which peak this was - maybe it wasn't even on this trip. Anyone recognize it? We usually had a small campfire in the evening. There's something very comforting about a small fire. Those were the days... But we would always clean it up to where you would never know there had been a campfire there. Wheat Thins - with Mt. Olympus in background. You'll notice Wheat Thins in most of our summit photos. We always took Wheat Thins along, and for some reason, it became a tradition to include them in our summit pictures. None of us remember how that came about. But if you see Wheat Thins, you know we're on some summit or another. Shooting StarsYou can tell we're nearing the end of the trip here, as we're looking pretty grody. Must be Mt. Claywood or Fromme. Also, you may have noticed that Rich is wearing his boxer shorts in many of these pictures. That's because I forgot my cutoffs, so he let me borrow his, since he had the boxers. We never saw other hikers back off-trail in the interior, so it worked out ok (except for the photos...) So, this has to be the last summit on our trip. Probably Claywood. A week in the wilderness without a shower or clean clothes. We got some strange looks when we arrived at Hurricane Ridge! (Rich put on his long pants before we got there...)

Red Route Photos (I'll add to these as I find more) Rich on Muncaster Summit Looking down into Enchanted Valley Beargrass Dave on Muncaster Along the ridge heading toward Crystal Pk Probably Crystal Pk Summit More Beargrass

I realize it’s not easy to make out details on this map – so here’s a brief description, telling peaks the route intersects with: The Red Route starts at E Fork Quinault River Trailhead and follows to a point below Muncaster Mt. You could go further along the trail and take the Pyrites Cr. Trail up to the ridge and back track to Muncaster Mt, or skip Muncaster altogether if you like. Follow the ridge to Chimney Pk and then head N to Crystal Pk (unless you want to make a side trip to Mt Anderson). Follow the ridge to Mt Norton ,Mt Fromme ,and Mt Claywood; then on to Lost Pk, Cameron, McCartney, and then on to Hurricane Ridge – there are multiple ways to get there. There are several good side trips you can take on intersecting ridges, particularly once you get to the Lost Pk area. – we only had a week, and had already climbed many of those peaks so had to move on. Let me know if you have questions - I might know the answers to them, but its been almost 50 yrs since I took these trips, so you need to understand that these routes are probably not exactly the way we did them. However, they're close enough to give you some good ideas for ridge-running.

The map below shows two of my favorite week-long routes traversing the Olympics. The one shown in purple was the nicest. The routes are not shown entirely accurately, as you would need topo maps to find accurate routes. But you can get a general idea. I DO remember the last section of the purple route presented some route-finding challenges (getting to the ridge above the Quinault River Valley). We hiked the purple route north to south, and the red route south to north. We generally took these trips in the 2nd week in September, which worked out well for weather. I don't know if that's still the best time, now that climate change has kicked in. But it worked out well because schools were back in session and people were done vacationing. We never saw other humans once we got off the trails. I'll send some pictures from these trips in another post.

I suppose a good place to start the story of the Truckers is with how we got into climbing in the first place. Rich and I were friends in junior high school in the mid-60s, and we began hiking on the North Fork of the Skokomish and other hikes in that area around that time, usually with one or more of his eight brothers coming along. The first indication that we were heading toward climbing, was when we hiked to First Divide. Coming up out of the forests into more open country – the beauty of the meadows, and the ability to see a wider expanse, enticed us to hike to higher places. At that time, there was no climber’s guide to the Olympics, but Rich had an uncle who had gone up Mt. Washington, and gave us a general idea of the route. We successfully ascended it and felt the satisfaction of getting to a summit. But there was also that feeling of anticipation as you’re approaching the ridge leading to the summit, and then the exhilaration of seeing the mountains, valleys, and ridges beyond it that hooked me. Since there was no climbing guide, we relied on topographic maps and a compass to plan and execute a climb. Sometimes that worked out – sometimes not. There are a lot of details missing on topographic maps. We would start ascending what looked on a map to be a relatively steady incline to find an impassable cliff, or a slope covered with devil’s club. You can see how the concept of a “truck route” would evolve as we took roundabout routes to find our way to summits like Mt. Pershing, or North Brother. Originally, we saw rock-climbing as kind of crazy, but as some of the summits became more technical, we realized the necessity of learning that skill. We turned to “Mountaineering – The Freedom of the Hills” (1st Edition) for guidance. We went to the hardware store and got a rope and practiced rappelling on Green Mountain, which was close to home for us, and practiced belaying techniques to protect the one rappelling. A couple years later, we replaced it with a Goldline climbing rope from the REI warehouse store on 11th Ave in Seattle. That store was a trip It was an old warehouse with a strange smell and a lot of stuff at cheap prices. The only other place to get similar gear was Eddie Bauer, which was very upscale. We paid one or two dollars to become members, and bought nearly all our gear there. · Used Climbing boots - (heavy leather boots with Vibram soles that I used whether hiking, climbing, or rock climbing - $30) · Steel crampons that would fit my boots (about $15) · A wooden ice axe – Himalaya Pickel, model Kuno Rainer, made in Austria ($13) · And lots of other equipment, like nylon webbing, pitons, hammers, gaiters – all much heavier and bulkier than the equipment you see today. I had a Cruiser pack that was too large for most of our trips, but I got a smaller Jan Sport pack in the early 70s at a discount because I worked at the K2 ski factory on Vashon Island at that time. I haven’t done any serious climbing for quite a while and, except for the ice axe, it’s all been given away. I can’t part with the ice axe – it’s been used and misused, on well over a hundred climbs, and has saved my life on many occasions. We got climbing pants at a military surplus store for $3. One hundred percent wool, with padded butt and knees, baggy above the knee, and cuffs just above the ankle. I’m not sure which servicemembers wore them, but they were indestructible, warm, and comfortable. You can get a general idea of them from one of the photos attached to a previous post. My Himalaya Pickel

You should tell me what you'd like to know more about. Differences between climbing in the 70s and climbing now? Cool traverses across the Olympic Mts? Idiosyncracies of the Truckers? Rock Climbing ? Climbing Tahoma? Environmental advocacy? Climbing particular peaks? I have quite a few photos that I digitized from slides that I took with a Canon AE1 SLR.I didn't digitize them until they were 40 - 50 years old, so some of them aren't great quality, and, of course, some were just too deteriorated to save. I'll send a few here. Breakfast on an approach to Mt. Lincoln from Wagonwheel Lake. The core group of Truckers: Dave, Rich, and Scott; looking appro priately tough with their Animal Crackers before a grueling climb up some damn peak. Rich chimneying on one of the spires on Jabberwocky Ridge. He went through to the other side to finish the ascent. Scott drew the short straw and therefore, was chosen as the mothertrucker to be first across the Hoh at flood stage on an ill-fated attempt at a winter climb of Mt. Tom.

You asked if anyone knew about the truckers. I was a part of that organization a long time ago. I remember when we placed the register on the Citadel, but I don’t remember which other summits we put registers on. We climbed lots of mountains in the Olympics as well as many of the minor peaks and even some unnamed peaks. The truckers were active from about 1970 to maybe 1977 or 78. Most of the time our membership consisted of 3 - 5 guys. Our name was inspired by a common phrase of that time: “Keep on Truckin’. “ we generally avoided common routes up mountains. We referred to our routes as “truck routes,” and the leader of a climb was referred to as the “mother trucker.” Almost every September, we would take a cross country route across the Olympics, following ridges as much as possible, and climbing any peaks, we ran into along the way. If you’d like to know more, you can email me (Dave) at sciguy300@gmail.com Nice pictures, and nice to see the register is still there after all this time Thanks for the memory.