[TR] Olympic National Park - Whiskey Bend to North Fork Quinault 9/21/2007

[Bruce Perler]

Trip: Olympic National Park - Whiskey Bend to North Fork Quinault

 

Date: 9/21/2007

 

Trip Report:

Transect Olympics Athletic Dedication (TOAD)

My friend James is an adventure racer and has been sharing stories of his world wide events over the last several years. For example, imagine spending a week in the Gobi Desert of China, running 30 to 50 miles per day in 110 degree heat with 70 people from around the world; sounds exciting, sounds a little crazy, I thought so too. This last July he asked me if I'd like to try a local version he uses as a training event. His proposal was to take the Elwha River valley trail from Whiskey Bend, on the north side of Olympic National Park south, over Low Divide (3602 ft), to the North Fork Quinault Ranger Station; a trek of nearly 50 miles. James' proposal was that we do this in one stretch (no overnight sleeping) just push on through. It sounded pretty extreme to me, more intense than any backpacking I’ve done and after asking more questions about his approach, I decided I would go for it with him. After all, this was going to be a birthday present to myself and I wanted something to remember.

Saturday at about 4 PM of this last weekend we trotted into the Quinault Ranger Station and were greeted by James' wife Carolyn, who had dropped us at Whiskey Bend at 10 AM the previous morning. She had hot dogs and coffee waiting for us and had been checking the trail head every four hours since 8 AM that morning per our agreement. We were all very glad to see each other, including Cooper the dog. Our trek had been filled with much of what I am accustomed to in hiking the Olympics: owl calls, beautiful mushrooms, huge trees with hanging moss and a deep quiet and serenity that only the deeps forest offers. I also had the experience of my body keeping up with my desire till early Saturday morning when an inflamed ITB in my right leg forced us to crash for a few hours. After a foot repair session, popping some anti-inflammatory meds, and putting on all my clothes, I crawled into my sleeping bag perched on a wide spot on the switchbacks coming down Low Divided and slept for about 5 hours. After sunrise and a little warming of the morning air we packed up, had a bite of food and headed for our final river crossing and the trek out the Quinault.

My whole idea of back country travel has been changed by this experience. I had not understood that I could go that kind of distance for that long without collapsing of exhaustion. James’ travel technique uses ultra light equipment and only a minimum of it: ten essentials of backcountry travel, no tent, only clothes for the range of weather forecast, and compact food stuffs to get us through the trip. We drank plenty of filtered water taken from streams along the way with electrolyte tablets added and some high energy food boosters designed to get and keep us moving at our best pace. Wow, we really did move.

I am very grateful for James’ experience and good natured leadership on this initiation trip for me. And I am pleased and surprised at the stamina, good attitude and real joy I experienced on what has been the most challenging backcountry trip ever.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Keep it light, 15 lbs or less. Trail running shoes - two pair. Tylenol late in the day is a good thing along with first aid tape for those pesky blisters and inflamed tendons.

 

Approach Notes:

Get out of the car. Wave goodbye to the driver. Start hiking.

[Norman_Clyde]

Nice Work!

Now that you've gone over Low Divide, you might want to take a look at other Olympic traverses. Quinault to Dosewallips over Anderson Pass, Elwha to Dosewallips, Elwha to Dungeness-- A host of variations await you. I haven't done any of them myself but I might be so inclined in the spring.

[Fairweather]

Nice. I've thought that The Skyline Loop would be a tough, but reasonable day.

[olyclimber]

Nice! A friend of mine (I think it was his Port Angeles scout troop) did this in a day. He was in his early teens. They also did it starting from the Elwah. A number of the other boys in the troop were able to do it too. I always thought that was pretty amazing for some youngsters! (and wished I had been in that troop so I could have tried it too when I had young legs).

 

Its a nice hike, though I would prefer more time in the alpine for the mileage (like the Skyline loop Fairweather mentions). Definitely good training for ultra marathons or that sort of thing.

[jport]

Well done! Tapping into your reserves for motivation and energy in an empowering experience... your body can definitely do more than your mind thinks. Gotta love the long-mileage adventures.

You may want to also consider some of the classic cascade circumnavigation trails: Timberline Trail (Hood), Loowit (St. Helens), Wonderland (Rainier)... lots of possibilities.

[dperler]

Nice work and report bro...and I mean bro

 

Me, bro and a buddy from sweden did a 3 passes (grand, cameron, lost) traverse >15 years ago from obstruction point to dosewallips, but did it over several days with a bunch of crap on our backs.

 

Bro, hopefully you and James will invite me on a baily range marathon traverse next year..hint...hint...I like the high stuff.

 

See you Wednesday.

Bro

[Bruce Perler]

Hey readers,

Thanks for the posts and other ideas for Washington long trips. I'm planning a Baily Range trip this fall and can't wait to the adventure. Yes, I told my bro, so we'll all be going if at all possible.

 

Hike on!

Bro Bruce

[sisu]

wow! perfect time of year to do it too.