Ana's in town! She flew up from Mexico for a 2 week holiday at the beginning of May, and we were both excited at the prospect of exploring some of the Pacific Coast's natural delights. So we decided to hop in my car and kick off a week-long drive down the coast with an overnight hike into the Olympic Mountains.
I picked Lena Lake as our destination: not to long or steep to challenge my exercise-deficient friend. Plus, she was used to tropical weather and around here, the mountains in May are anything but tropical. So, the lower the better. We picked a Monday to avoid the crowds.
We packed up the night before. I carried my Arcteryx Bora 65 pack, with tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, stove, pots, food, clothing, and water and filter. I carried my camera bag on my hips with the bag in front. My tripod was strapped to the outside of my pack. Ana carried her clothing, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. Her bag weighed no more than 10 pounds. Mine topped 60. 60! And that was just for an overnight hike! Granted, I was carrying about 15 pounds of camera gear...
We arrived at the trailhead early in the afternoon and booted up. Several signs were posted at the notice board warning of frequent break-ins. Fresh mounds of broken glass gave further warnings. So, we just left the doors unlocked. They're going to break in anyway, right? I figured I'd save myself a trip to the window store.
With all our CD's not-so-safely hidden in the spare tire well, we hit the trail. The scenery was, as expected, stunning. A recent rain had brought all the colours to life and the greenery around was glowing.
The trail switchbacked steadily up, and up, and up. The trail wasn't too steep but the relentless climb quickly tired us out. We stopped several times, both of us staggering under our loads. I was having a hard time getting my pack to fit comfortably; the camera bag was pushing down on my hip belt, putting it too low on my body. And Ana...well, she was just out of shape.
But we continued on, pausing often for rest, water, or photo breaks. I soon gave up carrying the tripod on my pack -- it was too hard to detach when a picture presented itself. Ana or myself carried it in our hands.
We soon reached the end of the switchbacks and crossed over Lena Creek. This is a strange river -- at the point where you cross it, the river bed is completely dry. Yet, just 20 feet down the stream, the river is running deep, fast, and loud. Because of this, Lena Creek is heard more often than it is seen.
After crossing the creek the trail resumed its climb, and we followed. I mean, where else were we going to go? Then, after maybe 3 hours on the trail, we were at the lake! Well, almost. We had reached the lake but still had another 15 minutes or so of hiking to get down to the campsites at the north end.
Finally, we arrived. With our destination achieved, we set out to do a bit of exploring to find the best campsite. We were a bit concerned about the wind, so we wanted a sheltered one, but we also wanted one with a nice view of the water. He hiked around to the other side of the lake, but all the campsites there were a good 100 feet from the water. So, we picked on campsite #9 (my lucky number) and set up camp.
Some miscellaneous facts: Lena Lake is an extremely popular destination because it is relatively easy to get to (if you're not carrying 60 pounds) and is quite pretty. So, they've created designated camping spots with fire rings to keep people from wrecking too much of the forest. They also have pit toilets, and a fancy new composting toilet appears to be under construction.
Anyway, back to the story. Ana set up the tent while I cooked dinner. We started off with some instant soup to warm up our tired muscles, then dug into the main course: preservative stew! This is my name for my favorite camp soup. It consists of all the food in my pack, mixed together in some water. Required ingredients are rice, instant potatoes, sausage, and a chickin bouillon cube. The rest is up to you. This was actually a "fresh" preservative stew, however, since I carried two whole potatoes up the mountain, along with a block of cheese, a bag of carrots, an onion a bunch of tortillas and a big tomato. No wonder my bag was so heavy...
Dinner was great, and, as required, I burned my tongue eating it. Mmm, mmm. And guess what? NO HUMMUS! I know you're all disappointed. We quickly polished off the soup and then sat back and enjoyed camp life. There were several squirrels and chipmunks around to keep us company but we didn't see any other people while we were camping.
I went off to take some pictures of the scenery while Ana hung out at the campsite. When I came back, we tried to get a fire going but we couldn't find any dry wood. We ended up with a lot of smoke and not much heat, so we gave up and went to bed.
Ahh...night time in the woods. What a joy. It was cold, there were mice running across my head all night, and I was convinced that a bear was going to reach into the tent at any minute to grab our half-eaten salami. (By the way, keeping all our food in the tent was a stupid thing to do. Be a smart camper and hang your smelly stuff in a tree). I slept fitfully all night. Ana, blissfully wrapped in my new sleeping bag, and foolishly trusting me when I tell her there are no bears in these woods, slept well.
There were a few heavy downpours during the night, but we woke to find the sun shining. The tent held up decently well to the rain, but the fly became saturated in a few spots and water seemed to have seeped in through the floor. Nothing a little water repellent won't fix, I think.
I cooked a most amazing breakfast of quesadillas. No kidding, they were the best quesadillas I'd ever had. Usually my stove does a really bad job of frying (it's way too hot) but I was almost out of stove fuel so the flame was just right. We covered them liberally with various sauces from my condiment bag and mmm, mmm they were good.
Ana packed up the tent while I went off to take more pictures. When I came back we got all our stuff together and hit the trail again. It was slow going at the start, as we slowly climbed out of the lake basin. Once he hit the high point, however, we made good time. We weren't too tired or sore from the previous day's exertion.
We passed several groups of people on the way up, many of them seniors. I was amazed that people at that age were doing what we'd just done. Of course, they weren't carrying 60 pounds on their backs. I hope as I get older I can exceed the expectations of my age, just like them.
The trail led us down, passing through the odd fog bank. As usual we didn't pay too much attention to our surroundings and were eager to get back to the car so we could unburden ourselves. We finally broke out of the trees, back on to the road, to find my car waiting -- windows intact.
Mission accomplished! But boy, did I learn my lesson. Sixty pounds is way too much to be carrying for a single night in the woods. I had my fair share of excuses (camera gear, partner who can't carry much) but next time around I'm going to make some changes: