Washington Trip
- Jason
- Aug 24, 2016
- 3 min read
August 17, 2016-August 24, 2016
Ozette hiking with Josh and Derrick
In August, Derrick and I took a trip to Seattle to visit Josh and Sarah. We started planning the trip back in April at my wedding and made more concrete arrangements at Josh's wedding in June. The plan was to fly out to Seattle, hang out at Josh's house for a day, then go back packing 3 nights and have a day or 2 to recover back at Josh's house before returning home. I was a little nervous about how my body was going to handle the back packing, so I did a test run in Georgia in July to see what I could handle with my gear. During this hike, I found out that anything like a stair without some handrail was very difficult, even with the new brace I had. After discussing this with Josh and Derrick, Josh suggested that we hike the coast, as it is mostly flat. So, that's what we planned on doing.
Derrick and I got there on a Wednesday evening. On Thursday, we planned out our meals, did our grocery shopping, and packed up all our gear. On Friday morning, we left bright and early, took the ferry across the sound, stopped at a store for sandwiches and spaghetti noodles, picked up our bear cans and permits at the ranger station, and got to the trail head around noon. After eating our lunch, we set out. Each day, we were going to cover about 3 miles.
The first day, we hiked from the trail head to the coast. This was probably the most difficult section for me, as it had more elevation changes, and I did take a pretty hard fall on the trail that opened a cut above my eye. There happened to be a ranger when we got to where we were camping. He cleaned it out, patched it up, and recommended that I should get stitches. But being as we were pretty far from any hospital or clinic and I am already married, I just let it heal on its own.
The next day was a hike down the beach after breakfast, where we learned that we had forgotten the oatmeal. We were a little late getting started and there were a few tidal crossings we had to get past by a certain part of the day, so I took off ahead of the other 2, since I move slower. I made it about 3/4 of the way there before I stumbled and ended up sitting down in an area where there was nothing for me to help myself get back up. I waited for Josh and Derrick to come along. They caught up within a few minutes and we hiked the rest of the way to where we were camping that night.
The next morning, we woke up and we were supposed to hike a few more miles down the beach, but it was raining. So we hung out in the tent waiting for the rain to pass. By the time it passed, it was noon. Because there was some other tidal crossings and hiking further down the beach just made our hike out longer, we decided to just move to another campsite in the same area and hang out for the day.
The final day was our hike out, which was pretty flat and relatively easy. I did fall once, but no further damage was done and we were on the road headed back to Josh's house by about noon. When we got back to Josh's house, Sarah had made pulled pork for dinner, which was delicious. The next day, both Derrick and I were on red eye's home, so we spent the day doing some auto touring around the area Josh lives.
Overall, the hike was difficult for me, but I made it through. It helped that my bag got lighter day by day. This is not because of the food eaten, but because Josh and Derrick slowly took things from me to carry themselves. By the end, I was just carrying my water. All in all, it was a great trip. I am very glad I did the back packing while I still could. I am also sure that I wouldn't have been able to get through the hike if it wasn't for my 2 friends.
Photo credit: Josh Taylor took all of them until you get to the 3 of us posing for the camera (I am wearing a Hurley shirt). Derrick Roma took the 2 last ones after that photo.
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