Chris and I skipped the 400K to go camping with some friends. The original plan was to make it out to a spot that they went to last year north of Cle Elum. The burn ban in effect this season changed our plans though. The thought of spending multiple nights in the woods without a campfire sounded pretty depressing.

Our friend Brian scouted out a spot in the Olympic Nation Forest in a spot called Deer Park. The peninsula was the only area west of the Cascades without a burn ban and it was a comparable drive from the original destination.

Some of the crew went out early on Thursday night to ensure that we could snag a spot or two. There would end up being 10 of us by the end of the weekend, so we needed space to stretch our legs (and tents). This ended up being a wise idea, since there were only 14 spots and none of them reserve-able. There were a few more spots that you could hike in to, but space was pretty limited.

Jane and I drove in Friday morning. We took the ferry out of Edmonds to Kingston in order to skip some of the busy weekday downtown Seattle traffic. It was a pleasant drive and I pointed out some of the routes that I’ve ridden on (I’m sure that was a super exciting tale). I kept bugging Jane all weekend to not use up the battery on her phone. You should have seen the look on her face once we got out of range. Sometimes you have to rough it…

Shortly after Sequim, we turned south towards the campground. The road was paved for about 6 miles as it went through town. After that, the concrete turned to hard pack gravel and went up the mountains in earnest. We drove for 10 miles up the switch-backing roads in a thick and beautiful (if ominous) fog. The white was hiding the drop off of the road on the side of us and whatever cars might be coming down hill. It seemed to take a lifetime to make it to the campground. The scenery slowly shifted from heavy rain forest  to a much more arid region. We ended up pretty close to the tree line, but not quite above it. While our car wasn’t exactly shiny when we left home, it was completely caked in dust.

We enjoyed car camping at its finest for the weekend. Everyone took a night (or morning) to cook for the group. I made a mac and cheese dinner for Friday night with some spinach and jalapenos. I also made a side salad with watercress, fennel and some tomatoes from our garden. Saturday night was a group effort with sausage/pepper/onion kebabs and flat bread with hummus and other assorted fixings. We all pitched in on the various breakfasts and lunches. Okay… so it was a pretty snobby version of “roughing it”.

Deer park lived up to its name too. We were constantly surrounded by the local wildlife. Deer circled around us throughout the trip, but especially at night while we sat around the campfire. I think they smelled the bourbon and smores. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with us?

Saturday morning we planned a hike out to Maiden’s Peak (I believe?) and towards Hurricane Ridge. The plans kept changing as to the actual distance we planned on going. Originally it was going to be about a 7 mile round trip with some pretty intense elevation gains. Some wanted to push it even further out to almost twice that length. It would have been a pretty epic day on our feet. It thankfully got scaled back to about 3 miles each way for Chris, Emily and I with the rest of the group planning on seeing how they feel at Maidens.

I’ve never really hiked like this before, so I was thankful that others let me use a bit of their gear. I brought my trail running shoes, which held up well to the demands of the day. It was nice to have a camelbak water pack though.

Our camp was at around 5,200 feet (if I’m remembering this correctly) and we dropped down in to the valley only to hike that plus another 1,300 feet or so. It ended up being a serious climb. I could probably go uphill all day. What I was worried about was the return trip. Most of the downhill was on fairly loose gravel and my feet just aren’t used to supporting my weight at that angle.

Oh my god, the views… I could go on for days, but I just recommend that you check out my flickr account for some pictures. My crappy phone doesn’t do it justice, but you will get an idea. The fog was rolling through the valleys at the start, but once they cleared we had amazing views of the Olympics. The trail led through various types of terrain, including forest, grassland, burnt forest (amazing), dirt and rock sections, and sage up above the tree line.

After a pretty massive climb and a bit of debate, we reached a spot that we could stop for lunch. It was on a mountain top that overlooked the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the general BC/Vancouver region. We all had pretty large grins on our faces.

Some of our group split after that to hike another few miles or so. I walked back to camp with Chris and Emily. The downhill made things much more painful on the legs, but it also seemed to move a little bit faster. I believe the trip out took 3 and a half hours, and the return took 2 and a half to 3. It wasn’t a huge difference, but it just felt like it moved by quicker. I took an amazing nap after I got back to our tent.

The whole trip has me really antsy to get back out camping. Most importantly though, I learned the weak spots of some of our current gear and where we can improve on the experience in the future.

Step 1: Remember to bring chairs.