My growing love for Backpacking! (part 1)
Phew! Can’t believe half of 2018 is about to get over and it has been about the same time since I wrote about my love for mountains. Testament that time does fly when you spend your time outdoors:)
Last month was an interesting one for me — 2 back-to-back backpacking trips in 10 days, 52 miles (or 83 KMs) in total — one in a rain forest and another along the ocean side. Each was mystical in its own way with the beauties they brought along!
Though these were not my first backpacking trips, I should say these two trips have really made me realize how energized and alert my mind became when I got back to work, even though every muscle in my body was aching. Perhaps, that is nature’s way of saying every pain is worth it!:)
If I have the decision making power, as an HR professional, I would like to recommend that companies provide for exclusive “Nature holidays”. Perhaps, employees come back, more engaged to contribute their fullest at work:) (Enough dreaming now, back to reality!)
What I love about backpacking trips is that if you have the right equipment in place, it requires very less planning (for the most part, assuming you are reasonably fit). For example, for Olympic, all we had to do was book flight tickets, identify the trail we wanted to do, submit a request form to the ranger station asking for permits and camp sites availability, pack our bags and leave. Also,since we had done these kind of trips a few times before, we exactly knew what kind of food we’d like to have. With this trip, the ranger even told us we don’t need any advance booking for the permits. We could simply walk-in to the ranger station, collect the permits and start our hike. So, even easier!:)
With that said, through this blog, I hope to take you with me to these magical places as I relive these memories.
The 4-day trip to Enchanted Valley, Olympic National Park, WA
Enchanted Valley in Olympic National Park is a truly enchanting with its mountains that house many little water falls. The valley is carved by the Quinault River, which runs for about 70 miles and originates from the Olympic Mountains from the North East of Washington state. The entire onward journey of about 13.5 miles is through a rain forest terrain with lush green bushes and trees that cover the way.
We caught an early morning flight to Seattle on May 25th (Friday). Since our flight was at 6 AM and flight time was about 75 minutes, our plan was to reach Seattle and drive to Olympic to start the hike by around 1 PM. We got into the flight and I immediately fell asleep. I woke up 1 hour later and was expecting to be descending in air to reach Seattle, but only to realize that we hadn’t even started from SF due to an engine failure. Oops!
Our initial plan was to camp at the O’Neil pass, which is about 6 miles from the trail head. With our delay, we ended up starting our hike only by 4.30 PM as against the planned 1.30 PM. So, we knew right off the bat that reaching O’Neil was not going to be possible for day 1. Hence, we decided to camp a little before, near Pony bridge pass.
In our first mile of the trail, we met an old lady who was returning from Enchanted valley. She seemed like she was in her late 50s. Carrying the backpack, she told us in a very nonchalant way, “It is gorgeous up there. I did it over 2 days. I wish I had stayed there longer. You guys will enjoy it up there!”. I thought to myself, ‘Wow, she walked 13.5 miles in a day carrying the backpack all alone at 50+ years. Where does she get the power from? I hope I am like that when I am 50’.
After another mile, we finally got to see the Quinault river, although we kept hearing the sound of the river flowing since we started the hike. This is what you should know about this hike. The flowing sound of the river is something you will keep hearing throughout your journey up and down. It is so soothing to the mind that once you come out of it after the hike, you want to just go back again. Also, because you are always by the side of the river, getting water is for drinking and cooking is super easy. All we had to do was fill water in our bottles, filter using Sawyer filters, add some iodine tablets (still optional, but we were just extra cautious) and we were good!
By this time, it was almost closer to 6.30 PM. We had another 90 minutes of sun light left. Hence, we decided to walk until 7.30 PM before we could put down our tents. As we started scouting for a camp site, we met a man, perhaps in his 60s, who said that he did the entire hike in just a day i.e., all 27 miles in about 13 hours. “Insane”, I thought. Well, he called himself ‘Crazy’:).
Thankfully, we found a cozy little spot for our tents. ‘Thankful’ because it was a long weekend and there were going to be a lot of people in the area.
With this picture, I must say this. We deliberated a lot about carrying REI’s flexlite camping chairs because it’s just another weight to take for 4 days. But, I must say that these things are engineered so well that it is totally worth carrying them and honestly, not that heavy. So, if you have space in your backpack for trips like these, I would highly recommend it.
Once the tents were set, we quickly finished our dinner, which for day 1, were packed pasta and sandwiches from a restaurant near the airport. We knew we were going to be tired and did not want to spend our energy cooking meals. After dinner, we walked about 100 ft from our campsite to put away our bear canisters with all the scented items in it. This was going to be a daily ritual every night for the next few nights.
While returning in twilight, I captured this picture in my mobile:)
After a good night’s sleep with the sound of the river flowing nearby, we started with our next day hike. We decided to quickly reach O’Neil pass, which was about 2.5 miles from where we had camped. We had decided to halt there for brunch.
The way was blessed with cute little bridges and creeks — to name a few: Fire Creek, Noname creek. (Yes, you heard it right! Noname creek because they perhaps lost their creativity by then:P)
And obviously, when I saw such beauties of nature, I had to click a picture even though my bag was heavy and I had to find the perfect angle:P
By the time we reached O’Neil, we were super hungry. It’s funny how a simple packet food such a maggie or oats tastes sooo good on such trips to remote places. We ate to our hearts’ content!
By around 6 PM that evening, we reached the magical enchanted valley and were all smiles. It was crowded and we had to scout for a camping spot. But, we ended up finding a perfect spot that gave us the view of the gorgeous mountains that housed some snow and little water falls. We still another 3 hours of sunlight!
The famed Enchanted Valley Chalet (in the pic above) was actually a place of retreat for hikers and adventurers back in 1930s for a rent of $1.5 per night. During WW II, the Chalet was also used as an aircraft warning station. Today, it is inhabitable and simply just standing there adding beauty to this place in isolation. Infact, in 2014, the structure was moved a little bit away to prevent it from falling into the river
As the evening got colder, we decided to quickly wrap up our dinner and sit by the fire to enjoy some hot chocolate:)
As we retired for the night, the sky turned gorgeous with sparkling stars. The lack of light pollution added more beauty to the place. When we got up in the morning, we got to see this.
Infact, the sound of the flowing water was soothing that we even sat there for a bit and composed a small piece of music in our native language. (well, that’s now secretively saved in a place where noone can access:P). Alas, nature is an inspiration!
After chit chatting for a bit, watching the mountains, and finishing a sumptuous breakfast, we reluctantly packed up our bags to leave.
On the way back, when we stopped for lunch, we had atleast 5 to 6 fellow backpackers stop by us and ask what we were eating because they could smell the aroma of the food from a few meters away. Well, what can I say. That’s the magic of Indian food and thanks to MTR ready-to-eat packets and the magic of a jet-boiler!:)
During the last camping night, we met a very calm-composed young man who was sweet enough to let us share his camp site when he found that we were hunting for one. He also decided to share his fire with us and as a good gesture in return, we made hot chocolate for him. We chatted for about an hour or so. We spoke about how being with mountains and nature in general made us all so happy. He also taught us some quick tricks to make good fire. He was all by himself and seemed so much in control of his surroundings. It’s fascinating what all you can learn from fellow travelers.
By the end of this trip, I had to pay my tribute to the most important person that came along with me and helped me walk all these miles with ease — a randomly found wooden stick. She was perfect with the right angle of bend at the end that gave me the grip as I hiked over some elevation with a 30-pound backpack. Thank you, my dear third leg!!
In summary, we did this trail over 3 nights, taking it slow and enjoying every bit of nature we saw. If you have a long weekend and are looking for an easy, yet picturesque backpacking trip with very limited planning, Enchanted Valley should be at the top of your list.
If there is one regret we had, that was about not being able to see any bears. But, I’d blame it on the humans because there were quite a few of us hiking this trail!
The 4-day trip to Lost Coast trail, CA
COMING SOON!:)…
