Happy Lake Ridge & Appleton Pass: Summer 2005

I had been wanting to try a hiking route that involved some cross country. In other words, I wanted to try hiking off of an established trail. I was nervous to try this without an experienced companion. Plus Anton and I were already using up our babysitting "credits" while we hiked the Skyline trail, so we wouldn't be able to go together. I pitched the idea to our good friend and fellow staff member Scott Calhoun to see if he would be willing to hike with me. Never one to turn down a weekend in the Olympic mountains (he's just as obsessed with the peninsula as I am), we chose the Appleton mountain area as the site of our adventure. On the first day we drove up The Elwha River Rd and hiked up and along Happy Lake Ridge. We had amazing views of Mt. Carrie here.

We stayed in a rather mosquito-infested area that night, intensified by the fact that Scott "doesn't believe in tents" or some such nonsense. Not wanting to rouse the frustration of my generous guide, I went along with sleeping on a ground cloth under a tarp. This was my first and last experience with this set-up. In the future I always opted for a tent to keep the mosquitos at a distance. Maybe it's just me but I'm not terribly fond of the little buggers. Anyway, back to Happy Lake Ridge. I went for a swim in a VERY cold Boulder Lake. Too cold to be as refreshing as Lake Beauty, I'm afraid. But it's always fun to fit in a swim on a hike.

Continuing our plan to hike off of the trail, we attempted to skirt around several peaks and eventually descend to Appleton pass. Despite being in excellent shape (for me at least) this part of the hike was a little more than I bargained for. We did a lot of scrambling up and down and I had to use both hands and feet to maneuver tricky terrain. It was exhausting to say the least. I learned quickly that going downhill actually took more caution and energy than going uphill!

At my low point, I slipped trying to go across a rockslide and slid several feet. My pack flipped forward over my head as I fell and my left hip took most of the impact. While I wasn't terribly injured, I was shaken up to say the least. Exhausted at this point and still trying to maneuver steep, rocky meadows, I was just about at my limit. But finally, finally we reached the Appleton pass trail, where we camped for the night. I was so excited to see the trail I actually knelt down and kissed it!

The next morning we slept in late. My leg ached from my fall but I did not yet have the ability to clean the wound properly. (For the record, I do still have scars from this fall but actually the bruising was more impressive to show people!) Scott and I both slept late the next morning before hiking down to the car. You can see our tarp set-up here:

While I tease Scott about my fall on the rockslide ("What are you trying to do, kill me?"), I am very grateful to him for taking a rookie like me on this cross-country hike. I admit I will probably stick to established trails from now on, however. But I'm so glad I had this experience and I felt proud that I completed the hike. As Tony Enzler always said, "Scott Calhoun can sprint to the top of the clearcut with a full pack on!!!" So I guess it's quite something to say that I kept up with this former high adventure director on the trail.