A late start for this hike thanks to being given a last
minute photo job. Hit the trail at 10:30 and knew there was a need for speed.
Did 3 mph for the first hour to make up for lost time. After the first hour the pace was more
relaxed.
We climbed up a knob that is sort of attached to Buck Mountain. The view on top of Buck Mountain at the old look out site is totally obliterated by trees. This little knob has been recently clear cut
and a view of Price Lake seemed likely.
The road circles around the knob and the top of the knob as
a few trees, but the view was from the road.
As we climbed up the road the views became impressive. It looked like Lake Cushman, but soon it
became clear that we were being treated to a sweeping view of the Hood
Canal and Quilcene. A view of the Hood Canal had not
even been anticipated. The view was
grand! All up and down the Hood Canal
and over to the Cascades. The Seattle
skyline was not in view either due to fog or due to being blocked by Gold and
Green Mountains.
Lunch was coffee and cheese and crackers, I also had 5 candy
canes during the hike and that was it for my food. It was very light eating for me, but
Patches enjoyed three peanut flavored power bars. They can sometimes be purchased four for a dollar
when they are expired; they are Power Bar brand bars. Patches hates Clif bars but she will gobble
up the Power Bar brand bars as long as they are not too cold for her to chew.
We headed back down the mountain and then cut into the woods
for a brush crashing adventure. We saved
at least mile by brush crashing to the next road on the itinerary There was a route to the lake that needed
to be checked out. At one point on the route a big rotten
log fell onto patches back as she was going under it and she let out quite a
yelp. Was her let broken? Nope, she was fine. That was a close call though.
We made our way down to the lake on an off trail route. The going was hard on me since we were quite
tired and time was running short and hunger was setting in along with a foul
mood. We found a little bit of a shoreline
but we did not stop for coffee.
A truck and drove up and down the road while we were up on Buck Mountain. The truck left fresh tracks
and broken ice.
We made it back to the gate at 5pm just as it was getting
dark. Patches went under the gate. The gate swung open under my weight and took
me for a ride. What? The gate was supposed to be shut and locked
for the season. The gate would not stay
shut and the hour was late and exhaustion had set in, so the gate was left
open.
An email was sent to the DNR to
let them know about the situation.
My goal was to get through this entire blog post without
using the word “I”.
10.5 miles with 850 feet elevation gain
 |
| Looking down on Quilcene |
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