Colonel Bob
I’m not in the mood to write a coherent trip report so here comes the first draft. Maybe I will fix this up later.
I decided to camp at Campbell Tree Grove and then hike up Pete’s Creek Trail to the top of Col. Bob the next day. I drove straight to Quinault from Olympia. Just before I entered Aberhoquiam I got pulled over by the Washington State Patrol. My tabs had expired without me knowing it. I got off with a warning because the trooper was in a hurry to go to another call. I never get off with just a warning! The trooper did not ask to see my insurance information and I’m pretty sure I don’t have the current information in my car. I was very lucky to get off without getting a big fine.
There was a lot of construction on highway 101 outside of Aberhouquiam. The construction delayed my arrival at the Campbell Tree Grove Campground by at least ½ and hour. I turned off of highway 101 on donkey creek road and the presence of a huge cedar stump marked the start of the national forest. The national forest is owned by us but managed by the USDA.
Campbell Tree Grove was gorgeous, but the pump handle was missing so there was no
"potable water". I cooked dinner and went to bed early. Right after darkness fell I got spooked. I was the only one camping and in the early evening and in the dark of the night elk were bugling about 200 feet behind my tent. Bull elk can be very unpredictable during the rut so I was nervous. I got up out of my tent and started making noises to scare them off. I slammed my car door a few times and I banged on a pot and I did some yelling. No matter what noise I made the two elk bugled back at me. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it also sounded like every noise I made caused the elk to walk towards my campsite! (did I mention that my headlamp battery was almost dead and I could not see anything?) I chickened out and spent the night in my station wagon.
Study: 74% of Children Tenting Out In Yard Don't Make It through the Night
Maybe it was silly of me to hide in my car but I have been chased by a bull elk before. I was at the Hoh river campground and I was pushing my baby in her stroller. The bull elk was a big too curious about my stroller. As I passed the elk I picked up my speed a bit to try to get away from it but the elk picked up its speed too. The elk began to trot towards me and my baby, chasing us from behind. To protect myself and my baby I turned the stroller around and hid behind an old growth stump that was next to the road. Because I had to turn around and run toward the elk to get to the stump and because I let out one hell of a scream, the elk backed away.
Elk Attack
It rained in the night and I was not terribly comfortable in my car so I woke up tired. When I woke up at 8:30 am it was light outside and the elk were gone but it was cloudy and I was too tired to go hiking right away so I got out of my car and crawled into my tent and went back to sleep until about 10am. By 10am the sun had come out and I was feeling a bit more rested so I drove my car the three miles to the trail head and I started my hike around 11am.
There was a trail crew working on the trail and every time I passed one of them they asked me if I had seen the others in their group. It was kind of funny. After I passed all the of the trail crew I spotted the largest patch of chicken of the woods that I have everseen. I also spotted the largest vanish conks that I have ever seen. Quinault is the place to find monster sized mushrooms.
Tarn
Tarn
Tarn
There are some pretty tarns about 600 feet below the summit but I was shocked to see one of them had been used as a group toilet. YUCK ! In the same area below the summit I found a pile of trash that had been erected to memorialize a loved one. Why must people put up crosses and erect piles of trash in the wilderness? When I am hiking I don’t want to be reminded of death and I don’t want to see piles of trash; want to enjoy the forest and get away from it all!
What if everyone erected one of these for every dead friend and relative they had?
The last mile to the summit is steep and the going was slow for that part. In that last mile I passed two nice hikers who were coming down. I could hear them blabbing loudly for at least ten minutes before I saw them. I was tempted to hide in the woods until they passed by but there were no good woods to hide in. One them had a large rifle and after I passed him he said to his buddy that hiking alone was not safe. What if you fall of a cliff he said. Well I make it a point to try not to fall off cliffs when I hike. :)
It took me 4 hours to reach the top. Col. Bob is one of those funny view points that kind of sneaks up on you. One minute you are in the forest and the next thing you know you are standing on top of the world with an unobstructed 360 degree view.
My camera was having problems again and think I had it on the wrong setting so I don’t have very many good pictures.
There were a bunch of filthy cigarette butts on the summit but I flicked them all out of side down the side of the mountain so as to accelerate their trip down the Quinault to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The hike down took me 3 hours. I was too anxious during the entire hike and I did not enjoy myself as much as I usually do. It might be nice to do this hike again when I am feeling better.
I spent the night after the hike in the same campground but the elk were gone so I slept comfortably in my tent. The next morning I woke up at about 8am and then I spent the better part of the day hugging trees, playing with my shadow, drawing pictures and reading a subversive novel.
At about 2pm I started my drive home. I was very tempted to drive on the 22 road all the way out to the 23 road and into the Skokomish Valley. Thus I would have avoided all of highway 101 and Aberdeen. If I had been in my Jeep I would have done it, but if I had been in my Jeep I would have had current tabs and would not have needed to do it.
I did not want to subject my poor little car to the bumps on the last mile of the 23 road before it comes out onto the Skokomish Valley road so I drove on the highway instead. One the way home I did not stop once and I managed to avoid being spotted with my expired tabs. Tomorrow morning I will ride my bicycle to the licensing office and I will pay the regressive tax and I will renew my tabs.
When I got to my home (owned by the USDA but managed by me) my family was gone but the house was a mess. There was no evidence that any housework had been done while I was gone.
3,400 feet elevation gain
8 miles RT
170 miles on my shoes and they are no longer waterproof
180,000 miles on my car
Strangly pale Banana slugs inhabit this area
Red Elder Berries
Tarn
A water pump without a handle is worthless
A Crane fly visited my tent in the night
I saw the trail crew working on this log, they had it cleared by the time I hiked back down.
Biggest Red Huckleberries ever
What kind of bush is this?
(hint it is two different bushes)
Fall colors on the summit
Final push to the summit
interesting 3 peaked mountain
A lot of ridges
HUGE reshi conks. I did not know that reshi got this big.
Playing with my Shadow in the campground
This is how my campsite looked after I packed up and was ready to go
My campsite and sketch
Playing with fire
Huge Hemlock that someone hacked hand holds into. Out of respect, I did not try to climb it. When I first saw this tree I knew I had to stay in this campsite. conks are growing out of the hand holds.
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