Walks with Moss: Dosewallips on Christmas Eve

11 miles 1,100 feet elevation gain 6.25 hours (one hour for lunch)

My spouse was not very pleased when I told him that I wanted to go hiking in Christmas Eve, so I promised him that I would get home early. I went to bed with the plan to get up and go the first time I woke up at a reasonable hour to hike. I’m a very light sleeper, so I knew this plan would work. Well I woke up at 12:30, that was too early, and then I woke up again at 1:30 that was still too early. Then I woke up at 6:20 and it was time to go. 6:30 is what time the Simpson trains start running, so that is probably what woke me up.

On my way to the Dosewallips I had a good startle. I was just outside of Brinnon when good sized herd of elk decided to cross the road in front of me. I had to slam on the brakes and for a second I did not think I was going to be able to stop on time. It looked like I was going to hit three elk at once! But I managed to stop on time and I did not even skid my studded snow tires in the rain. But there I was, stopped on a blind curve on highway 101 in the dark. I turned on my hazard lights and hoped that no one would come up behind me before the elk had finished crossing. What I think was the Bull elk stood in the middle of the road giving me the stink eye while waiting for his herd to cross. I wish I that gotten out my camera sooner to take a picture of him. But I did get my camera out in time to take a few pictures of the other elk from the middle of the road. It was dark and I had my prime lens so the view was narrow and the F-stop was very high. Once I thought all the elk had crossed I started to pull away, but my starting up made several more elk jump out of the bushes. Finally after the last of the elk had crossed I pulled up to a pull out and hooked up my external flash so I could take a few more pictures at F4 instead of F2.8. The whole incident was both exciting and scary. It certainly woke me up!

The dirt road to the trail was icy and I had to shift into 4-wheel drive because my tires were spinning. I'm really glad that I took my Subaru and not my Escort station wagon. I hit the trail at 8:20 and hoped to be back to my Jeep uh I mean Subaru by 2:30 so I would have two hours to drive back before the sun set. I came close to my goal. I finished up at 2:45 and got home before dark. My spouse was glad that I got home so early and he does not seem to be upset that I went hiking today.

Hiking in the morning light made a pleasant change, I must start forcing myself to get up earlier. As I hiked in I could hear rocks falling into the river from a washout on the opposite bank. On the way out I could hear that the rocks were still falling at a steady clip so I took a video of them falling.

For lunch I had stuffed grape leaves, homemade fettuccini alfredo and jasmine tea. Not a bad lunch at all! I warmed up the alfredo in my cook pot and was glad I did. Having a warm tummy full of food felt very nice!

The weather was almost perfect, there was no rain but it was a bit overcast and gloomy. It felt quite gloomy and cold at the campground where I had my lunch. I had the trail all to myself today. Patches started limping on the way out; I hope her knee problem has not come back.

Upon getting home and looking at my photos I noticed that one of the elk had a collar on it. Maybe they were not elk at all; maybe they were Santa’s reindeer!