 |
top left lichen is an Usnea spp top right lichen is a Hypogymnia spp
bottom center lichen is a Cetraria spp |
 |
| I use this flashlight to carry a spare battery |
Once again I pushed my comfort envelope by driving past
Mount Walker to do a dayhike. For some
reason I had set Mount Walker as the northern limit of my day hiking range. My goal for this day was to start at the
lower big Quilcene River trail and hike up to the upper trail. This is just another trail that was sliced
and diced by logging so there is a logging road running alongside it most of
the way. I had hoped to have lunch at
ten mile shelter.
A little ways into my hike I discovered that my GPS
batteries were dead AND the spare battery that I store in an ultralight
flashlight was also dead. So I had to
turn off my GPS and draw in my track log when I got home.
 |
| Putting spare battery in GPS at the Bark Shanty Bridge only to find that it was dead |
I started my hike at about 10:30 and made it to Bark Shanty
and the intersection with the Notch Pass trail in no time. I kept on going and passed camp “Jolley”. I thought about turning around at Camp Jolley
but I really wanted to make it up to the upper trail head so I kept going even
though I felt tired. I made it to the
upper trailhead faster than I had expected to.
I could not find any trace of
ten mile shelter, so I decided that the outhouse must be the shelter and I turned
back. I stopped for lunch at Camp
Jolley. I pitched my tarp there to dry
it out. I had brought my tarp in case it
was raining during my lunch break. There
was no rain but my tarp was wet from the day before.
 |
| Tarp, cookset and doing a method without a skateboard |
While I camp “Jolley” I had a jolly time posing for pictures
that I could use to tease my friend Critter with later. All that playing around brightened my mood
and made me feel less tired. After lunch
I headed back down the trail towards my car.
But I only went a couple of miles before I stopped and had a second cup
of coffee. My energy level was high and
I wanted to keep it high. I thought it
best to have a second cup of coffee before I crashed and burned from my first
cup. Patches would have spent the entire
second break in the river if I had not coaxed her out. I think she thought she had a better chance
of getting my attention and some food if she stood in front of me in the river.
 |
| Devil's matchstick licken |
 |
| A jungle of cladonia lichens and moss on a stump |
I made it back to my car at about 6pm. On this hike I had one new piece of equipment
to test. It is called a “Pstyle”.
It has the same function as a freshette but it is lighter and does not
look quite as goofy. It worked well but
I recommend that beginners start with the fresshete and work their way up to
using a Pstyle. Here are some links to
those items in case you are interested in supporting this blog by buying them
off of Amazon.com.
I felt pretty good at the end of this hike so maybe I was
sick last week when I got so tired going just 9 miles. When I got home I found that my new gorilla
pack had arrived. I’m excited about that
but I’m too tired to take it out of the box just now.
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing this adventure! It's been a few months since I was there, time to go back if snow didn't stop you at Tenmile.
In the upper photo, what is the beautiful lichen called, showing on the right side, that is black underneath and white on top? I saw that on the Lower Dungeness last week and meant to ask you then..
Joe
Hi Joe,
That is a Hypogymnia species lichen. There are many Hypogymnia species, it can be tricky to ID them to species without chemical tests.
Post a Comment