Lower big Quilcene to upper big Quilcene

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.

12 miles round trip
1,300 feet elevation gain.

Snails or conks?  They changed the direction of growth after the tree fell

Liverwort heaven



This moss starts near 2,000 feet in the Olympics.  I don't need an altimeter to
tell me how high I have hiked once I start seeing this moss I know.