Washington in September - Printable Version +- Death Valley (https://dv.netllama.us/dv) +-- Forum: Death Valley (https://dv.netllama.us/dv/forum-1.html) +--- Forum: Trip Reports (https://dv.netllama.us/dv/forum-11.html) +--- Thread: Washington in September (/thread-26396.html)

Washington in September - MojaveGeek - 2024-11-04 I spent much of September in Washington State.   Started with 10 days on the Olympic Peninsula.  This is an old favorite place; I've been going out there for 40 years.   My family was with me for this part of the trip. These are hiking beaches.   There are 20 miles of wilderness (no roads) beach in one direction, and 30 miles in the other, from the one town, which is a small reservation, at the mouth of the only real river along the western coast.  Those steps are new, and welcome, trail construction.  Many places are much more rugged, with ropes you need to use to assist climbs up and down, and sometimes a lot of mud in the rain forest, which you sometimes have to traverse between beach stretches due to impassible headlands.   The sea stacks, like the above, are all along the coast, with lots of birds, seals, and sea otters.  Every day is centered around the tide cycle, as it is SO much easier to travel at low tide.  Sometimes this means hitting the trail when it is barely light, and taking a siesta during the mid-day high tide. You have to hike with the tide.   You can just glimpse an arch in the ridge which juts out in the distance.  We have walked to within about 50 feet of it, but obviously at a lower tide! Then I moved to a cabin in Packwood to spend a couple weeks, solo, clambering around my favorite mountain, Rainier.  This view was on a 15 mile, 4000 ft day, probably my longest.   I did it first 5 years ago, when there were 6 inches of snow (there is no trail here - the trail goes over the lightly treed brown bump in line with the peak).   I was not sure I'd be able to do it again, but I made it.    Took me 45 minutes longer.   I guess that's the price of 5 years of aging. There is a cool glacier down below the peak (Banshee), in the dark north side beneath a bunch of vertical drop.  This was my lunch view. Early fall in the PNW can be beautiful or wretched, depending on when the winter rains start.  This year it was beautiful, so most days I went places where I would have good views of The Mountain.  Some long hikes to get these though! The price of this view - photo taken at my lunch / rest break at about 3:15 - was 45 minutes of hiking out with headlamp, but it was so clearly worth it.  A real push to get here but amply rewarded! This last pic is from the Goat Rocks area.   It is another real favorite.   When I used to come out here in the summer with my son, when he was in school, we'd spend time here because the national park is too crowded (not so bad in September).  I had never quite gotten this particular view and it blew me away.  The PCT goes right through here - I was about 30 feet from it when I took this pic - and in mid September there is a steady stream of hikers heading up to the Canadian border.  The ones who make it this far, having started at the Mexican border, are really mellow, and fun to chat with.  They are also lean and fast, way way out of my league!  I saw only a handful of local hikers in 4 days in this area.   You could tell them apart half a mile away RE: Washington in September - netllama - 2024-11-04 That looks so wonderful. Its been near a decade since I've been up that way, and I kinda do miss it.