One Night Wilderness: Portland. Becky Ohlsen

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СКАЧАТЬ purple one’s fingers and tongue are by day’s end. In addition, the mosquitoes are usually gone by this time, and the mountain lakes remain warm enough for a reasonably comfortable swim. Finally, your trip will take place just before kids go back to school, so they will have impressive stories to tell when the teacher asks the inevitable, “So what did you do this summer?”

      For further information on backpacking with children, see the recommended reading in Appendix B.

How to Use This Guide

      The trips in this book are broken down by geographic region, starting from the southeastern Olympic Mountains in the north and working down to the Mount Jefferson and Mount Washington area in the south.

      Each individual trip begins with a quick overview of the hike’s vital statistics, including scenery, solitude, and difficulty ratings, as well as distance, elevation gain, managing agency, best time to visit, and more. This allows you to rapidly narrow your options based on your preferences, your abilities, and the time of year.

      Just below the trip title are numerical RATINGS (1–10) of the three qualities that traditionally attract or deter hikers the most: scenery, difficulty, and the degree of solitude you can expect.

      The SCENERY rating is my opinion of the trip’s overall scenic quality on a 1 (just OK) to 10 (absolutely gorgeous) scale. Of course, this rating is completely subjective: I happen to swoon over alpine meadows sprinkled with wildflowers, while you might prefer a riverside trail through deep woods. There are no bad choices; every hike in the book has beautiful scenery, it’s just that some of them are so spectacular they’ll make your wide-angle lens think it died and went to heaven.

      The DIFFICULTY rating is also subjective and runs from 1 (barely leave the La-Z-Boy) to 10 (the Ironman triathlon). Keep in mind that this book is designed not necessarily for lifelong backpackers but for those of us who don’t manage to get out there as often as we’d like. We might be fitter than average, but we’re not in the habit of carrying all our food and shelter (and maybe our children’s food and shelter) up steep and rocky mountain trails. The difficulty ratings reflect this; the few hikes rated a 1 are either nearly flat or very short, or both. Hikes rated 9 or 10 are extremely challenging (but so rewarding!). I’d prefer to have someone leave the trail thinking, “That was easier than I expected,” rather than, “Good grief, if that was a 5, I’m not even going to think about trying a 9!”

      Because SOLITUDE is one of the things backpackers are seeking, it helps to know roughly how much company you can expect. This rating is also on a 1 (bring stilts to see over the crowds) to 10 (just you and the marmots) scale. Of course, even on a hike rated 10, it is possible that you could unexpectedly run into a pack of unruly Cub Scouts, but generally this rating is pretty accurate. Note that there are trade-offs: extreme solitude usually means the trailhead is hard to reach. To boost your chances of camping solo in more popular, accessible areas, try to go midweek or in the shoulder seasons.

      The next two lines list total ROUND-TRIP DISTANCE and ELEVATION GAIN for that trip. For many hikers, the difficulty of a trip is determined more by how far up they go than by the mileage they cover, so pay especially close attention to the second number, which includes the total of all ups and downs, not merely the net change in elevation.

      Every trip includes a map that is as up-to-date and as accurate as possible. But common sense dictates that you’ll also want to carry a topographic map. The OPTIONAL MAP entry identifies our recommended map(s) for the described trip.

      Next you will find two seasonal entries. USUALLY OPEN tells you when a trip is typically snow-free enough for hiking (although this can vary considerably from year to year). BEST TIME lists the particular time of year when the trip is at its best, such as when the flowers peak, the huckleberries are ripe, or the mosquitoes have died down.

      AGENCY is the local land agency responsible for the area described in the hike; these are the people to call if you need a map or want to double-check road and trail conditions before setting out.

      PERMIT tells you if a permit is currently required to enter or camp in the area and how to obtain one. It notes the few instances when permits are not free or advance reservations are required, along with the necessary details. When a Northwest Forest Pass is required to park at the trailhead, this is also indicated. (If you’re planning to do a lot of hiking in the area, it’s worth buying the $30 annual Northwest Forest Pass to keep in your vehicle; if you’re going only once or twice, you can usually buy a day pass at the parking area for $5.)

       ICONS AND TRAIL USES:

       This hike is good for children.

       Pets are allowed, and the trail is both safe and suitable for dogs.

      HIGHLIGHTS: This quick preview of each hike’s main characteristics—epic views, ferns and fir trees, a pretty lake—should give you a sense of whether this particular trail is the kind of thing you’re looking for.

      GETTING THERE provides driving directions to the trailhead from Portland, including GPS coordinates for the trailhead. As you plan your trip, keep in mind that it can take 3 hours to drive 70 miles if half of those miles are on rough or winding gravel roads. Don’t trust the maps app on your smartphone; allow extra time to reach out-of-the-way hikes.

      In HIKING IT, we describe your hiking route in detail, beginning at the trailhead and on through each trail junction you’ll encounter.

      Get a healthy dose of moss-covered rocks along the Duckabush River Trail (Trip 1).

      Get a taste of the Olympic Peninsula’s delights along the Duckabush River Trail (Trip 1).

Southeastern Olympic Mountains

      Remote enough that many Portlanders probably haven’t spent much time hiking there, the Olympic Mountains nevertheless loom large in the conceptual—and actual—landscape of the Pacific Northwest. The mountains fill the center of the Olympic Peninsula, a wild extension of land in western Washington that is separated from the rest of our region by Puget Sound and its numerous tidal arms. This was one of the last areas in the Lower 48 to be explored, and to this day much of the peninsula remains wonderfully undeveloped, thanks largely to the protection provided by Olympic National Park. Although relatively low in elevation (the highest peaks are only around 7,000 feet), the mountains are remarkably “tall” because they begin practically at sea level. They are also exceptionally rugged, having been eroded into sharp ridges and deep valleys by ancient glaciers and the enormous quantities of rain that continue to fall today.

      Only a small portion of the far southeastern edge of this range is close enough to Portland to make a reasonable weekend destination, but that sampling is well worthwhile and, with the exception of lush rainforests, includes all of the attributes found elsewhere in these mountains: СКАЧАТЬ