I camped in the eastern Olympic Peninsula on the last warm weekend of October 2022. I enjoyed learning about the landscape and the plants, animals and fungi of this old-growth forest. I met sharp and funny people who love being outside. And I smoothed my preparation for winter camping in the same area by testing out my gear and attitude.
NATURE
We set out under bad wildfire smoke that prompted lingering dread in us, which we discussed before agreeing to go in and do it anyway. The forest was very dry and also quiet and seemingly dormant except for the noisy stream and everything around us looked resplendent in yellow from the changing alder leaves and in green from the hemlock needles. The dryness was remarkable but soon it will again be a damp bed as the lichens and moss grow back over the winter months under steady moisture. Fires were allowed within a pit. At night we roasted nachos and s’mores and could see no constellations through the forest canopy and it served as a small consolation that this effect will be the same in the coming winter when the cold fog buries the stars.
PEOPLE
We were a small group and each camper had an interesting story. One was profiled in a recent documentary about people who enjoy the outdoors despite their trepidation and uncertainty about being welcomed there. Another was a geologist with a zeal for identifying wild organisms with the iNaturalist app. I like the help of an app and I also like my "Field Guide to the Cascades and Olympics" even though the abbreviations are excessive and the illustrations are weak. A couple of days later on my favorite paleontology channel online I saw her presenting fascinating speculation as to whether all eukaryotes are descended from Archaea. Another camper was an aerospace engineer and another was a 70 year old woman who camped and hiked as an emblem of her emancipation from her idiot longtime husband. As we cooked and ate the beans for our nachos these people made every wisecrack and pun on beans you could ever want to hear, and then made five more.
PREP FOR WINTER TRIP
I discovered that I will need to pack my underquilt for every night under 45 degF because my butt was a little cold in the hammock due to compression of the insulation. I will take more bear precautions because of several third-hand but horrific anecdotes about bears that my companions shared. I will need to master the psychological challenge of being at camp, in the dark, from 4:30 pm until sunrise. Or I could take the advice of many backpackers and hike through that long period of dark and embrace it instead of sitting down after a truncated hike and feeling defeated. To do this I just need to get better and setup and takedown in cold, dark and wet weather. I will relent in my lightness aspirations and take along a bigger backpack at 40 liters volume instead of trying to cram things in. I now feel prepared for a winter trip when it is cold and wet and dark. And I will take inspiration from the defiance of my camping companion and the curiosity and fierceness of heart of this group of nature nerds.
pseudoisaac 