"Oh wow"

Oh wow!... That was the most common phrase out of my mouth the entire time on the trail. Five days in mid September were spent enjoying the west coast temperate rainforest of Olympic National Park, Washington. My fellow Wilderness Chick extraordinaire Heidi and I were joined by newbie (to our group not the the trail) Leslie - an AT through Hiker, for our fourth major back country expedition. Despite poor Heidi feeling crappy and not being her witty, sweet self, there were many awesome highlights. The first night Leslie went for a walk and thought she heard an elk bugle. Her curiousity led her to a secluded meadow and a whole herd of elk. The next morning we scampered out of our tents to see if the herd was still around. Sure enough, and they were closer too! We counted some 40 odd elk, big daddy's and baby's too. They make the weirdest sounds. The papas barely ate as they kept tabs on their harem and screeched out noises to them, while the ladies would bark if we made too much movement. On day 2 a little black bear must have been training for the annual bear run as he crashed banged down the mountain not 15 feet in front of us. We spotted 2 more bear aways across a beautiful lake. One even entertained us by taking a quick dip in the mountain water! Day 4 after passing that same lake on the way out, we had 9! black bear sightings in a 2-3 hour time span. Leslie was the master at spotting them. We also came across a Marmot clan, including the granddaddy of Marmots who could have cared less about us or the bear. Day 3 we took on a 16 miler, leaving our packs at a gorgeous riverside location and just taking what we needed for the day. We hiked up to Blue Glacier and decided it was worth the up, up, up gaining over 4,000 ft in elevation one way. Conversations with Heidi and Leslie's entertainment were such a blast and a huge priviledge on so many accounts.
Before heading back East I spent a day in Seattle waiting for my flight. I am so happy for the time away, down time to just think & relax on the trail for hours, beautiful scenary beyond words.






Yet, I sure was anxious to go back home too. Life is Good. I missed 6 of my high school soccer girls games (they are kickin some serious booty), there are a lot of great retreats coming up I'm planning at Hebron, I'm getting involved in a new church and its the fall!