I Walked How Far For This????

The idea to hike to the Blue Glacier seemed like a good one. I thought it would be good for me to get out and do a backpacking trip by myself - clear my head- get some exercise - finally get to a really freaking big glacier. So two weeks ago I made the plan. I packed my bag. I borrowed a bivy sack so I wouldn't have to pack in a big tent. And I set off.

It's about 17 miles up the Hoh River Trail to get to the Blue Glacier. I was planning on doing the trip in 3 days - hiking in 10.5 miles to Lewis Meadows, hiking up to the glacier and back the next day, camping at Lewis Meadows again, and then hiking out.

The first thing I noticed as I set off was that the rainforest looks pretty similar no matter where you are in it.

The next thing I noticed was that I hike a lot faster by myself than I do with other people. I got to camp in about 3 hours - about 5 pm. And it started raining. Great. So I climbed into my bivy sack at 5pm (which is not set up for sitting -you have to lay down and not move very much) with my 0 degree down sleeping bag, opened up my book, took out my bag of gummy bears and a soggy sandwich (no stove to go light), and proceeded to lay there and read and sweat in the rain for the next 4 hours until it was dark enough to go to sleep. Fun.

The weather predictors had said the next day would be blue and beautiful, and, surprisingly enough, they were right. So I set off. I kept thinking that as I rose in elevation I would start getting views of this great mountain I was heading to. Ummmm......no. Just more rainforest. I did find a good reason why there are few permanent structures in the Olympic backcountry.

But it took me getting within about 2 miles of the end of the trail before I actually got a view. Good thing it was a nice view or I would have been a little miffed.

Glacier Meadows is the end point of the trail before you start picking your way up the moraine towards the Blue Glacier overlook. Now, a name like Glacier Meadows to me implies open alpine views. Again, umm........no. More trees. Some pretty flowers, but no real alpine views to speak of.

My hard work was rewarded, though, by the Blue Glacier. After trudging up the moraine and pausing for awhile to watch an outdoor adventure group made up of 50-something men and a few teenagers learn how to self-arrest on snow ("Watch out you don't stab yourself with the ice axe on your way down!") I came over a ridge to the scene below.

I think I almost wept. To see a glacier that big that close was amazing and overwhelming and humbling. And to drink in the cool almost alpine air after being in the rainforest for an excruciating 16 miles was just as good.

After tottering down to the glacier and kissing it (just to say I'd done it), I sat down to stare at its massiveness for awhile. I thought about walking back to Lewis Meadows. I thought about how hot and sticky I was. I thought about the second soggy sandwich I had for dinner and the fact that I had finished the only book I had brought last night. And I was out of gummy bears. It was then that I decided that I could not spend another night sweating in a bivy sack. I wanted a shower and a beer and my king size bed. So I hitched up my pack and walked out. Through mile after mile after mile after endless mile of green dripping ferns, nurselogs, and hemlocks. It was like the Heart of Darkness backwards. Stupid Rainforest.

25.5 miles for the day all in all. 11 hours. My personal best. Only 3 enormous blisters to show for it and I was home in time to watch the Olympics with a burger, a milkshake, and a happy dog. Glad I went, but glad to be home.

Some people feel like going backpacking by themselves gives them time to think and be by themselves and commune with nature. I definitely enjoyed the challenge and the reward of getting to see that amazing glacier. I even enjoyed the rainforest. But I live by myself in a national park. I spend lots of time thinking by myself and communing with nature. Maybe next time I'll just do a dayhike.