Week 53- Part 1 Charlotte's Island

Saturday 14th July, we woke early to go back to Charlotte’s parents for breakfast. Natalie cooked her own scones and Peter helped look out some outdoor stuff that Charlotte needed. We were dropped at the ferry and our adventure was underway. We packed the food into our packs on the ferry and then walked to where Charlotte had parked the car. Her dad was building another house so we had a look at that before we tried to call the ranger station at Hoh River. We wanted to hike to Mt. Olympus but we didn’t know if the campsite would be full. We went to the Goodwill store to pick up shorts for Charlotte before trying to call again. We had no luck so left a voice message and started out towards Dosewallips. We chatted about relationships and changes that we have seen in ourselves since NZ. We listened to music and enjoyed the gorgeous blue water on our left. All of the online information was very unclear so we drove past the entrance at Dosewallips to the ranger station in Quilcene 20 miles away. We stopped at a restaurant to ask where the station was and it turned out there was a sign around the next corner. They didn’t know about Mt. Olympus either so we decided to go to Dosewallips. We drove down the track to where it was washed out, parked the car, had lunch, got covered in dust by a driver and then set off.

The first 5 miles was along an old logging trail until we reached the unmanned ranger station. We were then in the forest. We continued on for another four miles, through the gorgeous forests, admiring the light, nurse logs and lichen. The river was just spectacular. We reached camp not long before dinner, had a paddle in the steam, ate wild blueberries, hung the hammock and relaxed. While we were walking and talking it was as if we had never been apart. We talked about personal growth, success, the future, told stories of the past 6 months and generally had a fabulous time. We cooked lentils, fennel and rice for dinner and then made a camp fire for smores (though we forgot the chocolate). We had the entire site to ourselves and the trees were beautiful. We had to hang our packs on bear wires to keep them and us safe before we settled into the tent (we had no rain sheet as the weather was gorgeous). Before going to sleep we read some more of the short story science fiction book from the 60s that Charlotte brought. We took turns reading a page and periodically stopped to discuss. We read several stories, both on the track and at camp, including the issue of infinity and living forever, a dystopian world trying to overcome the barbarains, a leader growing in the form of appendages on the crew. It was quite flowery language really. We finished with a game of gin rumi before sleep.

Sunday 15th July, we got up around 07:00, grabbed our packs and made tea and oats for breakfast. Once full, dishes washed and packs hung we set off on our 14 mile day hike. We followed the river up and up to Dose Meadows. The path was almost silent with the vegetation on the floor. Listening to the wild sounds was just magical, though no bears or cougars were seen or heard. Once at the meadows we had cream cheese and sardine wraps while we soaked our feet, enjoyed the sun and appreciated the damage of the avalanches.

On the way back we found some questionable poop but decided it was too old to be concerned about. It’s difficult to put into words how much I enjoy spending time with Charlotte. She makes me articulate thoughts in my head which is very helpful. More stories were read too. Back at camp I had a swim and we made our mexican beans, rice and jalepenos. Fantastically there were no mosquitoes. We had another campfire at the same spot for smores and played yanif. I’m missing much of the details but that’s because some things are better just remembered.

Monday 16th July, our earliest start as were hiking out to drive round the park to Hoh river rainforest. We made great progress and were out by 11am, singing our way out. Thanks to our rendition of ‘Always look on the bright side of life’ some guys we caught up with gave us some tips on another hike we could do in the area as they were creating a revised edition of a local hiking book. We were keen but we didn’t have a bear bin so continued on to Port Angelus. The road, lakes and forest were jaw dropping. The ranger stations were not super helpful but once we got to Port Angelus we got a bear bin, discovered Hoh was $30 to get in so decided to go 90min further. The drive took us to the coast which made the hot day so much cooler!

There was more beautiful scenery to take in as we changed from National Park to National Forest and back again. The whole thing seemed poorly organised. On the way we passed beaches 4-1 (imaginative names) before cutting inland to the Groves Creek track. We started walking at 18:45 after over 4.5 hours driving but it was just 2.5 hours to Pony Camp. There were a few people there so we bush bashed to find a wild spot. I made a small camp fire and we roasted eggplant on it to go with out couscous. Unfortunately as I was hunched over making the fire I was bitten through my shirt all across my back by mosquitoes. The sleep was pretty good on the soft ground, even if I was lying on a root!

Tuesday 17th July, when we woke I was a little disappointed there was no evidence of bears trying to get into our bear can. We forgot the sugar so we had cereal bars and wild blueberries in our oats. There was fog for the first time so it was a bit colder once we were out.

We drove back to the ferry where Charlotte’s dad dropped us the last day and soon we were back on Anderson island. We picked up two hitchers in the crazy old blue corvette, got a free courgette and got to her parents home. Her dad has an incredible amount of stuff, cars, boats, tyres, bikes, a plane and all the bits and pieces. We swam through the hedges to find her sister’s old tree house before exploring the rest of the house and property.

We were unsuccessful in getting both the washing machine and tandem bike going so we left the car at the ferry and walked to the swimming hole/lake. It was so very gorgeous. We swam across the lake jumped off the platforms, threw the frisbee and dried off. We wandered to the store to buy icecreams and we also admired some of the business cards. It was great fun to hear all of Charlotte’s old stories.

Back to the lake and I managed to aggravate a few wasps and get stung when trying to pee. Charlotte rescued a child’s inflatable bird from the wind in the water. Having enjoyed our swimming and played on ‘The log’, we explored her neighbour's new build but we thought it didn’t look like it’d be the best use of space. Her mother had made chili for dinner and Charlotte cooked veg and I helped where possible. We also made brownies for dessert. It was a wonderful meal and then we disappeared to the south end house to have a bonfire. We went to the beach and set our wood alight. It was great heat as he moon shone. We made crazy smore and brownie combinations before we both dozed off at times. By midnight we rolled the logs into the sea to discover magical phosphorescence.

Wednesday 18th July, I woke early and was thinking about the previous few days, fell asleep, started dreaming about it and then when Charlotte woke me at 08:00 I was very confused. I walked into the mosquito door trying to join her on the deck for a cup of tea. We had breakfast with her family before catching the ferry to the mainland.

I said goodbye to her parents and then we went for a short walk before investigating the glass blowing in Tacoma. Soon we had to part ways once more at the airport but not before listening to ‘History’ and ‘Nothing’s going to break my stride’ once more.

I breezed through security and caught up on messages before boarding. The plane wasn’t too full and I had a seat free beside me. I wasn’t feeling super well while writing but I had great views of the mountains and then fields from my window. After writing my journal I watched the gorgeous prolonged sunset and also watched ‘Battle of the sexes’ about the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs and I finally got round to watching Casablanca. As I flew over NYC I was astounded by the shear size of the city. I also discovered, with 10min left of the flight, that I had had wifi the whole flight. My bags came without problems and I got the subway to Joey’s place. On the subway 2 strangers got in a shouting match and I became the subject of argument as a white man reading his book. One of them suggested that the other knew nothing about me and that I could go home and beat my wife. Joey is being put up in a one room flat by his new employer so I was sleeping on his floor when I arrived at 01:30.