Sol Duc to Bogachiel Day 3

This was by far the most exciting day of the trip. Little did we know when we awoke we would penetrate the thickest vegetation, have our closest encounter with wildlife and traverse the largest trail obstruction… for a moment all at the same time.

As we left Twenty-One Mile camp the trail gradually descended through pristine old growth forests and crossing streams. As we reached lower elevations the trees became bigger and bigger as did the rest of the vegetation. Eventually we realized we were swimming through a sea of green leaves. The trail was a barely recognizable brownish hair on the forest floor. Despite the fact that it wasn’t raining the water clinging to everything clung to us, soaking our clothes and shoes. Fortunately nature graced us with a treat, wild blueberries everywhere! For a couple of hours the conversation consisted of “Oh my feet are so wet! Hmmm blueberry…”

Suddenly the wall of green dissipated to reveal a gaping ravine at least 12 ft deep and 150 ft wide. This was not on the map. It looked like an explosion had been directed down the hill towards the river, obviously a mudslide. Massive trees and boulders lay strewn like toys up and down the path of destruction. With no other option readily available we found a part we could climb/slide down and wiggled our way through the maze of broken branches and fallen logs to the other side. Now in the bottom of the ravine the opposite side was much steeper, 20-30 ft. and comprised of mostly sand making it very hard to get up. Along with that we had no idea where the trail actually was. While we were standing there trying to figure out what to do I looked down the trench to a log maybe 100ft away and saw this


My first thought was I should have spent the money on the bear mace. My second thought was that we were trapped with our backs against a sand cliff. The third was that the bear was heading in the opposite direction (phew). With some effort, cursing and singing “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey we did get up the embankment and back on the trail.

We were very relived that evening when we pitched camp. I built a momentous fire to dry all of our clothes, boots, insoles, etc… We ate a ton of lentils and chocolate and went to bed.

Sol Duc to Bogachiel Day 2

We woke with the sun, munched on some breakfast and broke camp. The whole process was made easier by a piece of equipment I think is essential to an enjoyable backpacking trip, the French press travel mug. We had to back track a little down to Deer Lake again so we could make our way to the Bogachiel River Valley. We took a slight detour through the bog that feeds into Deer Lake. It was a pretty amazing sight. Due to its sub alpine location on a North facing slope the snow pack around Deer Lake persists much longer then other parts of the surrounding area. This leads to a decrease in the growing season and other biological processes. The result is that it must have taken centuries to grow this bog that was thick and deep with organic matter.

We got on the right trail, which steadily began to incline complimented with sightings of wildlife and cool lichens Pilophorus acicularis or “Devil’s Matchstick”.

(Though they look fragile they are actually quite rigid.) This was the most arduous day of hiking with a lot of up and down stretches. There was a brief yet spectacular view of Mt. Olympus, though none of the photographs could capture its splendor. At one point we descended about 1200 ft in a mile crossing the tiny percolating streams that fed into the emerging Bogachiel River. We made it to Twenty-One Mile camp (counting the miles from the end of the trail we were heading towards if that makes sense) fairly early, but tired and gross. The camp had a shelter, the operative word being HAD…

Well at least we didn’t need it, we were happy to be at a low enough elevation we could build a fire. We were in need of a refreshing bath and found quite a lovely spot to clean up.

Monika did get the joy of listening to me shriek when I plopped down in this snow fed stream to clean myself. Did I mention we could build a fire? We enjoyed another nice pot of organic mac n cheese, this time with salami, and tucked ourselves in for some much needed sleep.

Sol Duc to Bogachiel Day 1 (July 4th 2009)

Monika and I left early in the morning after splitting a stack of pancakes and a pound of bacon. As usual the drive to the trail head took longer then we’d like, but we still started off by noon. The first half mile was littered with day hikers and tourists out to take photographs of the easily accessible Sol Duc waterfall. Just after the falls the trail became suddenly narrow, less maintained and empty… Success! There was a constant sound of running water and sights of mushrooms as we steadily gained elevation. After about three miles and a 1000’ ft. we stopped for lunch at Deer Lake. This is where we discovered the amazement of Skagit River Valley ham nuggets!

From there we headed towards our camp for the night. With plenty of light left we pitched our tent, ditched some of our load and continued on to the Seven Lakes Basin via the Little Divide Trail. Towards the top we had the splendid opportunity to hike in 80 degree weather in the snow, it was awesome! The alpine trees had that wonderful Dr. Seuss quality to them, contorting and bending into dreamlike corkscrew shapes. As we crossed the ridge we noted the change in North vs. South facing slopes. From snow and stunted trees we entered a world of warmth and wild flowers. Pictures don’t do the meadows justice.
When we got to the edge of the Seven Lakes Basin we were breath taken.


The trail down was long winding snow covered steps cut into the rock. It seemed fairly possible that one wrong step and I could easily slide/fall the few hundred feet to the half frozen lake below… but I didn’t. At the bottom we met a ranger, not chisel jawed with a badge but covered in tattoos with facial piercings (oh how I love the North West). We had our second lunch at the edge of the frozen lake seen in the photo and pumped water streaming from the lake (it was delicious!). We made it back to camp just in time for sunset, made some organic man n cheese and passed out.