Lake Craziness ... I mean, Constance

It's no secret that I'm trying to madly rush through blog entries in an effort to get caught up before, i don't know, Valentine's Day maybe. however, if I throw these pictures up, say "awesome hike, Hon, " and move on to the next entry, I may have one unhappy camper on my hands. Of course, it is simply unfathomable for "unhappy" and "camper" to be included in the same sentence when it comes to my husband. So, I've decided to give this post the time and dedication it deserves;)!

Here it goes ...

Our amazing and just slightly insane friend (love ya, Doug) invited Kevin on one last, end-of-summer "high adventure" up to Lake Constance in the Olympic Mountains. I think Kevin was aware that it would be a long day and a pretty strenuous hike, but I'm not sure he realized just how crazy it would be.

They set off pretty early in the morning. I really don't even know for sure what time, because I was peacefully slumbering in bed. The drive itself was a couple of hours. Sometime during the trip Kevin started to feel very sick ... carsickness (family curse) mingled with who knows what else;). So, they made a pit stop along the side of the road for a little while and then managed to finish the last stretch.

Here they are at the initial destination. I guess the fact that they had already traveled about two hours and it was still this dark out, is sign that they left the house very early indeed.

Okay, so yes, there was biking included in the trek--with 40 lb. packs strapped on!

Apparently access to the trail head washed out some years ago, so the guys actually had to bike I think about three miles (packs and all) on a rough forest service road to even arrive at the trail.

I think it was at the trail head that Doug pulled out a 7-years-past-expiration Tums or Alka Seltzer or something, which Kevin willingly ingested...still feeling nauseated from the car trip. Apparently it wasn't yet toxic. Then the fun really began. I've been told that this picture hardly does justice to how steep the trail actually was. As seem in the image above, the hike itself is only 2 miles (each way). However, it is a 3400 ft. elevation gain, and apparently you're pulling at roots and whatever you can grab to help make it up. Not that I ever questioned the difficulty level reported to me by my hubby:), but after looking around online a little, this does seem to be known as an insane hike by anyone who's really heard of it. And why did they bring 40lb. packs along--because they're both avid fisherman!! So, float tubes, waders, fins, poles, gear, etc. were a requirement on this crazy hike. Why not, right?

Favorite bit of information found ..."When you get right down to it, there are only two bad sections to this route: the first half and the second half" (wta.org). Ha! Love it.