high adventure (august 2016)

For their 4th annual High Adventure, Kevin and the boys ventured out to the Seven Lakes Basin Loop in the Olympic Mountains for the boys first-ever 50-miler (literally a National Rain Forest!--but, fortunately, no rain this week!). They were sad to be without cousin Porter Draney, but were happy that Doug and Ben Stucki and Ryan Barnhurst were able to come along.

As always, the trip took a lot of advance planning; including figuring out how to pack bear canisters large enough to hold all their food, but small/light enough not to take up an entire pack. Soon enough, though, departure day arrived and off they all went!

Ready to get started.

At the trailhead.

Time to enjoy some beautiful sights like this ...

And this ...

But first, they had to hit the trails!

And get hiking!

Lots and lots and lots of hiking. Really.

Sometimes they stopped hiking long enough to snap a quick picture; like this one.

Or this one of the entire group.

Or all of these.

Or these along the river.

And I can't forget these great shots with the mountain range in the background. This is called the "High Divide." A high point along the ridge with breath-taking views on all sides/360 degrees.

Definitely worth the stop!!

Of course sometimes there was no energy left for pictures.

These guys were seriously working hard.

One very cool part of the trip was definitely the wildlife.

They enjoyed plenty of deer/elk.

Some fluttery butterfly friends (one landed on Kevin's hat).

Not really "wild", but a group of pack mules briefly passed them by.

They also had glimpses of tree frogs, mountain goats (during a water break--they came in and starting poking around in our packs!!), coyotes, and furry owls (that made the craziest loud whines during the night!).

Of course, the coolest animal spotting was definitely the black bears. The first one crossed our path only 15 minutes at the start of our week-long hike!

Probably the least favorite sight on the trail was this spooky pile of bones. Or at least it was a bit spooky to the solo female backpacker who was second thinking the hike altogether when our group came along, and kindly invited her to join with them--which she did for part of the trip. I guess that's where the word "hitch-HIKER" really comes from.

The plant life on this loop was also pretty spectacular.

I won't comment on it all, but here is a sampling ...

Of course it is the 7-Lakes Basin, so there were plenty of lakes along the trail as well.

And I think these guys enjoyed taking in every last one and fished as many as possible.

As well as the little ponds. This one spilled right off of Hoh Lake.

And gorgeous views of the lakes from higher up the mountain.

This lake "Heart Lake" was especially unique by it's obvious heart shape.

And it wasn't just lakes that covered this beautiful hike, there were a variety of water features (Sol Duc Falls).

Like this and other waterfalls.

And streams in all sorts of hidden spots.

Sometimes these guys got to hang out by the lakes.

And throw in a line. Brook trout seemed to be most prevalent.

That's if they weren't too tired from all the hiking;). So glad we brought these mini camp chairs--so comfortable!

Kevin had some glitches in his meal planning and prep (let's just say he went vegetarian for one of the hardest weeks of hiking in his life), but overall they ate pretty well and found lots of wild blueberries along the trail.

I'm sure they were happy to have some downtime around camp! You can see some bear bags they had to hang one of the nights with their food. They also had these rustic out-houses along the way that weren't too private.

Especially if they could spend it in a hammock, or by the campfire, or posing stoically with buddies.

The evenings out there were beautiful!

Really beautiful.

And I don't think that's an exaggeration. This was the same night, a bit later, that we beheld a marvelous meteor shower--absolutely incredible!

They were also a great time for enjoying a warm fire--I hear one night they even had s'mores thanks to a fellow camper and his son who had packed in all the supplies.