Backpacking with Heidi

So I have been wanting to go backpacking all summer long but, trying to fit it in between other vacations, triathlons and running races has proved difficult. Also, Heidi and I try to get at least one sister camping trip in a summer and had not done one yet. I realized I was running out of time to do either so I have been watching the weather over on the Olympic peninsula like a hawk.

My luck had finally turned. It looked like our window of opportunity was actually going to happen. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were forecasted to be cool 40's at night 50's in the day but no rain or wind. So keeping my fingers crossed I asked Heidi if she would be able to take Friday off and she could. So then I had to ask my BESTEST friend Amber if she would watch Grant for me on Sunday because James was going to have to leave for a business trip before Heidi and I would make it back. What I didn't realize at the time I did all my planning was that they were headed down to their annual pumpkin patch trip (check out Amber's blog).


Heidi and I made it to the trailhead at 5:30 and knew it was going to be tight if we did not book it to the coast. It is a three mile hike along a fairly level trail. It is through beautiful temperate rainforest that has no roads, house or civilization of any kind. You truly feel like you are totally getting away from it all!
The weekend ended up being great. Both of us being Wisconsin girls we did not mind the temperatures dropping into the forties during the night. We would just snuggle into our sleeping bags even further.

We had a chance to do some hiking along the coast and saw two dead whales. Well actually we smelled the whales long before we could actually see them. Of course once we saw them we just had to take pictures. The blubbery mass you see behind my sister is the actual whale. It has been there since May (according to the park ranger). The other whale we saw was still in the water and that one had been there since August. The whales are so huge it takes them along time to decompose. Isn't my sister a good sport posing for me so I could get the perspective of how huge the bones are!
A whale vertabrae.
While we were on this completely deserted beach we could never fully escape the impacts of humans. I took this picture for my fellow book club members. If you have read "The World Without Us" you would know what I mean...
Heidi being theatrical!
Somehow this tree stump has not managed to be worn away after all this time. It was HUGE!
It was so clear out we were able to see all the way up to Vancouver Island.

This is how we sun bath in the northwest!
If you look really closely at the right side of this picture you can see a little head poking up. It was a giant sea otter. They sure do swim fast!
This is actually Cape Alava with Heidi in three frames stitched together, spooky!
Heidi and I set our camp up right along the beach and even had a few non-human visitors.

The deer have obviously never been hunted here because they were not afraid of us at all, wary but not afraid.
Heidi and I just before we head back to civilization. All packed up and ready to go. Who's pack do you think looks bigger?? hehe (This was actually Heidi's first backpack trip and she did AWESOME not one complaint about how heavy the packs were or how long the hike was, she is a great camping partner!)

It was a wonderful end of season trip. Thanks to James, Amber, Heidi and Grant for helping me to make it happen!