Shi Shi Hike Part 2: New Levels Unlocked!

(PART 1)

Someday later, I'll be reading back on these blogs and I will read this one and I will still shake my head and say "FUCK that trail!" with a sense of righteous pride.

What happens when all the planning in the world cannot predict or control the elements? If life is like a video game, new levels and features are unlocked.

Hiking Level 51:
So long, dry anything!
Happy Day! You awaken to find that everything outside is soaked, and that it is pouring rain. The wind gusts of 30 mph pull up one of your tent fly anchors, and ocean spray is now part of your entourage. Wear it proudly as it chafes you into the next storm level!

Hiking Level 52:
Give up on your plans!
You didn't really want to walk back down to Point of Arches, anyway, right? You only planned and timed your hike exactly right for that. Waiting for the rain to subside seems a bit too risky. So, don't waste time thinking about what a lost opportunity this is: pack up that tent and get a move on!

Hiking Level 53:
Walking on the beach!
Congrats! Your beach has turned to sandy mud and your creeks have turned into rivers. Who doesn't like 2 miles of muddy ass sand and wide ass waterways?

Boss Level 1: Cliff of Insanity
Everything is slippery as shit!
Nice! Your two pairs of shoes are soaked in sandy mud, and you now have very little traction for that steep cliff side you need to scale! Make it to the top without dying and you will feel like a badass. (Or maybe you will cry, but just a little bit.)

Boss Level 2: The Swamp of Sadness
From the creator of yesterday's mud holes, now presenting swamp trail!
Fun times ahead! This under-water level is all uphill. Don't dawdle, or you will end up like Artax!


New Addons and Mods Available!
Select any or all of the following additional features to compliment your new hiking levels!
-Hands so cold you can't close your fists
-25 extra pounds of water weight in your bag
-Wind gusts, temperatures in the low 30s and freezing rain!

Ok, ok. Enough with the emphatic sarcasm. But, all of that is true and actually happened. If the hike in was horrendous, then the hike out was something else entirely.

Here are the stats (per my Fitbit, scales and the Makah weather reports):
-It took almost 5 hours
-I only covered 5.7 miles
-I scaled 200 feet of cliff with a waterlogged pack (67 pounds was the weight when I got back to Seattle, not including drinking water)
-I had >10 but <20 falls
-1 slid about 20 feet down said cliff before catching on the rope and a root. I have some nice rope burns on my hands from that.
-I sunk into mud up to my right hip and left thigh, and resorted to clawing and elbowing my way out. But! I did not lose a shoe! After that incident, I used a stick to test depth.
-I drank a lot of tea-colored creek water- almost a gallon. Knowing that the filter that attached to my camelback allowed me to drink pretty much any water from anywhere was not only useful but also one of the few things that made me feel safe.

Thankfully due to my preparation and sweet outdoors skills (possibly also a little good juju on that cliff-side), I kept myself safe when the weather tried to destroy me. I am (physically) OK. Some gnarly bruises, scrapes, a rash from some nettles (no idea when that happened?), rope burn (how could I forget gloves??) and obvious soreness don't really count as injury- in fact they feel more like badges of honor.

My mental health was a different story. Each part of the exit hike, I kept saying to myself  'This can't get much worse.' and each time, I was wrong. Regardless, I kept going. There were times I wanted to sit down in the mud and cry for hours, but I didn't. I got myself in and I could and would get myself out. When I got to the trail head I set down my pack and set off for the car. I'm sure that the sum of my exhaustion was tainting my experience by that point, but the last bit... it was a dark time. It only took about 25 minutes but it was the shit-icing on the shit-cake. After 5 minutes, the gusts picked up to about 40 mph. After 10, it started sleeting. At 15 minutes I was walking out in the open, the beach to the west and a field to the east, the gusts blowing freezing ocean spray and sleet into me, chapping my face and hands, sealing my eyes shut and stealing my breath a few times a minute. By minute 20, I was yelling obscenities and saying some pretty harsh things to the universe.

BTW, I'd like to apologize for the things I said during that time. Sorry, Universe. I didn't mean most of it.

And then- I had made it. 20 feet away from my car when it became visible, I cried. Full on ugly, weeping sobs. I did not feel good at this point. I didn't even feel OK. There was some slight relief, but mostly there was numbness, pain and shock at what I had just been through.

Roosevelt Elk in Olympic National Forest

That wasn't quite the end of the trip, I still managed to get back to a bathroom, change, drive 5 hours home to Seattle, shower and go to work on Monday morning. I was so emotional and exhausted that I couldn't bring myself to talk to anyone about it. I put on some quiet instrumental music, turned the heat all the way up, and stopped shivering around hour 4.

I also decided that I would risk a 10 minutes detour to get some much needed natural beauty (from the comforts of my car) to help prevent full on nature-rage, so I drove through the north part of Olympic National Forest. I am super glad I did this. It was like getting a big, snuggly, mossy hug from the forest and it was desperately needed. Also, I saw some Roosevelt Elk and they were really cute.

So, would I do it again? Do I regret anything? What have I learned?

I do not regret a single second of it and there's nothing I would have done it differently. BAM.

No, really. I prepared as best I could, and there weren't many times I felt in mortal danger (other than the cliff slide and irrational fear of being bear food). I am resourceful, think quickly on my feet and can get myself through almost any situation. And now, I will never doubt that ever again.

So I leave you with this: the only picture of me taken during the trip, taken right as sea spray and rain shot up under my glasses and stung my eyes. I look surprisingly at peace with my wet poncho on the beach. I promise that I wasn't, but I am now.

.

I love you like Pocahontas loves Grandmother Willow.

The Beach Whose Name is Missing a T, Act 1

This is the story of why I will never again doubt my strength and determination.

Ever.




All that blank space above is because I'm not 100% where to start after that amazing opener. What is the best way to tell this story? How do I put into words the things I experienced?

Before we get to the good shit (the falls, the freezing, the weeping,) let me set up for you how this was supposed to go.

I decided last week that I would tap into my adventurous spirit, my love of the outdoors and my motivation for better fitness by planning a solo hike and overnight camp at Shi Shi Beach. I would drive over to the Olympic Peninsula early on Saturday morning to make it for the 2 pm low tide, set up camp and come back on Sunday evening. I repeatedly checked the weather on Thursday and Friday, and up into Saturday until I lost service. At that time, the forecast said slight rain on Saturday, partially cloudy Sunday and no colder than 40 degrees. I did a LOT of research for this trip. I checked the current trail conditions which are usually "somewhat muddy", so I made sure my boots were waterproofed. I planned ahead for the 2 passes I would need to obtain and the parking situation. I checked that my water filtration system would work for the coastal streams in case I ran out of water. I set up my tent and all of my stuff 2 days before, just to make sure everything worked and was ready to go. Since I was backpacking all of my stuff in, I also did minimal packing so I would not have extra weight I didn't need, ending up with my pack just under 40 pounds- which is not terrible in terms of backpacking weight considering my pack itself it pretty heavy. I was prepared, damnit, and I was going to do this. I knew it would be hard, but that was part of the appeal. I can thrive in adversity, and I'm trying to do more of that.

Here's a quick overview of Shi Shi: it's considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world to many travelers because of it's seclusion and incredible sea stacks to the south known as Point of Arches. It's about a 5 hour drive to the trail-head from Seattle and supposedly the trail is 10 miles roundtrip (yeah, more on that later). It's considered part of the Olympic National Parks system, but really it is in the Makah Indian Reservation, and so it's all tribal land, which means you need 2 permits- one wilderness camping permit from the NPS and one Makah recreation pass- and you must stay on the main trail. Check and check.

As I drove, I kept thinking to myself, 'Wow, Could tomorrow (Sunday) be one of the best days of my life? Waking up on a beautiful beach in the Northwestern most point of the country, surrounded by towering sea stacks, with mountains and rain forest just to the east of me?' I was so excited about that prospect that those thoughts alone spurred me on during the first day's hike, which I honestly thought was going to be the worst of it. I was wrong.

That brings us to Saturday's hike in. If you are planning an overnight on the beach, you have to park at the overnight lot just about 0.6 miles away. However, there is more than one lot, and I managed to park in the furthest possible lot at over a mile a way. I hid my pack at the trail head so that first mile I didn't need to haul it along. I got to the trail head, ready to go and happy for some decent weather. It was a bit wet, and I fell more than once on the slick, warped wooden boardwalks in the forest. I made it about a mile and a half in before the mud trouble started.

Look, Ma, no hands!

Remember earlier, with the "somewhat muddy"? Yeah, no.  The next mile and a half was trudging through calf deep mud. I would have had to be wearing gaiters in order to stay dry, and on the way out, nothing would have helped, but I'll get to that. It was strenuous, but I kept a decent pace (as decent as I possible could), and finally got to the end of the wooded part of the trail. I had read online about the descent down from the woods to the beach. The general consensus was that it is somewhat steep but there were ropes that some didn't need "at all". At the end of this trail, there was a cliff. You descend 200 feet down a cliff, using tree roots as if they were uneven rungs on the world's most dangerous ladder.

Does that look steep to you?

This picture doesn't really express the disheartened and concerned feeling I had growing in the pit of my stomach. It was hard to find the trail and there was about 50 feet of descent before I got to the ropes. Which wouldn't have been as bad without a 37lb pack and shoes coated in slippery mud, but I was not about to turn back, not when I was so close (pssst... nope) and tomorrow would be so nice (spoiler alert: NOPE).

After many nervous tugs to the rope and questionably stable steps, I made it in one piece to the beach below. There was no signage, but I knew I had to go south so that's what I did. I had scouted a few different reports of mileage down this beach, but most said a mile. It's closer to 2. In sand, after walking for hours, and with a heavy pack, that extra distance was trying. Also, they say there are a few creeks and that after the last one is the campground. The hardest part was the creeks, of which there were actually 6, some larger than others, with the last one being the largest at about 15 feet across with 8 inches or so of frigid, rushing water. My boots were already off at this point, so I rolled up my pants and waded through, trying to keep as dry as possible. I was doing pretty well until I was hit in the leg with rock about the size of a baseball. And at once, much of me was soaked and part of the bag was soppy. I got up. Then I kept walking. 10 minutes later I decided I had gone far enough to drop my pack and rest, get some water and pull out my camera for a little bit of exploring. When I was as rested as I was going to be, I set off for Point of Arches. The tide was still somewhat low which was good because I thought I was going to miss it, since the hike had taken 2 hours longer than expected. It was pretty and I snapped a few pictures, but I was exhausted and figured I'd get a few more on Sunday when the weather was nicer. As you've probably gathered by now, that was not the reality. Here are a few pictures from Saturday night.

I AM THE BATMAN!

Sure you are, dude.

Northern most cape of Shi Shi Beach

Point of Arches. Check out the sea cave in the stack to the left.

Ohhhh so that's why the name!

Sea cave in foreground complimented by phallic rock

I like how this one came out.

Peekaboo Rock. (Not really, I don't know that it has a name)

The piles of driftwood up against the forest border. When the tide comes in, don't be on the wrong part of the beach.

Crazy fuchsia sunset streak

I set up camp pretty easily, I dug some nice deep dead man anchors to make sure that my rain fly stayed down. That's nerdy camper talk for staking down my tent! I settled down pretty quickly into my mat and sleeping bag and tried with a lot of difficulty to fall asleep. Which is what I'm going to try to do right now. I will post the second half of my Lora vs. Nature saga tomorrow.

Love you big as those sea stacks.

5 Mountain Days

So, the JRP was... somewhat successful. I don't think I truly resolved my disdain for the month of January, but I did have a few 5 Mountain days, so I'm going to go ahead and consider that a win.

Many of you know that one of the great loves of my life is nature. If you didn't, then let me elucidate. I get giddy butterflies in my stomach whenever I see a glimpse of mountain, come across a remarkably large, moss covered tree, smell a freshly bloomed magnolia tree or lilac bush, or see creeping ivy covering a rock face. Pure, wide-eyed, gooey-centered love. On clear days my commute to work alone is often enough to make my day, as I get great views of the Olympics and Mt. Rainier. Because of this weird, child-like obsession with beautiful earth things, I've adopted a new rating system into my life.

Here's how it goes:

Lora's Mountain-based Rating Scale, or LMRS (lemurs) for short

0 Mountain Day- a.k.a. NOMO Day. NOMO days are the GD worst. It's the kind of day where there's too much fog and clouds and rain in life to see any mountains. These days are worth noting, because they make any positive numeric mountain days seem like a gem in comparison.  Take a look back at "What a Bad Week Looks Like"  for more on NOMO days.

1 Mountain Day- A day kind of day where maybe a part of the mountain is visible, if only a little bit. Usually a day where one event was particularly good, and acted as a silver lining for the rest of this crap-ful day.

2 Mountain Day- aka "Small Victories Day" - Like a 1 mountain day, there is a silver lining, but there's also some active appreciation and love for lesser moments or more subtle victories.

Ex:"Today, I am wearing matching socks shoes." BAM. 2 mountain day, right there. Maybe it will even become a...

3 Mountain Day-  This is a solid day. 3MO days are actually my most typical days. Enough happiness and joy that life just seems good, despite the everyday stressors.

4 Mountain Day- Wee! Now we're having fun. On a day like today, maybe I got some good news. Maybe I indulged myself with something awesome because I'm awesome. Either way, I feel pretty damn good.

5 Mountain Day- This is pretty much the best day. 5 mountain days are more common (and better) with friends. Also, I've found that they are nearly impossible on work days, so maybe that's a sign of something I should pay attention to. Anyway you cut this day, I am on top of the world.

BONUS: The most rare, elusive and wonderful kind of day:
6 Mountain Day- Is this real life? The universe is saying "You're going to break the game your so good!" I don't know how it happens, but a 6MO day feels like seeing Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helen's, Mt. Rainier, the Cascades, the Olympics, and Mount Baker all at once. Probably while the sun is rising, or setting. And you maybe have a lake in the foreground, and are sitting against an old growth tree on a patch of comfy moss. Yes, this is real life.

So you know, if you are a crazy ass nature freak like I am, feel free to use LMRS as well. I'm sure it'll pop back up in this blog regularly from now on.

I have a ton of pictures to post, dating back Christmastime, but unfortunately I have misplaced my phone, without doing a ton of backup (womp womp, lesson I NEVER learn). I'm also feeling a little nostalgic and sort of want to go through my pictures from 2014 and do a Favorites of 2014 list. So, that's what I'm going to do. Deal with it.

Favorite Adventures of 2014, in no particular order:

Capilano Suspension Bridge
Mom came to visit early in 2014 to help keep my head above water. When she was here, we decided we'd go to Vancouver, BC. It was a short trip, but the suspension bridge was a huge highlight of my year. Mom and I did a suspension bridge together in Ireland in 2012, so it seemed fitting to do another together. The Capilano is a big one in a beautiful forested area. Here's my first and second favorite picture from that day, since I can.

The Palouse
This was just a great weekend in general. I went out to Spokane to visit my two favorite Eastern Washingtonians, Katie and Matt. We spent some time down at the riverfront, and I got very eager for some Manchester, NH times- all the brick, old mills and the river just felt so familiar. It's beautiful out there. Then we took a mini road trip to South Central Washington to go to Palouse falls. I'm sure I've mentioned (read: BRAGGED) that Washington state is one of the most geographically diverse places in the US packed into one reasonably sized state (that's right California, you may be diverse but you are also very large). Being mostly over in the forested, mountain-and-lake, salt water areas of Washington, it was really interesting to see the geography and experience the climate of the Palouse area. I totally got a sunburn in May which is not something my fair New England born and raised skin is used to. Here's my favorite picture of that day.

Palouse Falls

North Cascades
The first weekend in August, with my new car Dove (RIP Ladyhawke), I went out for a wicked long day trip. No, really. I drove for 12 hours. I went up to Deception Pass, walked the length of the bridge twice, then decided I wanted to drive the North Cascades Highway. This brings you through a ton of tiny towns, like Concrete, WA, and has some incredible sites. Lake Diablo and the surrounding mountains are breathtaking. It was beautiful until I got to the eastern part of the highway, where smoke from the forest fires chased me back home.

The Bridge at Deception Pass

North Cascades Highway

Glacier National Park
So I realized I never blogged about this (or my birthday road trip to the Redwoods) so I'm going to do it now in short form. I have wanted to go to Glacier since I found out about it in my teenage years. I'm guessing most people feel the same way, and that's a pretty solid way to feel. I only had a three day weekend to spare, so Zach and I made the most of if by powering through all the sites in about 40 hours. We were incredibly lucky- about 2 weeks before they had been hit with a snow storm, but by the time we got there it had all disappeared. Unfortunately, snow and the coming of winter means less wildlife, so we were not so lucky in our pursuits of mammalian viewing, large and small. It really didn't matter. Montana is beautiful country and it might be one of the most special weekends of my life for so many reasons. We stayed at Lake McDonald, only a few hundred feet from the water. The next day we drove the Going to the Sun Road out to East Glacier and Two medicine. Two things: The pictures I have HARDLY capture the beauty of this place. Honestly I was so in awe of the natural beauty that I kept forgetting to even take pictures. If you go here, I guarantee you that most of those pictures are pretty spot-on accurate to how it looks in real life. So, here are the few snapshots a managed to collect over those 3 days.

Lake McDonald, the night we arrived.

Grainy as hell, but a waterfall cascading down by a bridge on the Going to the Sun Road

By far and away my favorite viewpoint, St. Mary Lake. Yes, I took this. With my smart phone.

Crystal clear waters with vibrant colored rocks

The California Redwoods and San Francisco Bday Roadtrip EXTRAVAGANZA
I have been waiting for a trip like this my entire life. Since I can remember. I saw something about the giant Redwoods and Sequoia's of California when I was probably about 7, and since then have had this complete fascination with seeing these giants. What better time then when I'm already on the West Coast? Not to mention, my golden birthday! You know, the one where you turn the same age as your birthdate? I was 28 on September 28, 2014. So, in just about a week, Justin and I drove from Seattle, down the coast of Washington and Oregon, and into the Redwoods. We also continued down for a brief stop in San Francisco, just for the hell  beer  fun of it. Here's a selection of pictures from that trip!

We weren't really sure about this chair hoisted up on a post on the side of the highway. Art? Garbage? Blair Witch?

Bear Festival?!?? I WANT TO GO!

This. So disappoint.

Glassy Beach on Oregon Coast 

Just follow Justin, he know's the way

Happy that the sun is slowly coming out!

Ah, there it is!!!

I'm not even sure which one of us took this?

!!!

Caribou! Elk! I don't care! They were so cute!

YES MY FIRST REDWOOD!

I want to live here forevers.

I totally drove through this tree.

My new studio Apartment.

Nature! Wondrous!

Failed attempt at a panorama while sitting in Redwood I climbed up into

Not super sure why I'm so psyched about this stump. Other than it's HUGE!

Shout out to my siblings, Paul and Babe style!

Man, that's my JAM!

Hmmm...

What is with these business signs?

Russian River! Love me some Pliny :)

"Let's try ALL the beers!"

Cheers my friend!

  

Another great beer stop.

My first ever In-N-Out Burger! It was decent. I still like Dick's better.

Aaand beer in the hotel! 

There she is!

Really cool old city ruins at Land's End

 

Because houses.

Golden Gate Park Flower palace place!

<3

Sleep and Sauce?!?! WHY DIDN'T WE STAY HERE??

Yes, we went there. Mostly just to say we did. It wasn't really a highlight.

Wine country sunset.

Holy picture dump, Batman!  Hopefully you get the gist by now- 2014 was a killer year. I spent the first half in a bit of a depressive stupor, but I will still love every bit of this year when I look back on it in the future.


A few other Incredible experiences of 2014!
Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Jumping off the Ramps to Nowhere, Hiking to Big 4 Ice Caves, going to Mt. Rainier... so many awesome times.


It's easy to lose sight of how great life can be when there are days, weeks or months of stress or sadness. One of my goals this year is to experience changes as adventures and failures as challenges (that I will overcome, obvs). Thank you for reading and laughing and living along with me through it. So much love to you.