“Well at least there’s a warm beer in the van when we get done.” Chris said after about the 6th portage around a log jamb of day three.
“That’s whole reason this trip, right? For the warm beers we left in the van?” I respond.
We were trying to make the most of memorial day weekend, by paddling largest amount of the Hoh river that runs out of the Olympic National Park to the Pacific ocean. Day three was supposed to be the easiest day of the trip. We had already hiked about 17 miles (a few extra miles than anticipated, because the bridge we were supposed to access the river at was about 100 ft above the river, with shear cliffs on either side, which mandated some backtracking to a more inviting entry point) with ~50 lb packs. Now was the time to relax and float back down to the vehicle while thinking about all of the suckers who were going to hike back down that day.
Not many experiences are comparable to putting a watercraft on either a river or a lake that has been hardly impacted by the humans race. I think you can get a better sense of what life is really about when you are floating down a river surrounded by old growth (300+ year old trees). There is a problem requiring mitigation with kayaking through an old growth forest, that would be log jambs. Thankfully, the river is wide enough and slow enough that getting caught in one is not an huge issue. This still required some getting out of boats to find safe passage.
As the sighting of people became more frequent, we knew we were getting closer to our take out. We had to hop a few river braids over and make some tight ferries, but I am happy to report; warm beers were consumed as we packed all of our gear into the tran (my mini van: half truck, half van => tran).
for my friends who are moms 