PTAC 1st Overnight

on a wet and dreary day, Jesse signs us in for our first PTAC overnight. Well past big hump on the Duckabush, we hike in 10 miles to you guessed it, 10 mile camp.

Zach joins in for his first PNW overnight, sans Indiana

Jesse smiles on without vision - popping lenses

Ben...whom i've yet to see unprepared for anything in the backcountry...straddles his pack and with a knife and tweezers, mends Jesse's vision & glasses

brain + poop = false Morel.

the Duckabush is a double whammy when it comes to water. Not only is the Duckabush Watershed swollen with water, there are constantly tributaries to cross, hobble and jump.

the Grizz-eater. Bear-fighter. Machine of a dog.

supposedly 3.5 miles from our camp, we enter the National Park. Not shy of this, we start seeing large bear prints and cat tracks in the dank and fresh mud. Vocal as can be, we progress with open ears and eyes.

foliage changes drastically to dry river bed scrub

and more so than that...serious old growth. cedars of unimaginable size.

Last year the Duckabush suffered a large forest fire, here we are witnessing it's damage. A warning zone of charred giant cedars that are gently leaning and balancing on other trees....a myriad of burnt dominoes.

more stream crossing and snow melt.

morning coffee on the duck

Zach treating water with the UV Steripen....malfunctioning.

anger at said battery operated Steripen

Ben, happily treating water with UV Steripen.

it glows, it goes, it works

my solution to treating water is to just drink alcohol instead

a bob moment

a chef moment

ben too. ben never surprises me with his cache of Vegemite, beans, rice, spices, jars of salsa, tubs of cream cheese....this man is EVER prepared.

bob and i make our "traditional" first night out dish....fresh lemon meyer pesto w/ smoked salmon

making camp

a beautiful Harliquin Duck that i needed a tripod for, clearly

so, i eluded to a moment on monday when we saw bear prints. We were cautious. We strung up all our smellables, toothpaste, packtowels etc....Something i was not able to capture on film was our Bear encounter, or more accuratley Bob and Daphne's encounter. As we were hiking back down through the Park, amongst the thick old cedars, Bob took Daphne off lead. As they turned the corner there stood a very large black bear within 25 feet...from the back of the line all i heard was " DAPHNE! come! right here!" and then "Shit, back up, back up, back up."

We all caught a glimpse as this rather large animal fled up the mountain...and oddly right after we had seen a large Elk. Clearly the place to see crittermals is in the park.