Day 1 & 2: Diamond Rock to Toleak Point. South Beach Wilderness Trail, Olympic National Park

Coastal Olympic National Park - President's Day Weekend - February

We left Portland around 6:15p in the middle of rush hour and in the pouring rain, but we got into the campground on Oil City Rd right at roughly 1am. The sky was clear with the full moon illuminating the cold, damp campsite. J threw down his bivy, Matt popped up his tent and I folded down the seats in the back of the Green Machine. The following morning we awoke to the sound of drunken shenanigans by our fellow campers, we didn’t mind so much as they proved to be good alarm clocks. We had a tidal start (as opposed to an alpine start) at 5am in order to get around Diamond Rock before the tide trapped us on the southern end. With the addition of Matt’s friend, Joel, we started down the trail at 6am with dawn quickly approaching.  Once we got around Diamond Rock, J and I started humping it to Mosquito Creek in hopes of crossing it before high tide made the ford sketchy due to the high volume of water. After a muddy trail section in the woods above the beach, I made it to Mosquito Creek in time to see J fording his way across the river. I quickly and carefully crossed the icy drift wood log jam leading to the creek and began stripping off layers. The rocks and logs still had ice on them as I stepped into the frigid water. With my pack flung onto my shoulders and my delicate feet blindly feeling their way over the rocky creek bed, I made my way across the creek. Water lapped up my chest as I fought to remain upright in the strong current. Dropping my pack could prove a deadly or at least miserable mistake as I had almost no way to dry my clothing and sleeping bag, except for the power of the sun. I made it across safely and tip toed my way into the loving embrace of the sun’s rays. J forged on ahead to locate a safe spot to wait out the incoming high tide. Matt and Joel would not be able to cross the now swollen creek unless they wanted to swim. We left a note in the sand and headed down the beach to find a good resting point.

Approaching Diamond Rock

Later in the day, we were able to go back and talk to Matt, where he informed us that he and Joel would be camping on their side of the creek tonight. With that news, J and I darted our way down the coast, skirting the reaches of the high tide. When we finally came to the end of the beach, we made our way up the rope and log ladder leading up to the higher forested trail. Our next challenge would be crossing Goodman creek further down the trail. We trekked through a forest of hemlock and spruce with a salal and sword fern understory.  The trail was muddy and washed out in many places but we were made to keep a good pace. When we arrived at Goodman Creek around 3:45p, we spent a good half hour debating how to cross this wide and voluminous creek. I later found a manageable section a little upstream that we felt was swimmable. We stripped to our skivvies, dry bagged what we could and garbage bagged the rest. J got packed up the quickest (a theme of the trip) and I watched as he made his way across the creek. Luckily, he didn’t have to swim and was able to wade across rather easily. I followed suit and we both made it to the other side, shivering and laughing as we reassembled our wardrobe.

J crossing Mosquito Creek

We bushwhacked our way back to the trail and rounded to bend to find a spectacular waterfall. Unfortunately, we had another creek to cross. It was barely shin high, but still required me to remove my socks and shoes. J and already gotten his feet wet and proceeded across quickly in his shoes, while I removed my footwear. I REALLY didn’t want wet shoes for the remainder of the trip. I was already cold enough.

Approaching Toleak Point

Back on the trail, we made it back to the beach just in time for a spectacular sunset. We stood for awhile admiring the beauty of our surroundings before climbing down the steep ladders leading to the beach. We quickly strolled down the beach during low tide, snapping pictures of the sun setting through the natural arch in the sea. The wind had subsided to barely a breath as we approached Toleak Point. We had one last creek/drainage to cross, but we were so happy to be almost at our campsite that we didn’t fully plan our way across the river. We got half way jumping from rock to rock before we noticed that we weren’t going to made it without stepping in water. Damn! Up until this point, I had been able to keep my feet dry.  Now my socks and shoes were soaked. It would prove to be a long night for my toes.

After securing a campsite after much debating and searching, J quickly set up his camp (traits perfect after months on the PCT), while I fumbled around with my set up. After the tarps were secured we cooked dinner, looked at the stars, drank tea and guzzled whiskey and then settled in for a long, cold night.

UNT

Bryan

P.S. Slideshow to come...

Crossing Goodman Creek

More video to come shortly