[geobob]

If your interested in moutaineering in the Olympics, I want to recommend a book that I became aware of from a hiker I crossed paths with at Gladys Lake this past summer (he even had the book with him). The book is: "Early Hikes in the Olympics" by Paul Crews, published by Peanut Butter Publishing in 1996. It contains a variety of good reads, including several chapters about hiking as a scout in the 1930s (if I remember correctly). I don't believe it's still in print but I was able to get a copy through a second party seller via amazon.com. Here's what the book looks like:

Crews Book

[goats gone wild]

Is this the Minnie Peterson book?

[Phil]

[geobob]

Hmm...Minnie Peterson doesn't ring a bell with me. What is her story? And yes, there are some sections about skiing, the Flapjack Lakes, and a planned ski area, the "Mt. Lincoln Ski Bowl". Not all of the chapters are written by Paul Crews. There are chapters by George Martin, Swede Johnson, Don Dooley, Bob Prichard, and Pete Pedersen. I highly recommend it.

[goats gone wild]

Minnie Peterson

Minnie Peterson was a homesteader on the Hoh. After marrying her husband, Oscar Peterson, in 1915, she moved to a 300 acre farm on the Upper Hoh River. She spent her entire adult life guiding and leading pack trains into ONP. She was a free-spirit, full of fun and adventure, and always preferred the great outdoors to domestic life. Here are a couple of excerpts from the book I have: "In addition, Minnie's house was surrounded by over 300 acres of Peterson family farm that represented considerable wealth. She soon realized that this new environment represented routine, predictability, dusting and cleaning, long dresses and fancy shoes that would not take her where she wanted to go. Minnie was soon plotting her escape to the high, wild place she had heard so much about. For the trek she recruited her sister-in-law, Myrtle Peterson, to keep the appearance of propriety, and half dozen local mountain men. Seventy years later, Minnie's eyes lit up as she recalled their fun, far away from the clucking hens of Forks. It was a better place than Oscar had described and exceeded all her expectations. The mountain lakes, streams, lush alpine meadows, stunning views and good friends made the trip more wonderful that Minnie could have imagined. Not long after Minnie arrived home, Oscar came to grips with the fact that the Minnie who went into the backcountry was not the same Minnie who returned from the Olympic Wilderness that summer of 1915. Minnie had met and fallen in love with the second great love of her life--the wild places of the high Olympics. From that time forward, Minnie's loyalty and affection were divided. Minnie had a campground on the Hoh named after her. She lived to be 92. I was lucky enough to visit with her the night she died. She had been admitted to the hospital early in the day, and after supper she and a friend played a game of cribbage. She won! A few hours later, she passed away expectantly, but stories of her adventures live on.

[reststep]

That is a good book about hiking in the Olympics in the 1930's. The ski cabin was built at Flapjack Lakes by the Ski Cruisers Club in Bremerton and a ski club in Shelton. Ira Spring has some information about it in his book also. I spent a rainy spring night or two in that cabin around 1952. The cabin was still in pretty good shape at that time. I remember spending some time reading the log book and I wonder what ever happened to it. Maybe the Ski Cruisers have it. Crews has a chapter about George Martin. He is the one who started the climbing course at Olympic College. Because of an accident on the Brothers involving the climbing club at Bremerton High School he wanted to give people the opportunity to learn the skills to safely enjoy the mountains. They have a George Martin Mountaineering Library as part of the Olympic College Library. It is in a room downstairs. It is kind of fun to go there and peruse the books.

[reststep]

That's right Shack. I think he may have some other first ascents in the Needles also.

[reststep]

geobob, thanks for posting the trip report from 1926. It sounds like they really put in some miles. It was really a good read. They did all this without any cell phones, gps's or plb's and no helicopters for rescue if someone got hurt. They must have been pretty good with map and compass. I liked this sentence from Page 3 "We dont know where we are going but we're on our way, so say us all as we lower ourselves through a tunnel of brush for 20 or 30 feet straight down." I wonder if the lake they are talking about on Page 6 is Dee Lake. The description of the pack geobob doesn't sound like a Trapper Nelson to me unless it could be an early model or something. Here is a link to an earlier thread about the history of backpacks History of the Backpack 1920

[reststep]

Thanks for the info on Minnie Peterson, GGW.

[geobob]

Thanks for all the great info on Minnie Peterson, backpacks, the Ski Cruisers, etc. I love this stuff. I've got to read "High Divide". My fathers "backpack" was really just a frame with a curved, thin plywood-type board that I guess rested against your back. There actually was no "sack" part to it. Wish I had a picture.

[Snowbrushy]

Thanks! I'll try to scan and post some of my pictures of Camp Parsons here. I was there as a teenager for about 4 Summers in the late 1960's. Camp Parsons was fun. I earned some of merit badges there and got to backpack in Olympic NP.

[geobob]

Here are a couple of topo maps that show what I think is the lake talked about in Meicho's 1928 trip report. I think it's Lake 4975, but I'm open to other opinions.

[goats gone wild]

Geobob, Brillant job of "reconnoitering" the info on the trail report!!! I'm very impressed. BTW, reconnoiter is my favorite word. Please feel free to use it in as many ways and as many times as you possibly can. Same goes for you, reststep.

[Bryan K]

That is really cool, thanks for posting such wonderful stuff!!!!!

[geobob]

Thanks GGW. I reconnoitered it wouldn't be too difficult considering all the descriptive info in the TR. I first reconnoitered the route using the 1930 map and seemed to be able to follow the route reasonably well, but no lake appeared where I reconnoitered it should, then I reconnoitered using a topo map and the suspect lake magically appeared. I found some more historic Olympics stuff that I thought might be of interest. It's a brochure for the Olympic Recreation Co., operated by the Olson Bros., out of Quinault. Here it is.

BrochureFront

BrochureBack

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