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Bryan K
Shameless Peakbagger
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 5129 | TRs | Pics
Location: Alaska |
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Bryan K
Shameless Peakbagger
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 Fri Jul 23, 2010 12:13 am |
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What an amazing trip Dane! I'll need some time to read it so that I can absorb it all. I'm glad that you made this incredible journey and made it back home safely.
Your experience is invaluable and certainly a trip that you'll remember forever. Now any day trip that we take will seem like small potatoes to you 
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Hikingqueen
Member
Joined: 12 Nov 2007
Posts: 2946 | TRs | Pics
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I got to say I didn't read it all but I read at least half and I love the fact that your a rocker, so am I! Second your writing is excellent and photos and experience so amazing! Way to go! I wish I had it in me to do something like that around Rainier, but I'm just beginning you never know.
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Presto
Living High
Joined: 15 Sep 2009
Posts: 29 | TRs | Pics
Location: Denver, Colorado |
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Presto
Living High
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Fri Jul 23, 2010 2:59 pm Amazing!
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The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience and truth over popularity. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.
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hovsep
Member
Joined: 04 Mar 2010
Posts: 7 | TRs | Pics
Location: Lynnwood, WA |
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hovsep
Member
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Sat Jul 24, 2010 1:09 am |
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how wild man 
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MCaver
Founder
Joined: 14 Dec 2001
Posts: 5124 | TRs | Pics
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MCaver
Founder
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Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:02 am |
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Most epic trip report ever!
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skookum olympus
Member
Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 246 | TRs | Pics
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Dane, you inspire and leave me in awe of your accomplishments. I just came out from 6 days in the Olys. Altho my feet are still sore, and I'm still savoring hot water, window screens, and quilted two-ply like I've never enjoyed them before, I am itching to get right back out there.
I am also humbled. While I no longer consider myself simply a dayhiker - those days are long past - now I know you stand in a league far, far beyond me. The trip you've taken is epic in every sense of the word. That you were able to share it with all the emotion and grandeur and fear and success... that is, well... WOW. It's not often it happens, but I just can't find words to describe how your TR affected me.
So my hat is off to you, Dane.  You are an Olympic God.
..... to be whole and harmonious, man must also know the music of the beaches and the woods. He must find the thing of which he is only an infinitesimal part and nurture it and love it, if he is to live.
~Wm. O. Douglas
..... to be whole and harmonious, man must also know the music of the beaches and the woods. He must find the thing of which he is only an infinitesimal part and nurture it and love it, if he is to live.
~Wm. O. Douglas
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Dane
Other
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 2466 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle |
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Dane
Other
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Sun Jul 25, 2010 5:37 am |
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So Larry I'm dying to know...did I manage to visit even one place you haven't been to yet? 
Without judgement what would we do? We would be forced to look at ourselves...
-Death
Without judgement what would we do? We would be forced to look at ourselves...
-Death
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Man-inna-hillz
Member
Joined: 25 Aug 2005
Posts: 286 | TRs | Pics
Location: Berkeley, CA |
One more question for you Dane (or other knowlegable iPod geeks): how did you keep your iPod juiced for 50 days? Is there an extra battery pack accessory? Or some solar setup I don't know about? I really want to listen to some spacy chilled out stuff up in the Tanks Lake at the end of my five day, and there's no way it would normally still have juice by that point.
The God of language forgives all crimes.
-W.H. Auden
The God of language forgives all crimes.
-W.H. Auden
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Tag Man
side hiller
Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 602 | TRs | Pics
Location: Where the roots all twist... |
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Tag Man
side hiller
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:03 am |
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| Man-inna-hillz wrote: | | One more question for you Dane (or other knowlegable iPod geeks): how did you keep your iPod juiced for 50 days? Is there an extra battery pack accessory? Or some solar setup I don't know about? I really want to listen to some spacy chilled out stuff up in the Tanks Lake at the end of my five day, and there's no way it would normally still have juice by that point. |
There is the solio solar charger. http://www.solio.com/charger/ Its a little heavy in my opinion but if you have to have your tunes....
There are also do it yourself instructions to make chargers that use ordinary batteries. Google it.
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mtngrl
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Joined: 22 Mar 2004
Posts: 248 | TRs | Pics
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mtngrl
Member
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:01 am |
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Dane, you're an inspiration. I'm blown away, this is far beyond impressive. Phenomenal work: the trip, the writing, and the photography. Reading this reminds me "home" will always be here, close to the Olympics. Well done, and thank you for sharing.
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Larry
Member
Joined: 22 Feb 2003
Posts: 1084 | TRs | Pics
Location: Kitsap |
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Larry
Member
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:24 am |
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| Dane wrote: | | So Larry I'm dying to know...did I manage to visit even one place you haven't been to yet? |
Dane, i'm still reeling from the accomplishment you made. I only wish now that I would have taken such an extended trip in the beloved Olympics sometime within my life. You have almost inspired me to take a sabbatical and engage myself on such an extended time in the fabulous range before I turn 70.
Most certainly Dane, you sure DID go to places I haven't been.  I never have visited the ridge between Crystal and Gnarly Ridge [a very appropriate name, which I'll use in my own brain from now on]. I "glassed" the Gnarlies from Crystal, but I was on my way to drop into the Elwha. By the way, your image of Upper Crystal Lake is breathtaking.
I wished you could have accessed the southern Burkes, and done the "over-the-peaks" route on Delabarre to Christie. However, you didn't exactly miss out on other fabulous scenery and wild places to go. 
I also was hoping, just a little bit, that you might have traversed the North Spur of Hopper, on out to the fabulous lakelets and meadows that end up looking down into the Duckabush. The terrain is wild and beautiful out there, and it would fit you perfectly. I encourage you to visit this beautiful diorama of meadows and tarns. Here's a bit of a description for you Dane, that I have in my Olympics Diary files, from.....1973! Time flies! I've cleaned up the spellings and grammar (hopefully) from the pencil notations on tablet paper, which are fading pretty badly now.
Mount Hopper North Spur - Point 5642 - USGS Mt. Steel
This is a marvelous ridge excursion, full of surprises and solitary glades! The various meadows beyond Mt. Hopper are never vast -- they are mostly pockets of scaled-down grandeur interspersed with fine examples of alpine trees and flora. There is a panoply of elk and bears here, especially in the late summer season. I saw no sign of man beyond the immediate Mt. Hopper area in September 1973. I would presume that it is still largely untouched. This outlier spur of Mt. Hopper resembles a high island in a sea of virgin forests, encompassed by valleys on three sides.
Much of the terrain is subalpine, with hundreds of thousands of avalanche lilies in season. The glittering streams and marshes form quaint grottoes to whet your curiosity. The heaving ridgeline offers up scraps of breeze in each little notch. The occasional summertime showers stimulate your olfactory passages with the smell of wet rocks. When the sunshine returns, the fantastic floral colors stagger you with their brilliance.
Photograph 31.1
Point 5642 from Mt. LaCrosse
Take a tour of the moody and tranquil North Fork Skokomish Trail • to First Divide. The river valley offers a prime model of riparian beauty for twelve miles. The box canyon near Big Log Camp harbors dozens of water-loving plant species. The water slows to a deep blue crawl as it slides along the bedrock. The maple and cottonwood groves near Nine Stream rustle in the wind, mimicking the sound of the river rapids. If so inclined, you can thrash up the left side of Nine Stream to eventually top out at Nine Stream Tarns (Hike #10).
From First Divide, contour right (east) on a nearly level traverse under the north side of Mt. Hopper. Enter a majestic and flowery bench and meadow within about a half-mile. The level bench acts as a promontory, overlooking Home Sweet Home and the misty valley draining to the main chasm of the Duckabush River.
Angle up and over the rib to the east to enter a classic basin under the northeast side of Mt. Hopper. The snow stays late here, and the cool environment is perfect for the zillions of avalanche lilies scattered around the slopes. There is evidence of recent glaciation here.
I originally made a wrong decision by cutting up to the notch in the ridge about a mile northeast of Hopper. My intent was to follow the ridgeline. The travel was difficult due to brushy krummholz and short verticals. I eventually had to lose the elevation and drop down to the classic basin again. Continue down the basin to about the 4500 foot level. Roll on to the east, over a flowered little promontory with a pocket meadow on its east slope. From here, make your way up to the broad pass in the ridge south of Point 5642. The wind sings softly here, and the alpine meadowland wraps around the ridge leading to the summit. Follow the easy ridge through exquisite rockeries and nurseries to the left shoulder of the elongated summit. Revel in the birds-eye view of the this terrific subalpine basin and unnamed lakes. Here are the usual "Olympic style" small, level-floored mini-meadows adorning neo-glacial sinks and erosional eskers. Gorgeous.
This is truly an exceptional area, with lonesome brooks, splashing little waterfalls, and ultra-pristine lakes. The larger lakeshore held the carcass of an elk that had apparently died of old age. The map shows only a few lakes, but the area is literally dotted with many small tarns and seeps. The rare white lupine thrusts up near one of the small ponds. Bog orchids and Elephanthead Pedicularis add a scented charm. Spend a day here to roam at will. In time, you feel the pattern of nature giving hints of its entropic qualities. The link between earth and sky becomes a part of a calming effect on body and soul. This effect is, in my mind, the elixir that keeps me coming back for more…of course, now I can contemplate the apparently easy slopes leading down to the Duckabush valley…
Dane, you also visited Stephen Lake, which I have only looked at from above. I wish now I had gone down to the lakeshore. You had the feel that it wasn't as spectacular as the Ferry Basin, and you are probably right. But still...it sure looks wonderful down on the lakeshore, looking up at the beauty of the peaks and snowfield.
Well, I could rhapsodize on and on about the wonderful writing you presented here, and the personal feelings you showed us. Let me just say that you are one "rockin' dude"! I'm sure you'll never forget your trip.
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Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore
Joined: 15 May 2003
Posts: 14152 | TRs | Pics
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Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:30 am |
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Dane, congratulations on such a great trip; in mind, body and mountains. (sure beats the trip where you almost starved to death, hey?).
Inspiring. THanks so much for putting his report together. You have some pretty awesome friends & family, too.
"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate."
Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate."
Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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Dane
Other
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 2466 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle |
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Dane
Other
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 3:09 pm |
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Larry, thanks again for the kind words. This trip is dwarfed by your lifetime of achievements in the Olympics. It's clear that not only have you been to tons of remote places and done a lot of lonely traverses, but that you've truly experienced them.
That was a guiding principle in my trip planning - I didn't want to simply pass through these places, I wanted to have enough time and energy to open myself up and allow them to effect me. The immensely gratifying and moving experiences I had at Iceberg Lakes and Ferry Basin vindicated that approach.
I'll be heading into the southern Burkes....and the northern as well, if all goes to plan...in 2 or 3 weeks. After years of collaboration and turning back on our solo attempts Luc and I are teaming up to try to complete the traverse. I've set aside the route over Delabarre for a huge loop I've mapped out, though goals in the North Cascades and the call of Alaska may push that trip back a few years.
I remember you mentioning the north spur of Hopper in the past...I believe it was a "favorite campsites" thread. I couldn't work it into this trip but it is most definitely on the list.
One last thing - if your old notes are fading, type them out! I can only imagine the wealth of information they contain and how much effort they cost you.
Without judgement what would we do? We would be forced to look at ourselves...
-Death
Without judgement what would we do? We would be forced to look at ourselves...
-Death
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Larry
Member
Joined: 22 Feb 2003
Posts: 1084 | TRs | Pics
Location: Kitsap |
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Larry
Member
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:00 pm |
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| Dane wrote: | | Larry, thanks again for the kind words. This trip is dwarfed by your lifetime of achievements in the Olympics. It's clear that not only have you been to tons of remote places and done a lot of lonely traverses, but that you've truly experienced them.
That was a guiding principle in my trip planning - I didn't want to simply pass through these places, I wanted to have enough time and energy to open myself up and allow them to effect me. The immensely gratifying and moving experiences I had at Iceberg Lakes and Ferry Basin vindicated that approach.
I'll be heading into the southern Burkes....and the northern as well, if all goes to plan...in 2 or 3 weeks. After years of collaboration and turning back on our solo attempts Luc and I are teaming up to try to complete the traverse. I've set aside the route over Delabarre for a huge loop I've mapped out, though goals in the North Cascades and the call of Alaska may push that trip back a few years.
I remember you mentioning the north spur of Hopper in the past...I believe it was a "favorite campsites" thread. I couldn't work it into this trip but it is most definitely on the list.
One last thing - if your old notes are fading, type them out! I can only imagine the wealth of information they contain and how much effort they cost you. |
Thanks Dane. Any achievements are only because I've been around for years. They add up after a while. And I have to agree that there is a ton of "being there" when you go to the Olympics. They permeate you with a lust that never goes away. SUCH a unique place on Earth.
I'm glad you are teaming with Luc! I've only "met" him through trading route descriptions, but I'm sure he'll be a great counterpart with you.
A couple of things that may (or may not) be important to you:
1. If you ascend Fire Creek, don't stay on that damned hogsback until it becomes a knife-edge. At the first sign of the hogsback starting to form, traverse left into a subtle little branch of the main creek, and follow that upwards. It's steep but comfortable, and puts you right up into the lowermost meadow like a dream.
2. You MUST visit the mushroom-shaped lake a little lower down in Muncaster Basin, approximately NE of Muncaster itself. It's a truly beautiful spot.
I will be taking a trip SOLELY into Ferry Basin, going in via Ludden. I've not gone that way before, and it's always nice to have a different approach. Plan to spend three days in the Basin only, and then back out the way I came. Can you think of a better three-day camp?
Good luck to you and Luc; the Burke Range is just SO phenomenal.
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DIYSteve
seeking hygge
Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 12655 | TRs | Pics
Location: here now |
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DIYSteve
seeking hygge
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Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:52 pm |
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Life changer
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. And, though you may have not been emotional at the end of your trip, I can confess that I was by the time I finished reading the report. Thanks for taking me on your journey ... and what a journey it was. 
Happy trails! 