August 2007:

    80 miles + over 10,000 ft of elevation gain + 6 days + Motivation= Extreme FUN!

    We rolled into the gravel Elwah parking lot around 2:00PM on Friday.  We clambered out of our Saturn, stuffed full of not only our packs, but also my sister, her friend and their two packs.

    From here Andrew and I peeked at the map one last time while we debated whether we’d ever make it 16 miles to our first camp by nightfall.  A number of miles in, we passed an elderly man who seemed to be testing the limits of the human body.  He had hiked the full 16 miles into our destination, and now was heading back to his car, all in one day.  Next, we stumbled across a mama bear and her cub.  We thought they’d scampered off to the right when we heard something on our left.  Later a ranger asked if we’d passed a bear with two cubs.  This answered our question about the rustling leaves.  Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, we continued to chug along.  We passed several rangers who didn’t think we’d ever make it to our destination by night fall.  Sometime after night fall we traipsed into camp.  The rest of the evening consisted of food and sleep.

    We awoke the next day and gazed at the map (maps actually, this trip required several).  Today would be different than the first.  We were only traveling 11 miles but instead of following the gentle path of the river Elwah River, we had to climb 4200 feet over Hayden Pass and into the Dosewllips River drainage.

    Days with large amounts of elevation change tend to enhance the variety scenery.  We could notice this immediately as we left the moss covered valley floor and ascended into the...