A Very Michigan Camping Trip

First off, every entry will not be centered around my trips to National Parks. However, these are the easiest for right now as I have a lot of pictures and they are fresh in my mind. My goal with this blog is to cover a wide variety of topics from food to sports to travel to whatever I feel like.

For Memorial Day Weekend 2015, I was able to do a camping trip with some friends from Michigan. There were five of us in total, but only one still lives in Michigan, with two coming from Portland and two from Sioux Falls, SD. Such is the modern day working professional I guess, go where you can find the best jobs!

I had heard good things from coworkers about Olympic. One coworker even lived in the region for a long time and would visit the park on a weekly basis, so we had some great local knowledge to help us out. While we had limited time, the overall experience was great. We started at Hurricane Ridge, which provided some amazing views in the heart of the park. We even got to experience a storm rolling across the horizon on our hike, and honestly, if we went to Olympic and didn't get rained on it would have been a disappointment.

(Hurricane Ridge)

We moved campsites every night, which was not ideal, but the campsites could not be secured in advance, so everyday we had our target campsite and then a few fall-back options. In the future, I am definitely finding a good spot and staying put, but I will admit we got a great feel for the entire park.

The second day we hit a trail near the Sol Duc Hotsprings, when we hiked up to Deer Lake. The hike wasn't long, but the vertical climb was a butt-kicker. It made its all the more satisfying when we made it to the top. We also hit some smaller trails in the area, one followed a river bed and was near an old dam, which had been removed.

(Elwha River)

After that trail we headed toward the coast to hike at Ruby Beach and camped at South Beach Campground. Our goal was Kalaloch Campground, which sits higher up from the water and provides some amazing views, but was full. South Beach was a lot better in my opinion. Its a smaller campground but that meant less people to deal with, so it felt more like camping. It was also easier to get to the beach, and no matter where your site was, you could see the Pacific.

(Ruby Beach)

On the last day we hit the Hoh Rainforest on the southwest side of the park. The hike we did was mainly wooded and flat, but it fed into a lot of other trails. Apparently it was a good place to spot elk, however, we were unlucky the day we were there. 

(Hoh Rainforest)

All in all I enjoyed Olympic a lot. The rangers and staff were very helpful and the facilities were well maintained. There were small towns just outside the park, which made it nice for getting supplies and even hitting a restaurant every now and then. It was not very crowded either, which always makes for a nice time since you're not fighting with too many people for space on the trail or in the campgrounds. However, when I return it will either be to do a hiking/camping trip through the park, or, as previously stated, set up camp in one spot and go on day hikes. I highly recommend the park, and while its not in the most accessible place, Its close to Seattle and you can rent gear from REI if you aren't fortunate enough to drive.

To Yosemite and Back!

*HAVING ISSUES POSTING PICS*

I will get into road trips and my long history of both hating and loving them in a future post, but just to set the table: I have been on a lot of them, and will always support them as a way to make a trip more enjoyable.

My latest road trip was from Portland, Oregon to Yosemite National Park in California in roughly 4.5 days. Normally I would avoid a trip like this because with a round trip of 1,448 miles, 4.5 days is not enough to drive and enjoy the park. However, the goal of this trip was not to camp and hike Yosemite, but my friend Burton's wedding. I was a little skeptical at first but the wedding was great and I was very honored to be a part of the celebration.

I left Portland after work on a Wednesday night with the plan of reaching Redding, California, 422 miles away. While Redding is a decent size town, with plenty of overnight options, my motivation to make this destination my first stop was the fact they had the closest In-And-Out Burger to Oregon. While I got into town later than I normally eat dinner (around 10:45 pm), its In-And-Out, so I pigged out like any rational person would. My typical order of a Double-Double, Animal-style fries, and Neopolitan shake, sat like a cinder block in my stomach, but was so very worth it.

(Lens Flare JJ Abrams style!)

After gorging myself, I quickly set out to find a place to spend the night. Now, as you will find out in future posts, I am ridiculously cheap. Almost to my detriment, but I try to keep my cheapness to a rational level. However, as time for this trip was limited, and I still had 300 miles until Yosemite, this stop was not going to be a long one by any means. With a few solo and two-person road trips under my belt, I was aware that Wal-Mart allows people to camp/sleep in their parking lots, so after finding one I settled into a space that was better fitted for someone half my size. After what can be best described as a long nap I was back on the road, and was able to get into Yosemite around 10 am.

I had only driven through California once before, back in 2012, and had a great experience. This particular time wasn't bad, however, you can see the drought is taking its toll on the land. Everything in the park looked burned or was dying from a lack of water, and it was extremely dusty. A few lakes I passed seemed to be about a year away from being 100% dry.

With the limited time I was only able to get in 1-2 hikes, as Saturday was dedicated to the wedding, and Sunday to driving back. I was able to fight the crowds on Friday morning and hit the Mist Trail that leads up to Half Dome. The incline was incredible, and even though I had done Dog Mountain (Washington) the week before, it was still an arse-kicker. Although the weather was insane (100 back-to-back days), it made for some amazing views.

Sunday's drive back was surprisingly easy. I left later than expected, but was home and had the car unpacked by 7 pm. I only made two stops, Redding to gorge myself again and refuel, and another refuel around Eugene, OR, and the most traffic I hit was around 75 miles south of Portland. Although it was a quick trip, it was a lot of fun and I was honored to be a part of my friend's special day. As for Yosemite itself, it was a great setting for a wedding, but I'm wasn't that impressed with it.

I, jokingly, refer to myself as spoiled when it comes to National Parks as I have been to a decent amount thus far. As great as the views and trails were, I much more enjoyed the new friends I met and the old friends I reconnected with. The park itself was very crowded and their ability to gouge visitors on price was second to none (ex. gas $4.69/gallon). For example, I spent five days in Olympic National Park (future post) on Memorial Day and much preferred the trails, views and overall outdoor experience.


*This is my first post, so please be kind if you choose to comment. Hoping to clear more time in the future so I can enter posts in one sitting rather than writing one over the course of two days. Thanks for reading.