Views out across Olympic National Park from the Grand Ridge Trail, Tuesday 29 August 2023.

Edan Z & William B on the “Happy Birthday Trail.” We had planned to celebrate Edan’s birthday together out in nature. Edan chose the hike, and I provided the car & gas. 

Yuppers, we’re only 50 & 64 years in age. Hey, do you like my bonnet? LOL! It’s a sun hat to help me prevent a recurrence of skin cancer.

Rugged old mountains shredding clouds in the wind.

While waiting for the Ferry at 8:30 in the morning, we debated a quick dash across the road to get yummy Top Pot donuts & use Edan’s birthday as an excuse. We then decided no, we didn’t need all of that toxic sugar, and it always takes longer than ya think. Didn’t want our car to block traffic before we could get moving again onto the ferry.

A lone kayaker paddles across the Sound as our ferry sails across the inland sea from Edmonds to Kingston. One thing I love about the Olympics is the journey to get there.

After winding around the Kitsap and across the Olympic Peninsulas, we drive up the 18-mile long Deer Park Road. The last half is treacherous at times, steep, curvy, and grabs one’s attention. We finally arrived in Deer Park and stop at a trail junction to get our bearings. We haven’t been here in years. Certainly over a decade ago.

This is the trail we’re looking for. We need to drive off to a different trail head, passing two women who were former thruhikers of multiple long trails and were out for an extended backpacking trip thru the Olympics. Why didn’t I ask them if I could take their picture? Was too engrossed by their stories of far flung travels and cool adventurers, that’s why. 

On the map, the Grand Ridge Trail is labeled the Deer Park Trail, which is what Edan & I call it from longago trips.

Close up of where we’re heading.

Edan kicking around on his 50th. The pouch on his chest is his binocular case.

Edan at 50. He’s pretty cool looking out on the trail in those sunglasses, isn’t he? Yup.

The trail dips downhill into the forest as we set off from the TH. Foggy clouds whip overhead. We meet a group of 5 young men, each from a different country in Europe. I recall one from Spain, another from Czechia, another from the UK, another from Poland, another from Germany or France, not sure. Then we meet an elderly couple from somewhere local, Sequim, I think, cruising along the trail back to their car. Then we meet a young couple from Ukraine. Told them we’re sorry for what their homeland is going thru with the Russian invasion, but I did wonder to myself why at least he wasn’t over there fighting. But they seem happy to be here now. They were really young, maybe still in college. Again, why didn’t I take any pictures of all these fascinating people? I just didn’t. Fond memories of our brief encounters, tho!

An unidentified mushroom sprouts along the trail. There were many of them about. Up here the weather already felt more like Autumn than Summer.

Who is this goofy old fool? Me! And what is it about me taking upside down selfies from beneath a mushroom cap? And, hey, where’s the dadgummit shroom?

Another mushroom! Reminds me of golden eggs. They were clustered along damp parts of the trail.

Edan & his li’l Android smartfone. We’re on our way around Green Mountain.

The Happy Birthday Man in his element. And just halfway to 100!

Looking back towards Green Mountain & fog pouring up from steep flanks out of sight picture left.

In and out of woods, rocks, and meadows.

Love the everchanging display of light and shadows. Right now, however, the skies feel somewhat sinister, almost like the superstitious dread often associated with eclipses. Then the wind blows, the sun blazes as the star it is, and everything changes once again. Tuesday 29 August 2023.

The author, belly & all, glad to be back out in the mountains.

What’s in his mind now?

Edan must be fussing with his smartfone.

Edanzo!

Me without my sun bonnet, LOL!
Love the wind in my face and hair.

Watching the sky split.

Swirling clouds and wind shredded mountain peaks.

Yes, this author is also a serious man.
LOL!

There’s rain pounding down over there. We only get a few windwhipped sprinkles and spiraling sun breaks.

Edan the Birthday Man.

What’s weird were these acoustical eddies of sorts. Step into a curve of the mountain as the trail winds across steep hillsides and ravines, all would feel silent. No sound. Until one steps around the corner and the wind roars and howls as clouds condense and rush over as if alive.

Sometimes the wind is a beast. And the clouds are as gigantic octopus worms.

The Beast snakes thru the valley roiling tendrils of clouds.

Edan steadies his hands. Looks like he’s going for a panorama shot. My friend has a thing for panoramas. Likes to capture the vastness of it all.

In the distance the skies clear enough to see a few remnant glaciers on those mountains. Climate change is naked.

Clouds churn over mountains and across the sky.

The trail beckons one onwards into the edge of the sky. Here the Grand Ridge Trail, often called the Deer Park Trail, traverses the slopes of Maiden Peak in Olympic National Park.

Edan pushes on ahead. He’s excited. He’s eager. Hey, it’s his birthday! And, yeah, the 14-year age difference between us starts to take a toll. Beset by a combination of chronic health issues, each one minor but all snowballed together, I’ve gotten out of shape. OK, that’s life with consequences. So I slow down, and slow down some more. Edan speeds up. He’s only halfway to a century. Part of aging is letting go and letting others cruise on ahead. Not in my 20s & 30s any more. I value where I am now, the wisdom and life experience, but, sure, I miss the glory days of my 20s and 30s. Even my 40s! Life is rich, and I choose to keep living the life I live.

Edan zooms further and further away. I told him my foot and ankle hurt as my right anterior ankle impingement flares up. I’m fine with him taking the lead, but he took off and eventually went out of sight without much of a conversation on the typical agreements hikers usually make. But the terrain was wide open, we were both confident in ourselves. We’re good. There were plenty of other hikers about, too.

It’s wild out here! I would love to come back and explore up into some of those valleys over there. Some of these short, mini-valleys have small mountain lakes with a few remote campsites.

Intrigued by storm blasted rocky outcrops on Maiden Peak. Well, the large, long boulder foto left of center reminds me of an ancient sarcophagus dug up from some ruined city and abandoned upon the edge of forever.

Yeah, the stone coffin of some prehistoric giant, one-eyed warrior queen trapped in the quantum wells between worlds.
Uh-oh, you’re not taking this literally are you? Just sharing old tales and made-up stories these natural structures generate within my mind.

Edan’s gone around the bend and is outa sight. The trail weaves down from Maiden Peak to cruise along the ridges of Elk Mountain. Eventually the Grand Ridge/Deer Park Trail ends at a TH junction on Obstruction Peak to connect with other trails into the interior and the dirt road back to Hurricane Ridge. Edan doesn’t go much further. He turns around down there and comes back with the group of men from across Europe.

Many say the weather’s always changing in the mountains. Today is one of rapid and chaotic shifts.

Remnant glaciers hang amid scattered snowfields from the slopes of … Mt. Deception? Regardless, there was far more snow across the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges when I first visited Washington and the Pacific Northwest in 1986 & 1987 before moving out here in 1992. Global Climate Disruption changes everything.

We cruise back down Maiden Peak (well, I’m limping, LOL) into the gap between it and Green Mountain on our way back to the car.

Looking back at the summit of Maiden Peak in the clouds.

Back in the woods!

The gnarly, gnarly woods!

Hoping to see a UFO. Or even a Sasquatch! Just don’t wanna get snatched up and probed! Alas, we don’t even see a bear or a cougar, not even an elk.

Edanzo awaits in the forest on the side of Green Mountain. After a while we eventually reach the TH and my Subaru Forester. We hang out for a bit to chat with other hikers passing thru, especially the European guys. Was a great conversation, a fascinating exchange across cultures. I still kick myself for not taking any pictures of them or a group selfie of all of us. After all, our home countries are NATO Allies.

Nom Nom Nom! Lookit! Edan looks a little comatose, doesn’t he? After departing from Olympic National Park on our drive back to Seattle, we stop in Sequim for beer & pizza. We’re ravenous! And I treat Edan for his birthday. I’m so food drunk afterwards, however, I let him drive my car home. He hates to ride anyway. Battles with motion swaying internal locomotion issues. Hell, he’s 50 years young, Edanzo is. I let ‘im take the wheel & doze off. Tho not fer long. The way he rockets down those curvaceous two-lanes wakes me up, LOL!

Lookit! We munched thru THREE pizzas! And the food here is yummilicious. We’re at the highly rated Barhop Artisan Pizza & Craft Brewery in Sequim, Washington.

Edan goes for the crust! Actually it’s Barhop Brewery & Artisan Pizza. The original restaurant is in Port Angeles near the waterfront. This one in Sequim provides excellent service in a funky mix of sports bar and local PNW folk culture. Love it! The Sequim location doesn’t have a website, but there are many reviews online. Go eat there!