50 Miles

Right after returning from Utah, Michael set out on a real adventure. A 50 mile hike down the coast on the Olympic peninsula. Oh did I tell you that he was carrying a 32 pound pack the whole way? He had to pack anything he needed for the hike including food, shelter, cooking tools, and eating utensils. Oh ya, the means personal hygiene stuff too....deodorant, toothbrush and paste and tp.

This is a view from one of his campsites...

Michael became an expert on cooking freeze dried food. Noodles are gross, but spaghetti is awesome (so he says). He also has decided that the tides can be really annoying. They had to get up really early (2-4 am) some day to cross when it was low tide. One night the tide came in early and one of his leaders tent started washing out to sea. And one of the boys had his boots wash away. But he found them later....

This is Strawberry Point....the rocks out in the water are called Sea Stacks. It is strange how a tree can grow right out of the side of a rock...

Just some more sea stacks and some of the boys on the hike.

Not all of the hike was on the coast. Some of the time they had to go over land. Usually the forest was much more dense.

What an awesome self portrait. He looks really happy to be there.

They even saw some wildlife (living) like this deer. It came within 5 feet of them.

Before you squint too much in an effort to determine what this is, I will tell you. It is the rotting carcas of a beached whale. Michael could go into graphic detail about it, but I will spare you the details.

This reddish blob is a jellyfish. It looked better before the boys flipped it over.

All in all, they had a great trip. No serious injuries or lost boys (or leaders). Michael said that he would do it again (but not any time real soon).