Weekend Coastal Hike - Norwegian Memorial/Cedar Creek/Starbuck Mine Ruins

Sinkin in the mud!

Last weekend brought me to the coast for a nice little overnight hike. This being my first time out this way (as are most of the hikes I try to go on besides Green Mt) I learned that normally the gate 2 miles up from the Trail Head is normally closed and locked on this logging road. We got lucky this weekend and drove right to the TH! It was only a 1 mile trail from the TH to the beach but oh boy was it a muddy 1 mile! My new boots (maybe they aren’t so new anymore) sure made me proud, I was able to tromp through the mud without any hesitation. Maybe I was bragging a little to my friend Matt by stomping right through the swampy areas as he tip toed and jumped from dry spot to dry spot… I have to say that I am very impressed how clean he stayed!

It took about an hour to get to the beach. We dropped out packs and went searching for the perfect camp site. We walked down the beach a short ways and settled on a nice space that already had a fire pit set up as well as benches and a table even, all made out of driftwood nailed together. It’s very convenient having a place to sit and relax and the table was up high so it was perfect to stand around to cook…there was even a stool put in place on the ground for the height challenged hikers! ;)



Camp already set up



Tents set up at camp





Norwegian Memorial

 Right after we set up camp it started raining. Darn it! Good thing I’ve invested in the proper rain gear, can’t let a little rain put a damper on the weekend. We set up tarps and quickly gathered some dry wood to get a fire going, thank goodness for fire starters. It rained until maybe 5:00 that evening, though that didn’t keep us from exploring! Kelsie and I hiked up the coast to check out the Norwegian Memorial, dedicated to The Prince Albert that sunk on Jan 2nd, 1903  leaving only 2 survivors. The wind and the rain soaked us and I was surprised at how many people we saw out hiking today! Many groups even had umbrellas, I thought that was weird but I guess it’s not that unusual. We passed a big group camped out not too far north of us, they looked like they had been there a while…they had hammocks set up on the beach and we even saw cases of beer at their camp. Cases! I wonder who got the lovely job of hauling those in from the cars. People from that group were also out gathering styrofoam (unfortunately you can find it ALL OVER the coast) for the HOT TUB they were going to build that night! We didn’t check it out but our unexpected camp guest for the night, Bruce, mentioned the next morning that he went up there and told us how they put some huge logs together and then some foam for insulation and then draped a tarp over that. They had some sort of gimmick with copper pipes that spiraled through their fire heating up the water before spitting it into their homemade tub. Bruce got to enjoy the hot tub with them and said the water was a good 100 degrees. Impressive.




Matt and I in the enterance of the little cave

Starbuck Mine Ruins

Since the rest of Saturday turned out so nice the 3 of us hiked along the coast looking for tsunami treasures and simply enjoying the wonderful weather. We headed south towards Cedar Creek, lots of people were camped out here too. To round the point right before Cedar Creek you have to either wait for the tide to go out enough or scramble up and over the hill where they have ropes and ladders in place to help out. The tide was out just enough for us to climb over the rocks and get around it, and on the other side there was a small cave! Of course I had to go inside. Matt and I crawled in through the small opening and farther back you could see that it opened up a little, but there were also a lot of bugs so we scurried out of there. I won the “race” out of the cave (I’ll never admit defeat) only to have my knee find a rock that was covered in sand. My knee is STILL bruised and swollen to this day from that darn rock! Past Cedar Creek is the remains of the old Starbuck Mine. There wasn’t too much left there but it was neat to find traces of the past out there! Back at camp a doe and her fawn came wandering up the beach in front of our camp. As we stood around the fire we watched as the mama tried to get her baby to follow her as she jumped up the bank. Multiple times the doe tried and each time the fawn couldn’t make it then finally the fawn hopped right up and they moseyed through our camp.

 


 

Camp looking out at the ocean



Camp looking in from the beach



The rest of Saturday evening and through the night was beautiful and rain free, the only snafu I had was that while we spent the day exploring and playing my camelbak spent its day draining in my tent!! My sleeping bag, pad and backpack were all pretty wet. I had to empty out my tent and try to soak up as much water as I could. Lucky for me the sun was starting to come out by now so I was able to lay all my stuff under the tarps and soon enough out into the sunshine. Didn’t realize my sleeping bag was so wet until later in the evening. (Thinking it was dry we had put it in Kelsie’s tent to stay out of the rain only to soak her sleeping pad too!) We spent a while standing by the fire drying out our pads and then my sleeping bag. I never got my pad/bag fully dry as I found out when it was time for bed, but that’s ok…it could have been worse! I’m just glad I caught it early enough in the day, sleeping in a soaking wet sleeping bag wouldn’t stop me from going again…but it sure would have made a miserable night.

Matt, Kelsie, Stefani

We didn’t stay very long Sunday. After breakfast with Bruce and his 2 companions, who showed up around 3 am, we packed up and hit the trail by 11:30. It was another hour long hike back through the squishy mud before we got to our cars. Another great weekend spent outdoors!

**I apologize for the low quality camera phone pictures**

More Pics from the weekend:



Hikers with umbrellas!



Doe and fawn on the beach

lots of bouys on the coast

Tsunami debris

Doe and fawn going thru camp

Lots of big trash too

Muddy trail conditions

Chickens!

I did it! I finally got my chicks! I’ve been talking about getting chickens for months now, the next step in my mini urban homestead. They are the cutest little things! I am raising my chickens for their eggs, but they will also be my pets... the naming process has already begun.

The chicks hatched at, Kelsie’s house and she kindly gave them to me to raise. I can’t keep them all because we have a limit of how many I can have in the city, but we’re not sure which ones are hens and which are roosters yet so we’ll wait until they grow up a little more. I have the mama hen with me also and I must say she is such a great mom. She has been caring for them, protecting them and teaching them things already! They are so small right now so I have them in a giant metal tub while I get a coop put together.

It’s fun watching them. I must be like a new mom because I think everything they do is cute. I hope I’m still fascinated by them this much in the months to come! My first night I had them home I got worried about them so I went outside at 10:00pm with a headlamp and checked on them. Mama Hen was keeping them warm and safe and woke up just to stare at me, probably wondering what I was doing waking them at this hour. I brought the chicks home once they were 4 days old and they had been staying outside with their mama since then, so I knew they would be fine…but I couldn’t help but worry.

This week I plan on building their coop. Not exactly sure what I’m doing, but I have a few ideas. It might not be pretty, but it’ll be all mine! I can’t wait for fresh eggs!!

My Journey of Urban Homesteading - Gardening

I have a dream of having a mini urban homestead in my backyard. I live within city limits but I have a decent enough sized yard; not huge, but definitely something I can work with. I have no prior experience with homesteading but the idea of living off what I can grow and raise sounds appealing to me. I don’t expect to get to the point of living off the land, but aiding in a healthy and green lifestyle…now that I’m sure I can accomplish!

Growing up I’ve had my fair of gardens, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, lamps, pigs, and I think we even had a goose for a minute before Pooch got it. I even remember my parents allowing me to name them…little did I know I would later be eating Wilbur,  Thumper and their friends. >_<  Maybe that’s why my dad always named things “Christmas” and “Thanksgiving”.

This year I planted my first garden. I’ve assisted my dad with his garden in the past when I lived at home…but this was my very own! My dad helped me throw together a little garden bed in my backyard using some leftover wood. We cut and nailed (he did, I just held the wood steady) together 4 pieces of wood and turned up the dirt and mixed in 2 giant bags of fertilizer. Simple enough! I was planning on a much difficult project, good thing my dad stepped up and made things SOO much easier! Originally I was planning on buying some wood and all of the fancy garden making supplies but then that sounded like too much work for a DIY project I knew nothing about. Then I considered making a cinder block raised garden bed. Not as appealing to the eye (I wouldn’t bother me any) but I had planned on painting it anyways! Blocks I could easily arrange by myself and wouldn’t need to ask anyone for help. I scoured craigslist looking for decent blocks someone was hopefully throwing away… no luck. I didn’t want to buy brand new blocks for what was a spur of the moment project I didn’t even know if I’d stick with! I wanted cheap-free! I have no shame in being frugal by the way. I even considered up-cycling old tires and using them as garden beds (thank you Pinterest!) I’m thankful that I ended up with a simple bed, it was way too easy and it’s easy on the eyes!

I had already been growing my vegetables inside, starting them from seeds. Not sure what compelled me to do this since before this project my thumb was a more a shade of orange. My seedlings are thriving and are planted in my garden bed now and my thumb is slowly changing to green! My green beans are slowly creeping up their homemade trellis and my squash is slowly maturing with their big squashy leaves. My tomato plants are still small, but they are thriving, I need to hurry up and get a cage to put around them! Also in my garden are peppers and some herbs – chives, basil, oregano, mint, and rosemary. I started some more seeds and they are almost ready to plant, pretty soon I can add lettuce, more peppers, and watermelon! Maybe I bit off more than I can chew with the melons…I know nothing about them. But then again I knew nothing about any plants before and I seem to be doing just fine!

I have to thank my dad for all his help in starting my garden as well as my friend, Kelsie, who has not only given me a couple plants but has been an inspiration to me and the best resource of sooooo many things! Now she’s got the homestead gig goin’ on at her house and it’s such a fun place to visit!!! I still want to save Rudolpha (one of their bunnies) from being supper, but I must take baby steps on this journey and hopefully my next step is chickens!

It's hard keeping Jas out!

Deer Ridge Hike & Nature Lessons

The agenda this weekend was to hike up to Deer Park. Starting at Slab Camp our group of 4 took the Deer Ridge Trail 5.2 miles to the camp ground making a 10.4 mile round trip hike. During the summer months you can easily drive up and camp here, but where’s the adventure in that!? Of course the road was still closed until July, not that we wanted to drive it anyways. 

View from the bench

We hiked a gruesome 2.75 miles of what seemed like never ending uphill, it’s a good conditioning hike…or to get your butt in gear after taking it easy for a while! We took it slow and steady and eventually we got to a nice overlook complete with a bench to relax for a quick snack to re-energize ourselves. The trail went another 2.45 miles along Deer Ridge all the way to Deer Park. Too bad the view consisted of fog, mist, and more fog. On a nice day I have no doubts there are breathtaking views! Two in our group had done this hike before and assured me that the views were, in fact, incredible.  

Trail entering the park boundaries.

Frozen Goat's Beard

At 3.6 miles we crossed into the Olympic National Park; dogs are no longer allowed here which is why we, unfortunately, had to leave behind Bailey, Jason’s loyal 4 legged hiking companion! Once we hit the park boundary it started hailing…or so we thought. At a closer look it turned out that all the frozen droplets hanging off the trees and goat’s beard* were falling! I’ve never experienced that before, it was pretty neat. You could see where the droplets broke off the moss/trees and were still in little clear droplet form. There was not much snow left on this trail until you get closer to Deer Park, where you can see the leftover snow in the avalanche chutes. We crossed only a few small snow fields, no need for any special snow gear. The trail description mentions some of the best views in this area of the Olympics. I might have to conquer this one again later this summer…or maybe drive up to the campground and putz around on the trails? Haha yea right, views are much better when you earn them!

*Goat’s Beard: (a yellowish-green hair-like lichen that hangs from trees and shrubs…like a beard!)

Trail leading into the Deer Park camp ground.

Wildlife:

We saw a few deer and a bunny. None of them ran off really fast, the deer grazed above us on the trail and the bunny startled us when it hopped away when we were almost right on top of it. It watched us a little bit then went on its way, that bunny sure had some long legs! Maybe to help it get through the snow?

See the deer up above?

Thumper!

 Wildflowers 101

The hike wasn’t too interesting this time because of how foggy it was, so I took this as a chance to learn! I figure if I am going to spend so much time outdoors I should know a little more about my surroundings. I used to look at a flower and think “Oh that’s pretty” but now I want to know the name of everything that catches my eye! The description of the Deer Ridge Trail mentioned many flowers, with the weather we had I didn’t expect the hills to be a colorful garden, but I was surprised with how many flowers were actually blooming. I am so very lucky to have such  seasoned hiking friends now, they have taught me so much already and I sure hope they will want to keep putting up with all my questions for a while more! 

Here’s what I have learned, what I remember at least, about the flowers on today's hike:

Fairy Slipper Orchid. I looked this up and the real name is the Calypso Orchid…I like Fairy Slipper better, wouldn’t you? Once I knew the name of it I could definitely pick out the slipper shape of the flower! It’s a beautiful little purple flower and we saw them around the trail in quite a few areas. 

Fairy Slipper Orchid

Avalanche Lily: Or Fawn Lily, I’m not sure if we decided which one it actually was. When I looked them up they look exactly the same to me! I think we decided they really were Avalanche Lilies. They are cute little white lilies that bloom shortly after the snow melts away. (For some reason I did not take a picture of these lilies.)

Chocolate Lily: We only noticed 2 of these plants, but for a brown little flower they were quite pretty!

Chocolate Lily

Chocolate Lily

Juniper: This is common enough and I’ve often seen it around, though I really paid no attention to it. Just a shrub with little berries on it, I learned that they make gin out of juniper. If only it was easy enough to make while out on the trail. ;) (I did not take a picture of the Juniper)

Smooth Douglasia: Now we didn't go over this one, but I thought they were pretty and took a picture of them. When I got home I looked it up and compared it to the list of wildflowers that were listed to find on this hike and these sure look like phlox flowers. I'm not 100% sure if I'm right...but I think I'm close.  I was wrong...this flower is actually Smooth Douglasia! Thanks Kelsie! I probably won't remember this one, we'll work on it next time. :)

Phlox Flowers?  Smooth Douglasia

Stonecrop: This is my favorite. I’ve seen it on a lot of hikes and always in higher elevations. It reminds me of a smooth little cactus and it’s so colorful and bubbly looking, like a Dr. Suess plant!

Stonecrop

Paintbrush: The pics of these flowers do not do it justice. They are so vibrant and stood out so nicely in a world of fog. 

Paintbrush

Paintbrush

 

A couple more things that I’ve learned from previews trips:

Dipper: A little gray bird that you see around the river. It “dips”! I suppose that’s how it got its name. I learned about these when I went on my very first overnight with my friend, Kelsie, and we saw them down in the river as we gathered water. These cute little things bob up and down in the river looking for food. They are easy for me to remember because their name fits them perfectly!

Oyster Catcher: The first time I noticed these birds was when my friend, Jayne, and I were hiking the Dungeness Spit. We saw these black birds with bright red beaks and eyes. We asked the keepers staying at the lighthouse if they knew what they were called but they must not have been bird watchers because they had no idea what we were talking about. I have since then learned that they are Oyster Catchers! Maybe I should get into bird watching.

Chicken of the Woods: This is not another bird, in fact it’s a mushroom! It’s easy to identify because it’s bright orange shelfy appearance. I mean shelfy (IDK if that’s even a word) as in it’s the kind of mushroom that grows on the sides of trees and stumps and it looks like a shelf. It’s edible but better cooked, so I’ve heard. When I looked it up it mentions being a good substitute for chicken dishes so I think if I find this next time I go camping I will have to try it out. I’ll let you know how that goes!