Washington State Olympic Mountains Trip

[XoXSciFiGuy]

Originally Posted by Scott Turchin

ah so I just hit Google Earth - so while 101 is "20 miles" away LOL It's 8 as the bird flies (Or the drone).

But if you go NORTH 8 miles as the bird flies directly across from the brothers on GoogleEarth you'll see the pic I took of Trap Pass- same setup just 8 miles north of Goober Pond.

With the dry season still here though - no campfires etc...

I may bring my buddy from the video with me, make a day trip out of it...

Yeah, I saw that. They are restricting campfires to campgrounds and picnic areas. Saw that on the Olympic National Forest website, a very recent entry. Last week, they LIFTED restrictions though, but offered safety advice. We will see if they lift them again before the 15th of September.

Do you guys have CB radio? If so, and you go up there, we will be on Channel 14.

EDIT: Ten day forecast for the Hoodsport area is calling for a third of an inch of rain for Sunday, same for Monday, with cloudy conditions here and there prior to the weekend. There was SOME rain today. The rangers may lift the campfire ban by the end of the week...we hope. If not, I sometimes just fire up both burners on a propane stove from a five-gallon tank and let it run. Better than nothing.

[Scott Turchin]

Yeah got CB< we usually monitor ch4 when in the mountains but we'll switch to 14.

My old CB handle is "The NightHawk"

[XoXSciFiGuy]

Originally Posted by Scott Turchin

Yeah got CB< we usually monitor ch4 when in the mountains but we'll switch to 14.

My old CB handle is "The NightHawk"

(EDIT: Looking back now, I should have posted these pictures under the OTHER thread, the one actually ABOUT the eclipse trip.)

Oh, good. I thought I was the only one using CB anymore. SBJ and I are meeting up this coming Friday morning. We've pretty much worked out the gear, etc for the trip.

Someone asks me, "Are you taking that Samsung TV again? Isn't that kind of BIG to take camping?"

Answer: Hell no, baby. It's light and not that big. Gotta have SOMETHING to do when it gets dark. Watching movies or playing video games works almost as well as roasting marshmallows.

Below: Finally...some pictures from the Eclipse Trip to Magone Lake, Oregon last month.




(Posed shot. I actually STOPPED her from taking the shot until she did a small correction. Notice the stock is ABOVE her shoulder. She would have gotten a black eye, had she actually pulled the trigger.)



(These two were downright incorrigible, and had WAY too much fun.)






Daylight shot of the sun before the eclipse, taken through a mylar filter.





The guy at the far left drove all the way from San Jose to be with us. He brought a satellite phone so everyone could call home.


(Full shot of the eclipse, August 21, 2017. 10:22AM at Magone Lake, Oregon. Altitude, 6,000 feet. Taken with Canon Rebel DSLR using 155mm lens.)

I thought the rangers would show up for sure after the first night, but they never did. Other campers down the hill couldn't figure out how we were watching movies on a big screen way out in the middle of nowhere. Some of them walked past the campsite just to see how we did it. I had the TV turned up to 100 on the volume and some of my friends said they could barely hear it. The next morning, I found out the speakers were in the BACK of the TV and kept everyone awake down the hill. So we hooked up some computer speakers the next morning and cut off the rear speakers. That worked just fine.

[XoXSciFiGuy]

Ten-day forecast for the Olympic Mountains in the area we're going. I told SBJ it was like that scene from Forrest Gump, when Gary Sinise
('Lt. Dan') climbs to the top of the mast of the shrimp boat during the hurricane:

"Is that all you got?"

After all the hot, dry weather, smoke, bad air, and fires, rain wouldn't bother me a bit. Not even close. Besides, we have shelter galore anyway.
My money is on that the Olympic National Forest rangers will also drop campfire restrictions soon. Conditions are improving fast.

[XoXSciFiGuy]

We will be monitoring Channel 14 all weekend. My mobile can come out of the truck easily. I never take it unless I'm camping. It's mounted on Velcro on top of the dash. The antenna wire goes out the slider. You can make it a base unit in seconds with any 12V connection.

SBJ and I aren't sure yet if we will camp at the 'Overlook' site or actually at the lake. Both are close by each other. There are several factors involved. We're just going to take a look at both. But from either spot, we can be reached once you make it to Jefferson Lake or beyond. No problem. My antenna is matched at 1.2 or below on all channels. SBJ will be on the handheld with fresh batteries. We have power galore going. 105 amp-hour deep cycle to inverter (750 watt) or just run the small generator from 125' feet away using extension cords. You can't even hear it at night. That's how you can get TV, vid games, blasting stereo, and DVD movies out in the wilderness. Gotta have something to do on these trips at night besides roasting marshmallows, although that ain't bad either.

[Scott Turchin]

Going to take a drive to see if I can hit ya with the CB from Silverdale.
Doc did not clear me - stitches are still healing.

[XoXSciFiGuy]

Originally Posted by Scott Turchin

Going to take a drive to see if I can hit ya with the CB from Silverdale.
Doc did not clear me - stitches are still healing.

We didn't pick you up, unfortunately. But it's probably good you didn't try to find us. The Forest Service blocked the road to the Overlook site, and we decided to skip the lake idea. We finally set up a three-day camp at the end of Spur Road 200, which is off Forest Road 2441, about a mile past the unnamed lake on that road.

[Scott Turchin]

I had things going on, I'm rebuilding my Scirocco engine and had some complications, then next thing you know it's bedtime LOL

[XoXSciFiGuy]

Originally Posted by Scott Turchin

I had things going on, I'm rebuilding my Scirocco engine and had some complications, then next thing you know it's bedtime LOL

I'm planning another campout soon. Probably in the same area, but this time up the Skokomish River road. It's closer to Shelton and the remote/private camping spots are more plentiful.

The Auburn Public Library invited me to do a presentation on the DB Cooper case come November 19 at 2PM. I accepted their offer, but I need another vacation before I have to show up. Early October sounds good. I won't be able to get away later in the month for a number of reasons. Tent I ordered for the last trip didn't arrive from Amazon until the day after I was gone. When I got back, I did pre-setup and sealed the seams and the rain fly.
It's ready for the Skokomish.

SBJ turns out to be quite the good shot. He brought rounds galore for the SKS and after the third practice shot, he never missed a thing. That boy got natural talent, as they say. He was popping condensed milk cans twenty feet off the ground with ease. The whole trip went really well. Rain came, but we had that 12x20 tarp overhead in the camp area keeping us dry while we watched movies and videos on a 32" Samsung. We're already planning the next trip. Skokomish maybe, or maybe his favorite spot, the Mt. Baker area.