Olympic Coast (3rd Beach) - 07/03-05/09

Katie, Megan, and I spent the July 4th weekend on the Olympic Coast. Katie of course does not have the holiday off and we left early Friday afternoon. After stops including long ferry lines, dropping off Bandit in Silverdale, bumper to bumper traffic at the hood canal bridge, getting permits in Port Angeles, we finally made it to the 3rd Beach trailhead around 8pm. Just like the coast always is, it was sunny the entire drove over and got cloudy at the trailhead. Luckly the hike to 3rd beach is only 1.5 miles and we were quickly setting up camp and cooking dinner. Fire roasted smores and whiskey topped off the evening. The next morning we woke up to misty conditions. With that we decided not to move our camp and we day hiked it out to Strawberry Point. Tons of pictures were taken along the way including misty overland forests, bald eagles, and driftwood. At Strawberry Point we decided we had enough and soon were making our way back. All was going well until I ran into Evan Jewett, a fellow UW climber. We spoke for a while and eventually Katie and Megan had enough and went ahead without me. Evan then mentioned if we knew about the car accident that took place early that morning. Of course we didn't. A guy in a truck, pulling a boat, fell asleep and caused a 5 car accident in the trailhead parking lot. His description sounded like where we parked and I quickly took off to catch up to Katie and Megan. After telling them what had happened we booked it back to our tent and then Katie and I went back to the parking lot to see if her car was hit. Unfortunately, her car was hit, although it was not totalled and 3 others were. The cops deemed it driveable and it was not towed when the accident occured. She had front and rear bumper damage, possible frame damage and fluid leaks, hood and back door alignment issues, etc.. We couldn't do anything at the moment given the day and time so we hiked back to our camp and tried to relax as much as possible. The sun eventually came out and we enjoyed a few hours of lounging around in the sunshine, eating mushroom risotto, and drinking loco cocoas. We decided to wake up early to take care of the car. After stops at the Forks police department and the Mora ranger station, we were finally on our way home. Because the back door was screwed up, we were unable to get Bandit and he had to stay in Silverdale for the week until Emily's wedding. After days and days of dealing with insurance companies and staying patient, Katie was finally able to obtain a rental car and drop off her car at the Jeep dealer. Hopefully the frame isn't damaged and will be able to be fixed. All in all, a very typical trip for us when we wanted a mellow weekend without vertical gain. Pictures can be found at http://alpinenapping.com/main.php/v/mountains/2009/3rdbeach-07_03_09/