I originally was not going hiking on this weekend but at the last minute I heard about an overnight trip that Doug and Paul were doing at Marmot Pass. I looked at the logistics and figured I could tag along and make a day trip out of the same hike. The added bonus being that I could shuttle with them since I would be coming out via a different trailhead. The hike was 17 miles and around 3500' elevation gain.
We got to the Tubal Cain trailhead around 10:00. There were four of us - Barbra, Paul, Doug and myself. We hiked most of the afternoon, stopping for a quick lunch near the Tubal Cain mine, and a couple of rest and snack breaks along the way. At Windy Pass we took another good long break and Paul found a Geocache there. Shortly after Windy Pass, we were at Marmot Pass. After a few photo oportunities we parted ways as the rest of the group was camping at Marmot and I was headed back down to the car, another 8 miles away. It was 5:00 PM when I started heading down. The rest of the hike was pretty straightforward with only one hiccup. I lost the trail at Boulder Shelter. There is a tight switchback right before the shelter at an intersection there and instead of taking it (I didn't see it) I kept going straight to the shelter. This gave me the opportunity to take a few pictures of it but then I couldn't find a trail that went down. Some nice ladies that were camped there pointed me in the right direction and I was soon on my way. The only other thing of note on the rest of the trip was that I came across the biggest, freshest pile of bear s**t I've ever seen. The bear must have been pretty close, it looked that fresh. Hiking alone on the trail is something that I do often but I still get nervous sometimes about running into bears when I'm out there. For most of the trip descending down to the Dungeness river, I was calling out "hey bear" or singing some song out of tune to warn ursus of my presence. Once I got to the river, I wasn't as nervous so I ceased my warbling. I finally made it back to my car right at 7:30 PM. Too late for the steak I wanted but I knew the drive thru would still be open when I got to Silverdale. Fast food would have to suffice.
