Annual Father-Son Camping Trip

This year the boys and J hiked up Mt. Pilchuck. They camped at Turlo campground, in Verlot, 10 miles east of Granite Falls. They camped mid-week for the first time which meant there was no-one in their campsites to their right and left. 

The next section is written by J.

The first evening it rained as promised, which was a bit of a first for us. We cooked our Italian sausages over an open fire. After the meal we went to bed very early. C got to sleep first, but A and I didn't pass out until darkness fell. Despite the early bedtime, we slept a long time and didn't get up until about 7AM when a crow decided to go crazy over our head with caw-caw-ing to some other crow far away.

After a breakfast of bacon and baked beans cooked on our Coleman camp stove, we packed sandwiches, prepped a backpack with 5 water bottles, and headed out to the trailhead. I was glad I brought the Jeep, because the old forest road, now called Mount Pilchuck Access Road, is massively potholed and non-maintained in the middle, unpaved section. We started walking at exactly 9:30 AM. There was cloud cover and mild temperatures. 

It's officially a 3 mile hike each way, and 2,200 feet of elevation, spread out pretty much over a constant grade. It took 2.5 hours to get to the top and 1.5 hours to get down. I had to rest a lot with the pack I was carrying, that included the water, snacks, and Sheila's camera. The boys did well, though it was a challenge to be sure. A is a master of the climb up, whereas C comes into his own on the descent, where other people's ankles and feet start getting very sore.

There were really very few other hikers on the trail. Near the top we asked a couple of groups how far we were, and got some encouragement to continue. One group of middle-aged single women were alarmed by seeing a man with a hunting knife in the wilderness to protect his children. Sigh. At the top, which has a refurbished fire lookout, you scramble up some big boulders and then climb a ladder. There were two other parties there when we got there. 

It was completely clouded in at the top when we got there, so there wasn't any view to enjoy. We set about eating our sandwiches, and I noticed that there was a gal on her phone, so I realized we suddenly had cell coverage.

I called S from the top of the mountain which was fun, and each of the boys talked to her also. After about 20 minutes up there, another hiker said: "Look, the clouds are breaking." And we all turned and saw our first view. Fortunately over the next 10 minutes the clouds increasingly moved out and about 180 degrees of the view became visible, in the westerly direction towards the sound. You could see all the way out to the water. 

After taking a bunch of pictures we headed down. While the going is tough on the ankles and knees, I was so glad not to be lugging that pack against gravity any more.

We were very proud of ourselves for our achievement and grabbed some drinks and ice cream. After that we went shooting with their new air rifle I bought them and their bow-n-arrow. A local convenience store owner told us where we could find a shooting pit the locals use, up the old forest road towards Lower Boardman Lake Trail. There was no-one else there and we had a great time for about half an hour plinking cans with BBs we bought from Cabelas. We also tested out the bow-n-arrow which was fun.

A says he'd like to try an even more challenging hike next year!


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