Washington State – 2012

[Johnny Duke]

My brother, a couple friends, and I went to Washington State in July to do our annual backpacking trip this year. We flew into Seattle and rented a car and spent nine days driving to different places and finding places to sleep. We backpacked to Spider Gap in the Okanogan – Wenatchee National Forest, Shi Shi Beach in Olympic National Park, and did the Mother Mountain Loop in Mt. Rainier National Park. We did a whole lot of driving and did spend one night in a hotel (for full disclosure). I put together a little video of the trip that my brother said would be good to post here.

The music is a bit low on the volume level so you might want to crank your speakers, and it was shot almost entirely in 1080 so you can set it to HD by clicking the little gear icon on the lower right.

Also, as a side note, all the packs and tarps that are in the video were made by my brother (Michael).

Enjoy the slow-mo seagull.

[Link .]

Very Nice!

[MFR]

Great video. That's what summers are for.

I'd love to see more posted on those packs. From what I saw, there were some very nice, creative ideas out there.

[Michael Duke]

Thank you Clayton and Anna.

Clayton, I built those packs. Here is a link to some pictures of them:

http://www.flickr.com//photos/67046387@N04/sets/72157630013014834/show/

Also, here are some more photos from the trip:

[Michael L]

Very nice. Where was the opening shot from?

I loved the pause in the forest on that narrow road. Can you explain it some?

My wife and I just moved to Washington so your video was fun to watch.

[Michael Duke]

The opening shot was on Phelps Creek trail if I remember correctly.

My brother can probably explain the car sequence better, but basically I told everyone to go down this road so that we could reach Olympic national park a different way. The road ended up just basically swallowing the car. The trees were engulfing our uninsured rental car. So I had to get out and guide us in reverse. So my assumption was that the pause was to show us just being stuck there.

Washington really was a great time. Where did you two move to?

[MFR]

Thanks for the link to the pictures. If you get a chance, I'd love to see some details on specs and construction in the MYOG forum. I'm sure I'm not the only one. You've definitely given me some ideas for a couple of projects I have in the works.

[Michael Duke]

No problem Clayton. I started a thread a while back in the MYOG forum.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=64778

I'd be happy to give you any info you need. You can email me at mpd1690 (AT) gmail (dot) com, or post in that thread and I'll keep an eye on it.

[Johnny Duke]

Yes. The car was uninsured. And we were getting swallowed where the branches were making that terrible "you're losing your paint" noise. Anyways I turned the camera around to face the inside of the car while we were trying to figure out whether to continue on or try to reverse out. That scene was just a small part of our deliberation. You can see us holding branches off from the car windows and my brother outside directing us when we finally decide to back up.

That first shot was Phelps creek trail heading up to spider gap. Beautiful place.

[MFR]

Thanks for the link. I must have missed that thread. I've been trying to keep a closer eye on the MYOG stuff these days as it is sucking me in. It's been enjoyable enough so far that I'm starting to want to build for friends too.

[Michael Duke]

It definitely is enjoyable. That is exactly what I did. It is the best way to develop new skills and ideas as well. I am very minimalist in my pack. No pockets, no lid, one daisy chain, and framesless. My friends have wanted other things, so it pushes you to develop new, clever ideas.

[Michael L]

That's what I got from the pause. I really thought it was a great break in the middle of the video and added some good humor.

Pullman.

[Johnny Duke]

Haha good. I ran across that scene while editing and thought it might be a good touch.

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