Anyone up for a Western Washington UL GGG?

I'd be interested. 2015 is shaping up to be a busy year, but I'll see what I can do.

My vote is Olympic Pennisula. No opinion on timing.

Thanks to those of you who have shown interest and who voted. Olympic Peninsula Region it is!

Here's a summary of the results

Dale – Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Olympics, N. Cascades
Jeffs – St. Helenish, Goat Rocks, Olympics, Coast Range
Steven – Surprise and Glacier Lakes
Edward – No further south than PDX
NWCurt – Owyhee near Pete Lake up by Salmon La Sac
Christy – Olympics (The Elwah, Sol Duc, Heart O’ The Hills
Katherine – Olympics
Michael – East of Seattle / Issaquah / North Bend or Olympics
Kathleen – Teanaway
Douglas – West Side
Diane – St. Helens / Olympics
Ken – Anywhere but get off his lawn
Dan – Olympics
Ian – Olympics

Next thing we need to do is nail down the who/what/where/whens for this trip.

Who:

We'll need to figure out which campsite before we can determine the upper limit for this GGG. Those who contributed to this thread before today and their guest/s will get first right of refusal. Those who comment/add input from here on out will be given priority based on time/date of response.

Timing:

Please take a moment to look at the weather history for that area in the link below. June through September are historically less than four inches of rain with July being the driest. For those who want to get some hiking in (I'll combine a hiking trip before or after the PNW GGG; let me know if you want to join), there are a few options that are free of snow by June so early in the season is fine.

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/WANPSOLMP:13

Regardless of location, I'll reserve the campsite so it'll be available from Thursday night through Sunday to accommodate those who are coming from out of town. The "official" GGG will start Friday night and will conclude Sunday around lunch time.

Location:

I'll need some help here as I've only been over to the Olympics a handful of times. There's a national park, national forests, and a state park or two I believe.

Olympic National Park has a group campsite at Sol Duc which will accommodate 24 people and Kalaloch which will accommodate 30.

http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/group-camping.htm

So please nominate a specific campsite and a weekend that will work for you.

I hope to reserve this campsite ASAP so please respond before December 2nd.

Edit to add: I will be celebrating with my parents for their bazillionth anniversary June 19th-27th so please not during those dates.

Edit part deuce: My vote is the first or second weekend of June at the Sol Duc campground.

Thanks for taking the lead on this, Ian!

I used to guide in ONP, so I know it well. The main thing to consider during that window – assuming people want to hike – is snow. Even at low elevation it can linger well into late July.

Sol Duc is great, but if people are coming from all over to Sol Duc it would be a near tragedy to not be able to get up to at least part of the nearby Seven Lakes Basin area. Possibly the most spectacular part of the high Olympics, and that's saying something. That will still be buried in June. There is some low elevation forest walking around there, but nothing truly amazing. It can also be overrun by resort "campers" in that area around the hot springs. There are a bunch of other opportunities in the vicinity, however. The Elwha is great and you can get pretty far up that valley even in winter. Lake Crescent is awesome for water types.

Kalaloch would be my first choice. It's stunning even if you never leave the campground. Bluffs overlooking the wild Pacific, so even if the weather is garbage it's amazing to watch the ocean storms. Tons of beach in both directions. It's a short drive into the Hoh rainforest. The Bogachiel rainforest is nearby as well. The premier coastal backpacking in the lower 48 is right there. Strong hikers could do both the GGG hangout and a section of coast in a Thurs-Sun weekend. I'd be happy to distribute maps and info on the routes. The LaPush to Oil City route is fantastic and Kalaloch is right there. World class salmon fishing if the timing is right.

Not sure if there are group sites nearby, but the Enchanted Valley is also awesome that time of year. One of the craziest waterfall displays you'll ever see. Long valley walk with waterfalls on both sides that leads to the old chalet. Tons of bears.

Those would be good choices for June. If it's later in the summer everything is fair game, but it would nice to have access to some high country since the open window up there is so brief. Only a couple months a year, really.

I would vote for Kalaloch first, then Sol Duc. Take a look at Lake Cushman/Staircase too– it is closer to Seattle. There is the ONP Staircase campground as well as Lake Cushman State Park.

Is anyone likely to have a kid or two along with them?

(need to look at my calendar, may be a factor in which dates are best)

Kalaloch
July

Thanks for taking the lead, Ian!

If you go to Kalaloch in July, you better have reservations.

I go there a time or two per year. Very nice place.

When I go there in the summer, there are no vacancies.

You can make reservations, but you better do it exactly 6 months before, otherwise it will probably be reserved out from under you.

If reservations at Kalaloch don't work out, I'd second Dale's suggestions for the south side of the park, either Staircase or one of the campgrounds around Lake Quinault. Although they can also be busy, I think they are usually a little less crowded than the northern park entrances.

Even in July, any hikes will probably be up into a river valley (Enchanted Valley out of Quinault, along the North Fork Skokomish river from Staircase, etc) but we may not make it over any passes that early.

After reading Curt's description and Jerry's recommendation for Kalaloch, I'm changing my vote to that. I'll do some research about those other campgrounds too to figure out how far out I can make the reservations and to set my calendar to be the first in line to secure it if the group's first pick doesn't work out.

Katherine,

Depending on weekend and how adult the "agenda" is, I may bring my kid. 12 year old boy. Who, incidentally, has backpacked a good chunk of the coast trail and LOVED it!

Katherine,

I'll probably make a decision closer to D day as to whether or not I'll bring my two crazed monkeys with me. Monkey 1 is 14 and monkey 2 is 11. Not sure at this point.

Bumping this thread to solicit more votes for a) location on the Olympic Peninsula and time. I'll start calling the ranger stations and other POCs after December 2nd to lock in a campsite assuming that they'll allow for me to do so this far out.

Exact location:

Anything other than Quinault, as that's the only place I've already been in ONP and I'd like to explore more. Otherwise I defer to those of you who know the park better. (though the upside is it would be a shorter drive for me)

Dates I could probably make:

5/30
6/6
6/27 (likely the best for me)
7/11

And yeah, I'll probably play it by ear on bringing a kid too.

Late to this thread. Late June would be best for us. Olympics good coming from Portland. Glad to see this happening. Mark

Just saw this thread. Any place/time works for me. Will bring beer. Might bring wife.

Just curious… is this a car camp/day hike type of thing? Or are we hiking up the river to camp?

More of a car camping ordeal but I suspect that some of us will break off for some day hiking.

June – a lot more rain

What do they say, summer starts on July 5? (after all the July 4 partiers have been rained out)

I posted a link to the precipitation trends for the Olympic National Park and July is the driest month.

Dates requested:

Dale- After Labor Day
Katherine- May/June specifically 5/30, 6/6, 6/27 (likely the best for me) 7/11
Michael- June
Kathleen- July
Douglas- Late spring/early summer
Me- July with June 19th-27th being a no-go due to my parents' anniversary celebration

Opinions about location seemed to lean heavily towards Kalaloch.

Based on the responses above, I'm going to focus on reserving Kalaloch for (edit) June 11-14 or July 10-13. I'm calling NPS after lunch today and will make a reservation if I can.

I really shouldn't type anything before 6am. I've updated the possible dates above. Finding a group site may become challenging due to the popularity of the area so at this point, I'm going to grab anything I can find in the area in June or July with June 19th-27th being the only blackout dates.

I just spoke with the lodge and Kalaloch group campsite is full until September. They start taking reservations 13 months in advance. If 2015 is a success and there's any interest to revisit the Olympic Peninsula the following year, I'll set my calendar to be the first in line to make a reservation for 2016.

In the meantime, Storm King Ranger Station is responsible for the reservations at Sol Duc. Just left them a message and will update once I hear back from them. I'll start researching the southern group campsites later today.

Semper Gumby. We're not married to anything at this point so keep the ideas coming.

Update: Just checked Rainier NP and Cougar Rock is full with the exception of the weekend I can't go and 4th of July weekend. It appears Ohanapecosh will be closed for the 2015 camping season due to a construction project.

What if we changed the format? Made it a one-nighter backpack trip instead of a campground deal?

Just an idea.

Skokomish Park has a 40 person group campsite which appears to be available June 12-14 for a flat rate of $318.

http://www.skokomishpark.com/campsites/index.php

I'd like to make sure that there's enough interest and people committed to coming before I make the deposit. Please respond or PM me if this date and location works for you. If you don't hear back from me within 24hrs, that means your PM was lost along the way so please send again or respond here.

I think $10 per person should cover it and we can settle up one way or the other later on. I'd hope at least 10 people would show up so $32 per person at worst.

For those who are interested in an overnight hike afterwards, Enchanted Valley should be good to go by then. Fairly easy hike through some beautiful old growth forest and wildlife galore. I haven't kept up with it but I believe the Chalet should be moved by then to its new location in the valley.

"What if we changed the format? Made it a one-nighter backpack trip instead of a campground deal?

Just an idea."

I think that's a great idea too. There are some group sites on the Wonderland but June/July would be way too early. Not familiar with the backcountry group camping options in the Olympics so I'll defer that to Curt.

We could break up into smaller groups and hike out to Enchanted Valley. I mentioned it earlier but it's a pretty easy hike. I think as long as we kept our campsites dispersed in the valley and didn't go as one big mob, I suspect that would meet the intent and the law for Oly NP but I'd need to call them to confirm.

I called the WIC but they weren't open this morning. I'll try again Friday.

I'd certainly be up for a BPL hike out to Enchanted Valley even if it wasn't part of the PNW GGG.

I couldn't find any guidance on group camping out there other than this:

"The fee for each Wilderness Camping Permit is $5 to register per group (for groups up to 12 people), plus $2 per person per night. There is no nightly charge for youth 15 years of age and under but they still count towards the group size. Wilderness fees are non-refundable. A separate permit is required for each hike originating at a new trailhead."

My concern for the GGG is the noise it would generate out there. The upside is that since Enchanted Valley is in the wilderness, it'd be less gear centric and more focused on hiking and camping.

Thoughts?