First Hike-in of the Season

This weekend we headed out to Olympic National Park with Brianne and Mary. They spent the night on Friday so we could leave early on Saturday morning. We left at 8:45 am and the weather was promising - sunny and 70. Well, the minute we started hiking it began raining and it was like 55 degrees. This was Brianne and Mary's first hike-in trip and we wanted to make a good impression on them. The rain kept falling harder and harder and never stopped - the entire time! We hiked 3 miles on the Enchanted Valley Trail in the rain only to find our favorite campsite was taken. We found another site that was really small, and very tree covered so it was dark, but it was located on a rocky cliff (a small one) that overlooked the Quinalt River. We set up tents in the rain, and secured the beer in the river to chill it, then took another small hike when it actually was NOT raining. But as soon as we got back it started again. It took Mike 2 hours to get a fire going enough that we could cook hotdogs and s'mores in the rain and eat beans and drink our 24 ounce cans of Heineken in the rain. It rained all night then in the morning we made oatmeal and coffee in the rain and finally packed up our VERY wet gear in the rain. I have to say though, that everyone remained in good humor and we did have fun, although it felt GREAT to put on dry clothes and get back in the car!