"We hiked the 7 Lakes Basin loop today and saw 4 bears! I've never seen that many bears in one day, so it was a pretty big treat. 3 were at a distance, and we surprised one coming around a corner. He jumped off the trail into a patch of blueberries and then stopped right there and continued eating. We also saw a herd of elk. Beautiful day in the mountains!" — Al-Rashid • Sep 15, 2018

"Last weekend ended up being a Plan C weekend. Plan A was to climb Glacier Peak, but the trail for our route was closed due to blasting until Tuesday. Plan B ended up being the Press Expedition Traverse across the Olympic Mountains, but after driving out there from Glacier Peak and arriving Friday night we found out the Elwha River Valley was closed due to flooding resulting from the dam removal. Luck didn't seem to be with us. Since we were already out on the Peninsula and had spent our entire Friday driving all over the state and taking a ferry, we decided to camp for the night and get started on a trip out there in the morning. We hiked in on the Hoh River Trail and camped on a sandbar where we had some fun making a simple shelter out of rocks and logs, a nice fire pit, and some benches. In the morning we headed for Bogachiel Peak to get a view of Mount Olympus and the Seven Lakes Basin. We feasted on seven types of berries along the way. The view from the top was gorgeous. On the way back down we took a quick dip in Hoh Lake, which was just the refreshment we needed to make the hike back down the mountain and out the valley. We got back to the car just after dark and minutes..." — Al-Rashid • Jul 31, 2016