The Press Expedition and a Modern Day Visit - Part I

I don't know about you, but I am happy living in today's world where such supplies wouldn't be necessary for six men, nor would the timeframe.

The Christie party did succeed as the first white people to explore the mountains, though the resident Indians had lived in and traversed the area many years prior. Today the hike is known as "up the Elwha and out the Quinault" trek.

Imagine the tales of being in a mountain range in the dead of winter in 1889. The party battled cold, rain, snow, sleet, you name it.

Next week I'll continue with more about the actual expedition. There's a modern-day tale of the same area.

I read an article in the May 7, 2002, issue of the Olympian newspaper: two people followed the trail of that expedition. Their trek was a bit different. Jon Green and Lisa Hupp traversed the mountain in five days in late March 2001.

The joys of better weather and a partly established trailhead were undoubtedly helpful. But it was not a picnic.

They carried 45-50 pound packs with snowshoes and a bear canister. Up switchbacks from sea level to 2000 feet for the first three miles, they had their work cut out. They traveled 27 miles to the Low Divide, an area of sub alpine meadows, to discover the next 16 miles downhill were not any easier. Snowfields, difficult streams to cross and a cougar kept them alert.

At the Low Divide the shelter they planned on had been crushed by snow. So they stayed in their tent - moisture froze inside their tent as did their boots and water. Green says frozen boots are one of the perils of the mountain hiker. Seems he doesn't intend to let it stop him, though.

Green is an environmental studies student at the Evergreen State College in Olympia who came here two years ago from New Hampshire to see the Olympics. I expect he has a greater vision of this mountain range after his trek and an even greater appreciation.

I wonder how he felt about covering the same space as Christie. And if Christie were here today, what would he say about the modern-day conveniences and the ease of the hike over the mountains?

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References:

http://www.olympic.national-park.com/inf...

http://www.thingstodo.com/states/WA/nati...

The Olympian, Tuesday, May 7, 2002.

Across the Olympic Mountains, The Press Expedition, 1889-1890, Robert L. Wood, Seattle and London: The Mountaineers and University of Washington Press, 1967.

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Copyright 2002 Jerri Brooker

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