Following Graduation in April, Gabe and I headed to the Portland area. After a few days, we left with his sister Tori to go on a backpacking trip along the Olympic National Forest Coastline. The hike itself was not extremely rigorous, just twenty or so miles in five days. Most of the mileage was along the beach. We had to learn to read tide charts, in order to make the low tide crossings along the trail. Our backpack trip was relaxing aside from a few pesky animals that woke us in the middle of the night. One of the most memorable nights was the last one. We set up camp on a two hundred foot bluff in the rainforest overlooking the ocean. That night a huge storm blew in and all night long I was certain that our little blue tarp would blow away from all the wind and torrential downpour. There is something awing about standing in a rainforest with everything decaying...and yet there is tons of life teeming!
