Sol Duc Falls

Way back in July, 2015 we went backpacking. We try to go a few times a year and at least once with our good friends, the Sauras. This has gotten more interesting as our families have grown. The year before we went for the first time with our toddlers and Whitney braved the trek while pregnant. This year, Whitney impressively packed in two kids and it was my turn to carry a pack while pregnant.

We went back and forth about whether we should even try to backpack with little ones again, or if we should just car camp and make life a little easier. I'm a die-hard and my vote was always that we go backpacking but Blake was questioning and Sauras had quite the logistical challenge with fitting all their gear and two kids on two backs. In the end, we agreed we should just go for it.

Sol Duc Falls is a very popular area and permits are required for overnight backpacking trips. We were having a hard time picking a trail this year because there are only so many short, flat trails that also allow overnight camping. We finally decided on Sol Duc a week before our trip was planned and it was a long shot that we would get a permit for one of the few camping spots on the trail. The only things in our favor were that we were applying for weeknights and that we wanted the first or second camping spots on the trail, so as to only have to hike 1-2 miles in, and most people wanted to go farther in (like we would have a couple of years ago).We ended up getting a permit for the first camping spot on the trail, making our hike a whopping mile in, mile out.

In the trailhead parking lot, I took my camera battery off the charger and stuck it in my camera. We loaded our gear and put our packs on (no small feat) and headed to the trailhead. I set up for the obligatory trailhead picture and ... no juice. Completely dead battery. I guess leaving the battery on the charger while it wasn't plugged in, zapped all the power back out of the battery. We probably should have taken this as a sign that we should have just turned around right then, but we'll get into that later. Thankfully, Jason has a big camera too, so we still got our trailhead photo.

It was a gorgeous hike and a beautiful day. It was so fun to see our toddlers enjoying the outdoors and doing more hiking on their own. We felt like one mile in was the perfect distance for them... and maybe us too ;)!

It's this way guys!

Whitney's impressive load, she added Lincs to that at some point too!

All the girls

Family selfie

This little clip is pretty representative of the last half of our hike in. She is reciting Going on a Bear Hunt with me.

We made it to the falls (no surprise, since it's just under a mile) and took in the pretty view before trying to figure out where the trail continued and how we found our designated camp spot. It wasn't entirely clear but we eventually figured it out and set up our tents.

After we got set up, we explored a little around our camping area. This was during the height of the forest fires so no campfires were allowed. We were just up from the river, so that provided some entertainment and there was plenty to explore.

First things first though, Emerson needed a bath. Backstory: she had been potty trained for awhile, with the exception of naps/nighttime and long car trips (which were usually a nap too). When we left the house she wore special underwear that is like the cloth equivalent to a pull up. Still some absorbency but trim and pulls up and down. They can hold about one good pee but aren't as absorbent as a diaper. She rarely had accidents at home but being in her car seat for any length of time was usually hit or miss. She was at that point where you had to take her asap if she said she had to go. So I had packed diapers for naps/bedtime and the car rides and I packed her underwear. At this point in the hike.. she had wet through to her pants three different times. The previous two times I washed and dried out her pants in a restroom but this time we were on the trail and although she told us she had to pee, we found out that the hiking backpack was the same as a car seat and it was always too late. So she had to walk since her pants were soggy through. It was unbelievably frustrating since this was waaaay more accidents than she usually has and more than I had accounted for in my attempt at minimalist backpack packing. To be fair, it was a lot of stop and go traveling to get to the trailhead. End backstory.

So we headed down to the river to give her a little bit of a bath. She loves water she can stand in, really cold or not, so she was happy to get to splash around a little.

And then the rain started. We were in the Olympic National (rain)Forest, so I'm not sure why we didn't think of this likelihood, but apparently we didn't. Blake and I brought light jackets that were somewhat water resistant but Emerson doesn't have a rain jacket and she loves to live in her red jacket so that's what we brought for her, just light sweatshirt material. We also only packed her two pairs of pants and a shirt in addition to pajamas. We were halfway through day one and only had one pair of pants and one shirt left for her and it was raining, raining, raining.

Entertaining toddlers while backpacking can be hard enough but in the middle of the woods and add in some rain and no campfire and it's a little trickier. Whitney is good though and she entertained the kiddos while we set up camp.

They were holding hands. This was adorable, even if this isn't the best picture of it.

They could have spent hours down here, but unfortunately, it was right out in the rain.

Our humble abode.

Our campsite.

It was a long night. By the time we ate dinner and went to bed we were all soaked. I had dry pajamas and so did Emerson, but Blake didn't. We packed light because it's backpacking and that's what you do. Also, there were fires everywhere and it was warm in general. We picked the only rainy weekend in quite some time. Irony I guess. After a fairly sleepless night for everyone, except maybe Emerson, we were all fairly ready to pack it in. We had a little tent-to-tent discussion and started packing up camp. We were off after breakfast (or did we even eat breakfast?) and paused only for a few pictures at the falls (and some entertainment when Jason tried to ask the international tourist to take our picture and she basically said/gestured 'no thanks I'm with that guy over there'.. she thought he wanted to take her picture).

Sol Duc Falls

We hiked out as fast as we could (this pregnant momma wanted to use the 'real' bathroom). We did manage to get a selfie in front of the sign before I literally booked it to the bathroom (I'm only slightly ashamed to say that someone else was coming and I didn't want to risk my place in line).

Well.. better (really) late than never?