Tunnel Creek is one of the more popular trails in the Olympic National Forest, an easy hike. I planned to hike up to 50/50 ridge and really get a test of the Pocket Stove in windy conditions, but I haven't had a pack on for twenty years, so it was all I could do to hike to the Tunnel Creek shelter, about three miles in.

Wednesday Aug 26th, one and a half weeks before Labor Day weekend. No one was on the trail. I was surprised. Lush green moss carpeted the floor of the rain forest around the trail. I wasn't sure at the start how far 50/50 was, six or seven miles, and I knew from what I read that the shelter had several campsites around it which I think I already settled on.

Bub led the whole way. How do dogs know that? A trail we've never been on before and she's pulling on the leash the whole way. Since it's been so long since I've had a pack on the first destination, the shelter, was looking better and better. Plus there were no people on the trail so I figured I might be able to get it all to myself.

The first cup of coffee on the trail was difficult. There was no place to get off the trail and rocks for a wind break were hard to find. I was convinced by now that no one would come along so I wouldn't be blocking the trail if I stopped and made coffee. I went ahead and unpacked. There were some rocks in the front of a small cave off to the side. I poked my stick in to see if there was anything that was going to defend the rocks, but no, so I reached in and pulled them out. There wasn't any wind so I didn't even need to build a wind break. About two tablespoons of fuel, the Pocket Stove lit with the first match. The water boiled quickly and I had coffee and snacks.

Replaced the rocks and got back on the trail. It turned out the shelter was only a few hundred yards further. There was no chance of rain so I opted for a campsite instead of the shelter. There had been some volunteer work recently clearing and repairing the trail and there had been some work to the camp site area as well. Somebody did a really nice job. One site had a chainsawed round, about three feet in diameter, which they set up as a table with smaller rounds set up as chairs. With the lush green rain forest carpeting you couldn't have done better at a cafe in Paris. Next to the rounds was a big flat rock, perfect for cooking and serving a hot meal. Somebody knew how to use alcohol fuel stoves.

Just a note, a few hundred yards back, on the trail, there was a routed wood forest service sign stating "Stoves Only Beyond this Point", meaning no camp fires. I assume that means year round since the sign looked like it had been up several years.

Boiled water for my next cup of coffee on the flat rock. For some reason the Pocket Stove didn't light the first time. I guess I was tired from the hike and threw up my wind break in a hurry. Then I did something stupid. I filled the cap of my only alcohol container half full. I dribble part of it on the stone and some of it dribbled on my finger. I set the cap down on the stone and the Pocket Stove on the stone and lit the match. The cap and my finger caught. Instinctively I shook out the flame on my finger and didn't notice the cap right away. When I saw it, I blew it out. This was serious because without a cap my fuel would evaporate or spill. Fortunately heat rises and only the edge of the cap melted and the cap still fit to seal the container. Close call.

Forgot to bring utensils so I carved a spoon out of some fir. During the process I nicked my finger. Just a nuisance. I always used to advise my employees if they cut or nicked a finger to practice extra caution in everything they did because it throws your balance off just enough to make you more accident prone.

Later on as I hung my food up in a tree I was stung by some bees. I don't know if bear boxes are necessary in the Olympics, but the rope method is recommended where you throw a rope over a branch and hang your food twelve feet above the ground. One thing about the rain forest in the Olympics is that the trees are tall and the limbs are way up there. There weren't any branches low enough I could get a rope over.

I use nylon carpenters string as it is light weight and has a tensile strength of about 3,000 LB. It's good for just about anything hiking except maybe tossing over a branch. I marched around the site and finally found a branch I could reach, tied a rock in the string and then missed. I went over to tie the rock back on the end of the string and that's when I met the bees. They were polite. I swatted at them a couple of times before they decided to defend their hive. It only took two or three stings before I made a fast exit and fortunately the bees let me leave without following. I decided to put off hanging the food till after dinner.

I haven't invested in any fancy cookware yet so I'm using my old Peak stove container. The night before I left on my hike I cooked some meat rice and vegetables in a stew and then dried some of it on a frying pan. It's a good meal for Bub and I get to spice it up how I like it. The dried food made an easy meal. I just added water and warmed it up. However, since it's got meat in it I wouldn't want to wait two days before I ate it so it was first night fodder.

The Pocket Stove lit easily. I built up the wind break a little. There wasn't a lot of room on top of the flat rock so it was a bit tricky. There was enough of a breeze to require extra attention to the wind break. Rocks were hard to find on the mossy floor so I set up pieces of bark outside of the rocks. Since I was next to a creek there was no problem wetting them down.

The wind break was a little deep. I have an old plastic sports bottle that's made of thick hdpe plastic and it dribbles. Some of the alcohol would dribble down the side of the bottle outside the windbreak but it was still on the rock. I was also extra careful to put the lid back on and place it out of the way before I lit the stove. The pocket stove took a second dribble to light. I seemed to have lost my 'touch'. I don't why I was having so much trouble lighting the stove here. It worked though. Dinner, coffee, hot chocolate and dog food on the Pocket Stove and enough water to clean up with filling the Pocket Stove one and a half times.

Years ago Uncle Bob took us up to somewhere on the Peninsula in his 1950 four door Chevy sedan. There was a line of cars stopped on the road with people feeding the bears. These big black cuddly black bears would come up to the car window and people would hand them food. A few years later we went on a camping trip to Yellowstone Park and bears were a common site in the camp grounds, even the parking lots. It was no big deal. Now in the Olympic Forest I can see the bear signs, but fortunately no bears.

I was the only one in the camp so I made some noise to make sure they'd hear me and stay away, at least that's what I heard you're supposed to do. Years ago there used to be a local sporting good store called Hurters. They published a book on how to hike and hunt in the outdoors. Under bears they had a list of things you should do if you ever ran into a bear. The last one on the list was 'spit in the bears mouth'. No kidding. It really said that. Could you imagine. These calm, cool, collected hunters. I wonder which one of them tested that one out? I made my last cup of hot chocolate for the night and finally hung the food up. The bees had gone to sleep so it looked like it was okay to hang the food up in the same branch.

Firing up the Pocket Stove for the chocolate only took one match. Mainly because my alcohol container dribbled about as much as I tried to fill. I didn't even bother pouring the the lighting dribble into the cap first since enough had dribbled from the jug. Part of my thinking was I'd have to hike out with anything I didn't use so a lack of conservation of fuel was to my advantage. I'm sure on a more thoroughly planned trip fuel allotments would be more important.

I set up the tent and climbed in. Bub climbed in as well after much coaxing. I used Tea Tree oil as mosquito repellent. It works great, but whenever I pull it out Bub moves fifteen feet away. The poor dog. It must have be torture for a dog to climb into a pup tent with a human covered in Tea Tree oil.

For those of you who are interested there are no sounds in the woods. I mean it was perfectly quiet. Not a sound. No wind either. I listened intently for a twig to crack, and owl to hoot, a bird, a coyote, anything. Since it was dark I could only guess this was because some big predator was dominating the forest and all the animals were being extra cautious. I made some more noise and went to sleep.

Got a good nights sleep. I didn't have any time pieces with me so I could only guess it was probably seven or eight. I had set some coffee aside in the Peak stove container, figuring it would make a lot of noise if a raccoon or something knocked it over. Other than that all my food was up in a tree, by the bee hive. I made the coffee and untied my food. The bees were awake but cordial and let me pass.

The Pocket Stove lit easily. I fried an egg for Bub and I and boiled water for a packet of instant oatmeal and coffee. With the peak stove container, the lid can be used for frying and the container for water. That leaves just one clean up. With about two tablespoons of fuel I heated water for a second cup of coffee and creek water for clean up.

Tunnel creek was probably safe to drink, but I had not drunken any yet and didn't plan to. A lot of places around the Olympic Peninsula used to have signs at trail heads warning of bacteria in the water. I had packed in two gallons and that would be enough to get through this three day hike. At times you can use your stove to purify water by boiling it. I believe the time it takes to purify water is to boil it for one minute at a rolling boil. I didn't want to find out on the trail and will wait till I've done more research and let you know.

Packed up and continued hike up to 50/50 Ridge. Once you get past the creek there is less moss and more brush. There are also more rocks and it's easier to find places along the way to stop and make coffee which I did a lot on the steep trail.

There was hardly any wind up on the ridge. It was easy to set up a wind break and cook dinner. The view was incredible. You could see East and West including parts of the city lights. There was less vegetation and the ground was exposed so it was easy to moisten the ground and light the stove without fire hazard. I cooked dinner, hot chocolate and a couple of cups of coffee firing up the stove three times. I filled it full for dinner and two partial fills for coffee and hot chocolate. Cooked a packet of Ramen and gave Bub some of the dry dog food I carried in. She turned her nose up at the dog food until I threw some noodles on it and then she gobbled it all down.

It was such a beautiful night and there were no insects so I didn't bother setting up the tent however it was hard to find a level place without rocks. There weren't any trees nearby so I skipped hanging my food just setting my pack about a hundred yards away with the metal peak container on top as a tilt alarm. Sleep was difficult because of the terrain. I packed up sometime in the middle of the night, after making one more cup of coffee, and headed back down the trail.

I enjoy night hiking. The trail was so well worn that it was easy to follow although I did need to use the flashlight here and there to see what I was stepping into plus with a dog leading the way you get a hint at what's there. Mostly I didn't want to step into a hole.

It was still dark when I got back down to the camp site at Tunnel Creek. It was darker and cooler down here than it was on the ridge. I skipped doing dishes on the ridge to save water so I could use Tunnel Creek which I did now, in the dark. I had brought some foil and candle that worked to light up the wash area. There's always enough of a breeze to blow out a candle so the light was not direct but up. I tried to fill the Pocket Stove in the dark over on the flat rock I had cooked on earlier. Couldn't do it so I held the flashlight in a bunch of awkward ways until I got enough fuel in the stove to boil water. Lighting the stove with a match was no problem as I could feel the alcohol that dripped down the side of the stove as I was filling it.

Daylight arrived just in time for breakfast. The timeline was non stop. Made coffee, did the dishes and it was light enough for breakfast. I thought I'd be different today and picked some Blue Berries for the instant oatmeal. What an outdoorsman. Wild berries and instant mash. Boiled water and washed the dishes again and started to wonder how much fuel I'd used.

I spent the rest of the morning picking blue berries. It appeared that berry pickers up here were competing with the bears. I think I saw a documentary once where the bear grabs a bush and just licks the berries off. Some of the berry bushes had a silvery slime on them that looked like dried saliva, sorta of like what a slug would leave except it covered whole plants randomly. You'd be going through a patch and all of a sudden come across a bush without berries, just slime. It had to be the bears. I can only imagine they stay away from the trail leaving some of the berries for us hikers.

Back at camp I tried one of those packets of instant soup and Ramen noodles. They both require three minutes of boiling, six total. I filled the peak container with water, probably four cups and it all boiled. I poured some of the water into another container, put it back on to boil and put the noodles in. I pulled the noodles off after about one minute and put the soup on. It boiled for a couple of minutes and I added the noodles to the soup. It was good but Bub wouldn't eat any. Filled the pocket stove a second time for Coffee and clean up.

Packed up and made one more cup of coffee before heading down the trail. Being Friday I expected hikers to be headed up the trail so I didn't want to stop on my way down to cook anything as I knew there was no place to get off the trail. It was downhill anyway so it was a quick hike.

Got in the Jeep at the trail head and headed back down the forest service road to a place where I knew I could make some coffee before heading back out onto the highway.