I never did visit this place, this space. I read about it and thought about it...even celebrated that someone cared enought to observe it.
Here's the link: http://onesquareinch.org/
To see the map, see how close it is to Lake Quinault, check here.
Hucks and More
Years ago I hiked up to the top of Colonel Bob. I called it "All Day Mountain" after that. I didn't catch the clue when the ranger said "Well, I can make it to the top in four hours, if I push it." He didn't add "and I hike everyday." In any case- it was worth it- even when I was still sore days later.
Yes- the lush green moss hanging from trees, the birds flitting about, and the view from the top- breath taking. But honestly- it was the berries I'll always remember. Huckleberries like the tip of your thumb- juicy, glowing like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Eventually you eat them like a bear- just pull the branch down to you and use your lips to pluck them off.
The more to eat, the more you want to eat- until you get a little bit giddy with it all. There's other berries too- but Hucks are my favorite. And the abundance of wild edibles doesn't stop there- fiddle heads, miners lettuce and mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. In fact, Lake Quinault has an annual Mushroom Festival in mid-October. Time to start planning your trip!
Yes- the lush green moss hanging from trees, the birds flitting about, and the view from the top- breath taking. But honestly- it was the berries I'll always remember. Huckleberries like the tip of your thumb- juicy, glowing like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Eventually you eat them like a bear- just pull the branch down to you and use your lips to pluck them off.
The more to eat, the more you want to eat- until you get a little bit giddy with it all. There's other berries too- but Hucks are my favorite. And the abundance of wild edibles doesn't stop there- fiddle heads, miners lettuce and mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. In fact, Lake Quinault has an annual Mushroom Festival in mid-October. Time to start planning your trip!
Berries and Fungi
Years ago I hiked up to the top of Colonel Bob. I called it "All Day Mountain" after that. I didn't catch the clue when the ranger said "Well, I can make it to the top in four hours, if I push it." He didn't add "and I hike everyday." In any case- it was worth it- even when I was still sore days later.
Yes- the lush green moss hanging from trees, the birds flitting about, and the view from the top- breath taking. But honestly- it was the berries I'll always remember. Huckleberries like the tip of your thumb- juicy, glowing like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Eventually you eat them like a bear- just pull the branch down to you and use your lips to pluck them off.
The more to eat, the more you want to eat- until you get a little bit giddy with it all. There's other berries too- but Hucks are my favorite. And the abundance of wild edibles doesn't stop there- fiddle heads, miners lettuce and mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. In fact, Lake Quinault has an annual Mushroom Festival in mid-October. Time to start planning your trip!
Yes- the lush green moss hanging from trees, the birds flitting about, and the view from the top- breath taking. But honestly- it was the berries I'll always remember. Huckleberries like the tip of your thumb- juicy, glowing like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Eventually you eat them like a bear- just pull the branch down to you and use your lips to pluck them off.
The more to eat, the more you want to eat- until you get a little bit giddy with it all. There's other berries too- but Hucks are my favorite. And the abundance of wild edibles doesn't stop there- fiddle heads, miners lettuce and mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. In fact, Lake Quinault has an annual Mushroom Festival in mid-October. Time to start planning your trip!
In The Attic
My mom has been cleaning out the cabin, getting it ready for it's next phase in life. This involves the attic. There is a hatch/staircase in the front hall that goes up to a large attic. I often imagined putting an artist studio up there with a big skylight. Maybe someone will someday do just that. For now it's storage- today she brought us a bag of roman candle fireworks- none of us remember putting them up there. Maybe none of it did. One of those old house mysteries.
When visiting there I would often look around and wonder about who had been there, what they had done. And I mean more than just the many folks my mom has rented the home to in the years that she has owned it- I wonder during the 40s- when many of the other homes nearby weren't there. Who drove all this way out into this wilderness, what did they drive, how have things changed?
One of the local bits is about Teddy Roosevelt's visit in 1938, when this cabin was almost brand new- and the local elk herd was named after him- Roosevelt Elk. He led efforts to save them- bring them back from near extinction. One time I saw a huge herd of them, watched as they blended into moss covered trees, the bucks keeping close tabs on us. In that moment- there is no timeline, no year, no history even. Nothing in the attic- artist studio, fireworks or forgotten treasures. It's just you and these huge elk.
The Name
Naming something can be tricky. We call this spot the cabin. Maybe "cabin" isn't the right word for this place. It does have that feeling of warmth and wood, hot beverages in warm mugs and misty mountain views. But it also has electricity, hot water, and propane heater. So it's not a "roughing it" kind of experience. Vacation home? Maybe that describes it a bit better, but then there's no cell phone reception unless you go stand lakeside- and while the neighbors do have a land line- we don't. Just never felt the need to be connected in that way.
The words I think of to describe this home are: base camp and refuge.
Base camp because Lake Quinault is surrounded by amazing places to experience. You can walk to old trees with knobby knots and mossy beards, picking salmon berries from bushes like black bears, snap some photos of waterfalls- and then walk back home for breakfast.
Then drive 20 minutes and be at a trail head, hike up, up, up- spying mushrooms and ferns- stopping at every switch back to look behind you and seeing the lush layers of green sweeping away all else. Reach the top of Colonel Bob and turn around and around- see the sky and ocean. Notice how the mountains fold into each other like Saturday morning bedsheets. Lay down on the rock and feel the earth turning. Then hike back down and be in the hot shower.
Maybe rather than seeing the ocean, you want to feel it and smell it. Thirty miles- and you are there. Ruby Beach, Kalaloche Lodge, Beach 3- each with white crested waves, tide pools, eagles overhead, soft sand, drift wood, peaceful places to just sit for hours. Stroll along the edge of salty water, looking down at the sun glinting off the shells and stone or to the cliffs, the trees with their limbs pushed back from the wind. Picnic atop boulders, write your name with sticks, build a fort or just invite yourself into one already there. Then go back to base camp and bake some cookies.
And then there's the lake itself, steps away. Take out a kayak or canoe and sit with your fingertips in the cold water. Watch for the fish underneath, curious ravens watching you, so many animals, so many textures and smells. It just feeds you in ways that are hard to describe with words.
Here's some other ideas about places to go nearby as mentioned in Sunset magazine.
Or maybe you won't want to go anywhere but here. Maybe it's a place to come and be...still, alone, festive, healed, creative, inspired, lazy...yourself. It has given moments of all of these and more to many folks over the years.
Maybe after you've been here for a few years- or maybe even on your first visit- you'll come up with its name. The words that hold all of what this place means to you. My oldest son calls it "Memaw's Big House" because I think he was always marveled by all that happens there and around it. It really is so Big.
The words I think of to describe this home are: base camp and refuge.
Base camp because Lake Quinault is surrounded by amazing places to experience. You can walk to old trees with knobby knots and mossy beards, picking salmon berries from bushes like black bears, snap some photos of waterfalls- and then walk back home for breakfast.
Then drive 20 minutes and be at a trail head, hike up, up, up- spying mushrooms and ferns- stopping at every switch back to look behind you and seeing the lush layers of green sweeping away all else. Reach the top of Colonel Bob and turn around and around- see the sky and ocean. Notice how the mountains fold into each other like Saturday morning bedsheets. Lay down on the rock and feel the earth turning. Then hike back down and be in the hot shower.
Maybe rather than seeing the ocean, you want to feel it and smell it. Thirty miles- and you are there. Ruby Beach, Kalaloche Lodge, Beach 3- each with white crested waves, tide pools, eagles overhead, soft sand, drift wood, peaceful places to just sit for hours. Stroll along the edge of salty water, looking down at the sun glinting off the shells and stone or to the cliffs, the trees with their limbs pushed back from the wind. Picnic atop boulders, write your name with sticks, build a fort or just invite yourself into one already there. Then go back to base camp and bake some cookies.
And then there's the lake itself, steps away. Take out a kayak or canoe and sit with your fingertips in the cold water. Watch for the fish underneath, curious ravens watching you, so many animals, so many textures and smells. It just feeds you in ways that are hard to describe with words.
Here's some other ideas about places to go nearby as mentioned in Sunset magazine.
Or maybe you won't want to go anywhere but here. Maybe it's a place to come and be...still, alone, festive, healed, creative, inspired, lazy...yourself. It has given moments of all of these and more to many folks over the years.
Maybe after you've been here for a few years- or maybe even on your first visit- you'll come up with its name. The words that hold all of what this place means to you. My oldest son calls it "Memaw's Big House" because I think he was always marveled by all that happens there and around it. It really is so Big.
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