Ken Campbell, Author at The Last Wilderness

April showers

Posted by Ken Campbell April 28, 2009 1 Comment 1065 views

It’s raining again. I’m leaving in a few hours for what I hope will be the last stage of the Puget Sound Challenge, from Titlow Beach to Allyn. I expect I’ll be at Joemma State Park this evening, but that’s always open to change. I’ve got a new bag from Ortlieb that I’m going to […]

A List

Posted by Ken Campbell April 27, 2009 0 Comment 1054 views

The current National Geographic Adventure magazine has a piece on the “50 Best American Adventures.” Transect the Olympic, a trail hike of the Press Party route, came in at number 17. I’m not sure of the ranking process that was employed to arrive at the end results, but with the competition being what it is, […]

The adventurous day

Posted by Ken Campbell April 26, 2009 0 Comment 988 views

Some days are for exploring, for climbing mountains and fording rivers. Some days are a struggle with the elements, keeping a little boat on course or blindly descending a dark, foggy ravine above a wild northern beach. Some days are for adventure, for doing those things that, when you were just a child, you spent […]

The paradox

Posted by Ken Campbell April 25, 2009 0 Comment 1027 views

On long trips, there comes a point, somewhere near the end, when you are hit with what I call the completion paradox. After paddling (or hiking, whatever), for days, maybe weeks, with the goal of finishing the route foremost in your mind, you’ll get to the point where the end is in sight, and you’ll […]

Stimulus money

Posted by Ken Campbell April 24, 2009 0 Comment 973 views

According to an article in the current Peninsula Daily News, federal stimulus money has been alotted to get the removal of the Elwha dams underway this summer. The Elwha and Glines Canyon dams were constructed (in 1913 and 1927, respectively), without fish ladders and effectively killed off the most productive salmon run in the State […]

Goblin Gates

Posted by Ken Campbell April 23, 2009 0 Comment 1089 views

On March 4, 1890, Charles Barnes, a member of the Press Party, was the first white man to lay eyes on the Goblin Gates. The area, just upstream from Lake Mills, was once looked at as a possible hydroelectric site, but after the land was acquired by the National Park Service, that threat was removed. […]

Gear

Posted by Ken Campbell April 22, 2009 0 Comment 953 views

How much gear do you need? Kayaks, sleeping bags, packs, pads, tents, stoves. A GPS, VHF, ELB, and other “necessary” electronic doodads. Layers of clothing, Goretex and fleece, down and wool. And charts, maps, trekking poles, water bottles, dry bags, filters, and blah, blah, blah. There are too many people whose closets and garages are […]

A Period piece

Posted by Ken Campbell April 21, 2009 0 Comment 1780 views

In 1988, the U.S. Air Force announced the closure of the Makah Air Force Radar Station, a 277-acre site just south of Cape Flattery near Hobuck Beach. The military had been paying the tribe an annual rent of $236,000 for the facility and at its peak, it had been staffed by 81 Air Force personnel […]

A Clean beach is a happy beach

Posted by Ken Campbell April 20, 2009 0 Comment 967 views

I went out to Neah Bay on Saturday. It was Earth Day and I’d wrangled the day off from the Port Angeles symposium in order to help out with the beach cleanup organized by the Surfrider Foundation. All along Highway 112, I saw other cars and trucks pulled off to the side, the drivers on […]

Jade erratic

Posted by Ken Campbell April 17, 2009 0 Comment 1049 views

The next time you are faced with travel delays, slow service, or when you feel abandoned someplace far from home, consider the erratic. A jade erratic (or glacial erratic) is a rock that deviates from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it is found. The name is derived from […]