Paul, Eli and I climbed Mount Skokomish and Mount Stone on a particularly gorgeous Sunday in September. Both peaks are accessed via the Putvin Trail located some 11.5 miles up the Hamma Hamma River Road (FS Road 25) and make for a pleasant if not strenuous day trip.

Leaving shortly after dawn from a trailhead bivy, we proceeded to grind up the steep, dusty, hornet-infested trail to finally emerge in the sunshine at a lush meadow on a bench with Mount Stone looming above. Continuing along the trail, we surmounted a rocky headwall to reach the beautiful Lake of the Angels basin. Privately, I thought of relaxing here for a while and soaking-in the scenery, but we had an agenda and relaxing was not part of it. Beyond the lake, we continued upwards in a southwesterly direction following the rocky shoulder of North Skokomish. We reached a saddle at the top of the shoulder (5700ft) with outstanding views of Mount Cruiser to the southwest. Descending a short bit on the opposite side of the saddle (staying right), we made an ascending traverse over scree, grass, boilerplate and talus along the southeast slope of Mount Skokomish. A final short scramble on loose rock up the south spur led to the (true) south summit where a grand panorama overlooking the Olympic Mountains was ours to behold.

Upon return, we retraced our steps to within a couple hundred feet of Lake of the Angels. Scrambling up through a short cliff band at left, we then made another ascending traverse this time along the grassy slope above the northwest shore of the lake. After a bit of meandering through a talus slope littered with house-sized boulders, we found ourselves at the base of the large apron beneath a notch-type feature dubbed St. Peter's Gate. Making a hard left at this point, we proceeded upwards passing beneath a prominent rock dome. Now contouring beneath the left edge of Stone's craggy South Ridge, we soon reached a notch in the crest of the West Ridge. Turning right here, we scrambled up a short 3rd-class chimney that breaks a steep step in the West Ridge. From this point we were finally able to see the final summit block of Mt. Stone. A short walk beneath the crest of the West Ridge led to the summit block where ~150 feet of fun class 3 scrambling saw us to Stone's tippy top. As with Skokomish, here too were some great views to be had.

We cut our stay short as the day was threatening to get away from us and we had a reasonably long ways to go still. Once back down below St. Peters Gate, we continued on a descending traverse beneath Pt. 6187 and Pt. 5854, then made our way down a steep grassy slope ending in a brushy gully that leads to the meadow at the bench beneath Lake of the Angels. The remaining hike back to the trailhead went without incident save for Paul and Eli getting stung by hornets once again! Better them than me, eh? Ok, ok my luck would run out by the following weekend, but that's a story for another time!

Making good on a promise to spend more time exploring BC's Sunshine Coast, we returned for an extended Labor Day weekend of kayaking in beautiful Desolation Sound. The Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park is a kayaker's dream come true thanks to numerous small islands, bays and snug coves with several designated campsites scattered about. This is a place to feast the eyes on spectacular scenery - the fjords and mountains, experience the abundant wildlife, and savor the relatively calm, warm waters.

Putting-in at Lund, we spent the next 4 days and 3 nights paddling to the very edge of the park and exploring every nook and cranny in-between. By the time we reached Okeover Arm at the end of our trip, we had logged a respectable ~50 nautical miles. With our gear still soaked from the rain on our last day out, we decided on a whim to indulge ourselves with a night at the Desolation Resort located a relatively short paddle away up Okeover Inlet. A real meal, a bottle of wine and a dry, warm bed seemed a fitting finale to an unforgettable Sunshine Coast adventure!