Klahhane Ridge Calamity

After our stop in Canon Beach, Kayley and I drove to Olympic National Park on July 28. It was a busy day because driving through the park took many hours. We stopped at Ruby Beach on the western coastline for lunch, and then drove to Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort. We took a short hike to Sol Duc Falls and then went back to the resort to go into the hot springs. It was a total tourist trap and not worth the $15 ticket price. The hot springs where just man made pools with the natural hot water pumped in, and they kind of stank honestly. However, we had driven all the way there so we kind of had to do it at that point. After that we drove to Crescent Lake where our campground was, which was very beautiful.

The next morning we woke up and drove about an hour from our campsite to Hurricane Ridge Road. We stopped at Switchback trail, and planned to hike up and connect with Klahhane Ridge trail which led to a small lake within the mountains. Switchback trail was super steep and tiring, but the views were incredible the whole way. At the top we had an incredible view of the coastline on one side, and mountains off Hurricane Ridge on the other. We continued onward along Klahhane ridge toward the lake, and unfortunately some of the views were obstructed by clouds resting on the mountainside. However, the whole time I was thinking this hike might be ranked the second best of my trip, but then disaster struck.

As we came around a corner, a large black bear was on the center of the trail. We startled it and it began to charge toward us. Luckily Kayley had the bear spray in her hand, but the bear knocked her over and she dropped it. The spray rolled, stopping precariously close to the edge off the cliff, which had a 300 ft dropoff. Kayley fell to the ground and caught herself on her hands, inches from the edge, but luckily within reach of the bear spray. The bear however kept running past her toward me. I didn't even realize what I was doing because it happened so fast, but I think my instincts from gymnastics took over. I jumped as high as I could, performing a dive roll over the bear. Kayley reacted just as quickly, and grabbed the bear spray and tossed it up to me in one smooth motion. I caught the can in midair and rolled to a clean landing, standing up with a 180 degree turn.  Meanwhile, the bear charged under me and smashed into some brush along the trail. It was clearly confused when it didn't make contact with me, so it turned around to face us again. This time I was ready with the bear spray. I pressed the trigger and landed a direct hit to the bear's eyes, and it immediately turned and began to run away. The bear spray was strong so Kayley and I started coughing, but at least we were safe. I thought we had made it out unscathed until Kayley noticed her wrist. When she had caught herself from the fall, she had broken it! Although unfortunate, we were both happy we were okay after the traumatic event. We had to hike 3.5 miles back to the RV so we could go to an emergency room. Kayley was a trooper the whole time. At the emergency room our story caught the attention of a local news channel, so Kayley and I did some interviews to talk about what had happened. Although injured, Kayley was a true hero that day!

Disclaimer: Some creative justice may have been used in the story above. For a slightly less embellished account of what happened, see below. No bears were harmed in the making of this story.

What actually happened: We were walking down a very steep section of Klahhane Ridge toward the lake, and there was a lot of loose rock. Kayley's feet slipped out from under her and she fell back and caught herself on her hands.Unfortunately she broke her wrist in the process. She was a champ though! We braced her wrist with some sticks and tape, and then hiked back 3.5 miles to the RV. Luckily Olympic Medical Center wasn't too far away, so we drove there and she got some X-rays which confirmed the wrist was broken. Wishing you a quick recovery Kayley!