https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/2018 daily 1.0 2019-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548023390487-OAPM2R0I0U6R89AAYJ4G/DSC_1746.jpg 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548025938420-7QZW7E9VW3K0FDICDGMG/DSC_1265+copy.jpg 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548042611899-ZQ7JMGXGCDR65VM9TBHI/DSC_2067.jpg 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548042212772-UHHRW746DR0NOXEN8R51/image-asset.jpeg 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548018840646-0Z0B8CMWULRTV0TQADN6/6135ED06-4BE7-45D2-868C-7E81D09BF9ED.jpg 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548016061356-1DJJYFIQRXTZN67TCRDX/DSC_2476+copy+2.jpg 2018 When I called the WIC at Olympic NP, I asked the ranger if he would recommend the Queets River trail or another. "It depends on what you want," he said. "First off, you need a raft. We got some rain and there's no way you're fording it. You got a raft?" "I do," I said. To be specific, I had had a raft for four days at that point and I had only used it in the sense that I had inflated it and sat inside it on the ground. "I want to backpack up the trail and raft back down." "Alone?" "Yes," I said. "Well, the Queets is perfect if you want to be 'out there.' It's the dark side of the moon. You're more likely to get struck by lighting than see another person on the trail this time of year." "And it's as nice as the other rainforests?" "Oh yeah, you'll see dinosaurs," he promised. I got my permit later that day. The ranger that issued it asked about my packrafting experience. "Not too much," I said, referring to the sitting inside I had recently done, "but I am very confident in my abilities," I lied. The night before I left, I camped by the trailhead. I had been standing on a boulder along the river's edge for about half an hour when an otter pulled itself out of a small rapid and onto a boulder, slipping upriver towards me up and over more boulders. I didn't have my camera but I knew it would be a fantastic trip. I spent the next four nights on the river and saw no one other than more otters, many elk and an owl. The trail came and went, disappearing completely in meadows and often less defined than the paths created by groups of Roosevelt elk, let alone those created by herds of them. Because of the packraft, my backpack was the heaviest it's ever been and floating down the river was a magnificent relief even though shortly after launching into some small rapids I came up to my first log jam which consisted of a downed tree that was at least two hundred feet long and 6 feet in diameter. I made ridiculous time on the river but came across a beach with a view of the sunset to the west and a snowcapped peak to the east. So I sent my dad a satellite message: "Please tell the ranger's that I am going to need another night." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548028380366-A8VJUH7MVYS2FSOLHLQK/DSC_0216.jpg 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548304381578-3Y6W1V937FOBQM3T1G5T/DSC_5912.jpg 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548013436188-DK5EWJDTORQGP79BV818/57423740-304F-4988-B9AE-3764F74D28F6.jpg 2018 A few weeks ago I went packrafting on the Queets River with my friend Patrick who recently moved to Seattle. On the first night of my trip to Maine, I impulsively sent him a message from my satellite messenger proposing the trip. I heard back a few days later confirming that he got the days off and was excited to go. The weather turned cold and wet. I dealt with very high winds, large waves and days of rain. Those conditions made the trip satisfying and worthwhile but they took something out of me and coming home and working for two weeks only to fly across the country for a long weekend seemed like a bad idea. I reluctantly decided not to go but my mind wandered down mossy trails under the high canopy of ancient trees every chance it got. Three days before I was supposed to have left, I told Patrick I had changed my mind. There were a couple cars parked at the trailhead this time so we wouldn’t have the rainforest to ourselves. Nonetheless, we were surprised when we saw headlamps across the river on the first night. I shined my super bright flashlight into the thick forest. Who would be hiking in a trailless section of the park at 9pm? Were they lost? The headlamps slowly found their way to a narrow beach down a steep bank Just upriver from our camp. Patrick and I watched in awe as minutes later the headlamps forded the thigh deep, icy water and came our way. They seemed like us, more or less, other than their freezing cold, soaking wet pants. I asked them where they had gone and they pointed to an unnamed ridge in the distance, miles off trail. “What were you doing up there?” I asked. “Exploring,” one of them said. We told them where we were relative to the trail. “Thanks for the light,” one of them said. “We needed that.” https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/blog daily 0.75 2019-01-21 https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/2016-1 daily 0.75 2019-01-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548034443932-RAS060FRP8PLGRLMWH8F/DSC_0438.jpg 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548042314927-P8I88LZWPH7UX8GZGHCG/DSC_0949-2.jpg 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548042392881-G7NTI63AAOQQJU6SZV5V/DSC_0876.jpg 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548197263483-DIUIY4SOVR6C35XNQK95/DSC_4433.jpg 2016 https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/new-blog daily 0.75 2019-01-21 https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/2017-1 daily 0.75 2019-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548012646873-2B4GXG02DAL0KD0QMI5V/DSC_2356+copy.jpg 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548042545942-C5G4TAWVWNRF2KVSHJOT/DSC_5475.jpg 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548042492845-4HO9U3RO2MBCJZHVTBY8/DSC_2352.jpg 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548196967393-GWXJ871X3V36OHS8D477/DSC_4389.jpg 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548197445852-YKRHLA4TR3PARV31XILX/DSC_1679+6.jpg 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548197814861-MVO7OUO6R9RCUGREH37V/DSC_0325.jpg 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548198287265-JYLKF69BJD2MT5XO378P/DSC_2775.jpg 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548305829415-X2SNNCPUI2CJ1TRAFJJP/DSC_6229.jpg 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c44b802a2772c47f0db62a8/1548380183703-N9Q8TEXN57WJ6N8MGI1H/DSC_5626.jpg 2017 https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/blog-lange daily 0.75 2025-05-09 https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/blog-lange/2016/4/9/tips-for-shooting-interior-design-4ycld monthly 0.5 2016-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56426809e4b032f47d420805/1460247087370-7PAA6UD3B8SH2CTVABZY/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Tips for Shooting Interior Design https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/blog-lange/2016/4/3/visiting-friends-in-the-scottish-countryside-fafzr monthly 0.5 2016-04-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56426809e4b032f47d420805/1460247710092-Z4BMC1415XNSZK7JZFVC/chantalanderson0064.jpg Blog - Visiting Friends in the Scottish Countryside https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/blog-lange/2016/3/29/sky-tetris-with-berlin-buildings-kc4sb monthly 0.5 2016-04-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56426809e4b032f47d420805/1460245193522-5MNLKLWIS40T9C47M359/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Sky Tetris with Berlin buildings https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/blog-lange/2016/3/4/fashion-shoot-in-new-york-with-thorne-zly38 monthly 0.5 2016-04-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56426809e4b032f47d420805/1460245764079-A81YQ7H6M97ZU9SBYH2L/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Fashion shoot in New York with Thorne https://www.samuelmetcalf.com/blog-lange/2016/2/5/operation-dubai-4lxn8 monthly 0.5 2016-04-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56426809e4b032f47d420805/1460265792189-0KWH72JX1AH3IC9OBOQV/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Operation: Dubai! 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