Preface: my thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives are impacted by COVID-19 medically, emotionally, and financially. The purpose of this blog is not to put forth a controversial opinion, but rather share a local guide’s perspective of how I plan to make the Great Outdoors my source of Social Distancing as an outdoor escape to improve the mental and physical well-being for myself and clients.
Update: 3/21/2020
While Olympic National Park remains open, please be considerate to the surrounding rural gateway communities. On the Olympic Peninsula, we have less access and availability of grocery stores, basic supplies, and less health care infrastructure/capacity.
If you plan on hiking, consider doing the following:
✔️ Fill up your gas tank before leaving
✔️ Carry the Ten Essentials (less available search and rescue personnel)
✔️ Pack your own food and water to avoid grocery store stops
✔️ Keep a safe distance from others on the hiking trails
After the governor’s announcement, Olympic Hiking Co. made the choice to postpone activities until April 1 to help promote social distancing. Hopefully, we see an improvement with COVID-19 after such a sacrifice from the workers and business owners impacted by closures. And of course, by the AMAZING health care workers, grocery store workers, and overall supply chain!
Once we flatten the curve, then let’s turn to our in-state national parks to support our nearby tourist-driven communities.
3/13/2020
Tomorrow, I will be leading a private guided hiking tour along a remote hiking trail just outside of Olympic National Park. I’ll hop into our well sanitized 4 passenger private tour truck and my client will meet at the trailhead parking location. We’ll practice safe social distancing throughout our hike and ascend into the snowy foothills of the Olympic Mountains, temporarily escaping the fast-paced, breaking news gauntlet of the COVID-19 pandemic. I imagine we will have the only two cars in the parking lot, and if we do pass hikers on our way back down, we’ll yield to them with plenty of space between us as we always do with appropriate hiker etiquette.
My passion for hiking and the outdoors led me to start this business 5 years ago and I couldn’t be more relieved to take a break from the emails and slew of cancellations to remind myself, and hopefully also for my client, that the world is still spinning and incredible outdoor beauty still surrounds us. Life is not going to seem normal for myself and my outdoor destination hometown of Port Angeles for quite some time. However, given the solitude hikers find on the trails here in March and April, I think Olympic National Park may be a helpful escape from the new stress we face with COVID-19 and a safer alternative for daily fitness needs. You can drive your own, non-contaminated personal vehicle, take a (healthy) close friend or family member, and escape onto a forested hiking trail with no artificial noise, news updates, or people immediately surrounding you. Olympic National Park is an ideal situation for many of our PNW neighbors in Washington and Oregon. I know our local restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, and grocery stores are doing EVERYTHING they can to make sure your experience will be limited in exposure, so it is a way to help tourism-driven towns during this time. Perhaps your overseas trip got cancelled, which is disappointing. But the United States boasts some of the most awe-striking national parks in the world. If we could all learn to be tourists in our home state with our typical out of state travel budgets, it could be a huge stabilizing force for your nearby tourist-driven town. Of course, stay at home if you are not feeling well and this isn’t to encourage us to be holding hands singing kumbaya on the hiking trail, but I’d love to see a fellow hiker pass by enjoying this beautiful world, which despite the virus, is just as beautiful as it was before.
Olympic Hiking Co. will continue forward with starting our backpacker trailhead shuttles as scheduled on the Olympic Wilderness Coast next week and we will take every precaution to ensure our van is well sanitized before/during/after our shuttle runs. I will continue to personally lead private guided hiking tours for those who are feeling well and want to see the beauty of this area. The Hoh Rain Forest is home to the quietest square inch in the USA for noise pollution. I truly believe that square inch of soil is the place us Washingtonians could all benefit from right now.
Thank you listening and please don’t use this as a social media argument board. I just have a passion for my hometown, the beautiful diverse landscapes in our backyard, and the well-being of our community.
Be well and best wishes,
Tommy Farris
Owner & Founder, Olympic Hiking Co.