Posts by PatrickThier

Need sun? Climb a mountain.

Posted by Patrick Thier on Oct 23, 2013 in Hiking | 0 comments

Lake Cushman, Olympic Peninsula, Washington

The fourth day of no sunshine and an open afternoon spelled one thing: H…I…K…E.

I left Olympia about noon; it was 53 degrees and cloudy. By the time I reached Hood Canal, approximately half way to the Mt. Ellinor trailhead, the clouds began to dissipate from above.

Black Bears: Please stop charging me!

Posted by Patrick Thier on Sep 17, 2013 in Feature Articles | 0 comments

Washington’s Mt. Adams, on my way to bear camp.

Close encounter with black bear #3… in less than a year!

I don’t make this stuff up. Honestly. Yes, it happened again. When I was bear hunting on August 16, 2013 near Mt. Adams in Washington state, I had yet another very close, hair-raising and heart-pounding encounter with a black bear

The Most Fortunate Turkey Hunt…Ever

Posted by Patrick Thier on Apr 29, 2013 in Feature Articles | 0 comments

I would never have imagined in a million years what I was about to see when I opened my eyes and lifted my head from that sunny boulder protruding from the earth on the side of that peaceful mountain. But I saw it. The image lasted a mere second in reality, but has been burned into my mind forever. From this season forward, I will never think of turkey hunting the same. If not for one small but significant piece of evidence, no one would ever have a reason to believe such a story. I still can hardly believe it myself, and I can’t get it out of my mind.

Hiking Spider Lake

Posted by Patrick Thier on Apr 15, 2013 in Hiking | 0 comments

Spider Lake, Washington

Tucked in between a couple of evergreen-lined ridges, hidden in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains, sits pretty little Spider Lake. If you don’t know it’s there, you’ll most likely drive right by it. Around the perimeter of this modest aqua gem, a trail weaves in and out of the surrounding forest, offering a hike that is so technically easy that you could finish it in 20 minutes if you’d want to. But why in the world would you want to?

Why I Hunt

Posted by Patrick Thier on Mar 27, 2013 in Hunting | 0 comments

Peace and Solitude: a couple of the many reasons I hunt.

A plethora of people have asked me the question throughout my lifetime, especially lately: “Why do you hunt?” To someone who is as passionate about hunting as I am, the answer is extremely easy, and yet as multi-faceted as the endeavor itself. To try to put into words the reasoning behind the passion is like saying Antarctica is a really cool place. In fact, so much of why I hunt cannot be described with these little devices of human language. Words are best used to describe the physical world, and passion often isn’t of it.

So with this premise in mind, I have broken down the answer of why I hunt into reasons deriving from the tangible and the not-so tangible. Hey, I warned you the answer was easy, not simple.