DAYS 4 + 5 - Olympic Peninsula

August 03, 2014

DAYS 4 + 5 - Olympic Peninsula

After picking up our little red car (we’ve named her Henrietta) we waved goodbye to the Seattle skyline and got the ferry across to Bainbridge Island. After a quick stop in Walmart to buy ridiculous amounts of supersize food we drove 115 miles to the Olympic National Park.

Me and Henrietta

Seattle Skyline from the ferry

Sailboats off Bainbridge Island

Vile amounts of food from Walmart

The Olympic Peninsula is surrounded on three sides by the sea and covered in dense primeval forest. We did a quick 1 mile hike to the Sol Duc waterfall. This is a beautiful and unique waterfall – the Sol Duc River flows through the Northwest part of the Olympic Peninsula and splits into four channels at the waterfall and plunges down 15m. The river serves as a key highway for the Coho salmon where they leap over the falls. Unfortunately, spawning season is in October/November so we were too early to see this.

Sol Duc Waterfall

We followed another trail up to Deer Lake – a 7 mile round trip with an elevation of 520m. Deer Lake occupies a wooded basin in the transition zone from the montane to the subalpine forest of the park. We were on the look-out for Cougars, as a horse had been killed by one next to the lake a day prior to our hike…!

Deer Lake

Tired Feet

Sleeping Lions

Walking though the Olympic National Rain Forest is truly magical – there are huge firs and a thick understory of an ethereal huckleberry. The whole place looks almost prehistoric.

We also hiked through the Hoh Rain Forest – a Tolkien-esque maze of dripping ferns and moss draped trees. We took the Hall of Mosses/Hoh River Trail but couldn’t complete the full hike as it is an 18 mile trail which takes you right up to the Blue Glacier on Mount Olympus (peak at 2432m). It would have been amazing to do but we were somewhat unprepared; our lack of ice axe and crampons…

Following the trail through the Olympic National Forest

Hiking in the Hoh Rainforest

Hall of Mosses Hoh Rainforest

The next morning we did a 7 mile hike to the Hurricane Ridge on the Northern most side of the park. It’s amazing how different the forest is here – more like Alpine walking compared to the rainforest below. It was quite a climb as the highest point of the mountain is at 1755m. From the summit we had amazing views in all directions: Vancouver Island to the North, The Cascades Range to the East, Seattle, Mount Olympus and Mount Rainier to the South and the Olympic Mountains to the West. As we were walking quite early, there was lots of wildlife that was still undisturbed by other hikers and we saw deer grazing and at the peak of Hurricane Hill I was greeted by a very friendly chipmunk!

At the summit of Hurricane Hill - Mt. Olympus in the background

Friendly chipmunk

Bambi

The other completely surreal thing was that because we were so high, despite it being August and approx. 25 degrees, there were still patches of snow around. Depressions in the mountain caused by glaciers, are then compacted with snow which remains there all year round.

Snow!

Being bullied at 1755m

We then drove down Highway 101 past Crescent Lake and carried on until Rialto Beach on the Pacific Coast next to an Indian Reservation. As we approached the coast the sun disappeared and we were enveloped in fog. The beach is bordered by the Olympic National Forest and there are giant drift logs all over the sands as well as offshore islands or “seastacks” which appear through the fog from time to time. It really felt other-wordly. Here too we saw plenty of nature; massive groups of Pelicans fishing and herds of seals bobbing in the waves. As we were clambering back over the driftwood, a young couple who were camping on the beach invited us over for hot “dawgs” over a campfire. A true American experience.