Sol Duc Exploration

Roger and I left the Hoh Rain Forest late in the afternoon.  Our destination was Sol Duc Hot Springs.  After a cold, wet hike in the rainforest, a soak in a hot springs sounded wonderful.   Our guidebook mentioned there was a nice campground a mile from the hot springs.  Perfect!  

This photo is for all you "Twilight" fans

On our way to the Sol Duc area, we passed through the town of Forks, Washington.  This small logging town has rocketed to fame thanks to the success of the "Twilight" books.  I've never read the books myself, but my daughter Denise and her friends are big-time fans.  So, for Denise, we made a stop at the local Chamber of Commerce visitor information center.

Signs in the window of the Forks visitor information center

The lady working inside was most enthusiastic.  She gave me all kinds of info about the "Twilight" points of interest in town.  Apparently Forks was a dying town before "Twilight" resurrected it.  Driving through the town, there were a few businesses cashing in on the "Twihard" craze.  A couple of tour companies and some souvenir shops occupied downtown storefronts.  Even the local supermarket had an aisle dedicated to everything Twilight.  I've never seen so many t-shirts and trinkets with vampire and werewolf themes.  And it wasn't Halloween!

Our campsite had this beautiful view of the Sol Duc River

After leaving Forks, Roger and I drove on, following Hwy 101 around the Olympic Peninsula.  It took about an hour to reach Sol Duc Hot Springs.  We drove into the nearby campground to find a spot.  I thought our previous night's campsite on Kalaloch Beach could not be beat.  But we found a site even better.  This campground was hands down the most beautiful place I've camped in a long time.  We got a site right on the Sol Duc River.  The view was incredible.  The Sol Duc is a beautiful river, made even more scenic by the fall colors.  We could hear the sound of the rushing river, and it was wonderful.  The site was sheltered by a large grove of big beautiful fir trees.  And - best of all - there was hardly anyone camping here!  We had the entire campground loop all to ourselves.

We camped under the canopy of these big trees

Roger and I set up our tent, and then grabbed our swimsuits for a soak in the hot springs.  The Sol Duc Hot Springs is a developed resort with a lodge and cabins for rent, as well as many hot pools for soaking.  The hot springs was a busy place that evening, and all of the five hot tubs and one swimming pool were full of people.  I don't know where all of these people came from! 

We soaked in the hot sulphur-smelling water for as long as we could stand it.  Then Roger and I went to our respective locker rooms, and took showers.  When you are camping, a shower is always appreciated!  We returned to our campsite in the dark, and had a quick supper (with more wine) and then it was off to bed.  The warm water had loosened my muscles, and that, along with the cheerful sound of the nearby river, lulled me off to sleep.  I slept very well that night.

Whoever made this trail sign misspelled "Sol Duc"

The next morning dawned chilly, but DRY!  Breakfast and camp take-down moved at a much more leisurely pace than the previous morning.  Roger and I planned to take a hike along the Sol Duc River to see Sol Duc Falls, and then continue to Deer Lake.  There is a highly recommended "Seven Lakes Basin Loop" from the Sol Duc Falls Trailhead that visits seven beautiful mountain lakes, but the hike is over 18 miles in length.  Too far of a dayhike for us!  So we settled on visiting one of the seven lakes instead.

The sun came out and began streaming through the trees

This trail was just as beautiful as the Hoh Rainforest trail.  But there was one big difference - it wasn't raining!  As a matter of fact, the sun came out soon after we began our hike.  The sun's rays streamed through the trees making cool patterns of light.  It was so lovely.  I felt like I was in a cathedral - nature's cathedral.

The sun's rays made cool patterns as they came through the trees

Roger and I took some time and attempted to capture the sunshine patterns with our cameras.  We got a couple of good shots.  And we had fun trying.

Sol Duc Falls

A little less than a mile down the trail, we came upon Sol Duc Falls.  I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful triple cascade.  The rain from the day before swelled the river, and the falls were roaring mightily.

What a lovely setting!

I didn't have my tripod, but did my best to capture the falls at their finest.  There was a wood footbridge over the creek that faced the falls, and I braced my camera on the railing and slowed the shutter speed as much as I could.  There were lots of "throw away" photos taken, but I did get a couple of keepers.

View from the very top of the falls

Roger was very patient and waited while I ran around taking tons of photos.  We started our hike early enough in the morning, that there was only one other couple at the falls.  It was nice not having to dodge people to get my shots.  On our way back later that afternoon, the viewing area would be crowded with tourists.

Sol Duc Falls viewing area

Finally, Roger pulled me away from the waterfalls, and we resumed our hike.  After a little searching, we found the continuation of the trail, and began climbing.

A rare clearing along the trail

We climbed along through the woods.  The trail followed Canyon Creek, a cheerful little brook that we occasionally crossed.  We crossed a small clearing and got a glimpse of the adjacent mountains.

A little fall color brightens the trail

Roger climbed steadily up the trail, while I lingered behind, taking photos.  At one point, some red-orange vine maples provided a little trailside color.

Hmm.....what do you think this tree knot looks like??

Roger came upon a tall tree with a large round knot in the middle of the trunk, about halfway up.  This knot had a very peculiar shape. 

A closer look at the "butt-tree"

Yep, you guessed it.  Both Roger and I agreed the tree knot looked like someone's rear end.  We had a good laugh, and dubbed it the "butt-tree."

Deer Lake reflections

We climbed and climbed over a very rocky trail.  I was getting tired and hungry and wondered when we'd arrive at Deer Lake.  And then we saw the gurgling outlet creek, and came upon the lake.  Yahoo!

The lake was rimmed by huckleberry bushes

The lakeshore was covered in huckleberry bushes with ripe berries.  Some of the leaves had turned red, and were very colorful.

Roger samples the huckleberries

 Roger decided to sample the berries, and went right to work picking and tasting.

I'm enjoying the scenery

Deer Lake was a serene, peaceful spot. I was ready for a break, and found a nice sunny rock on the lakeshore to rest and have lunch.

Deer Lake and the forest beyond

After fueling myself with Luna bars and fruit, and Roger with huckleberries, we packed up and bid Deer Lake goodbye.  We rejoined the trail, and headed back to Sol Duc Falls.

The green forest

The closer Roger and I got to Sol Duc Falls, the more people we encountered on the trail.  After seeing no one the entire hike up, It seemed like everybody finally woke up, and decided to hike this particular trail.  Some folks weren't very prepared.  They either had the wrong footwear, minimal or no food and water, or looked really out of shape.  They all wanted to know "how much farther to the lake?"

Interesting blow-down

I thought the position of this blow-down tree in the above photo was interesting.  Usually blow-down trees fall across the trail, and you have to either crawl over, wriggle under, or find a way to scramble around the blockage.  This tree fell vertically, and was considerate enough to leave room for hikers to walk around.

I like the name of the first trail!  Maybe we should've hike that one.

As mentioned earlier, when we passed by Sol Duc Falls again, there were tons of people in the viewing area.  Roger and I didn't stop this time, and continued on towards the trailhead.  We encountered a steady stream of people hiking to the falls.  Glad we started our hike so early!  We practically had the trail to ourselves that morning.

Another great hike in Olympic National Park.  Another place I'd like to return for further exploration.  Next time, we'll bring our big backpacks and hike the Seven Lakes Basin in several days.  I can't say enough about how much I liked the Sol Duc area.  It was probably my most favorite spot in the park.  Yes, we will definitely be back!

I have one more blog post about our last Olympic National Park destination - Hurricane Ridge.  Keep it right here, you won't want to miss it!

 



Hoh Rain Forest

When I was planning my trip to the Olympics, everyone I talked to who'd visited this area recommended seeing the Hoh Rain Forest.  They all raved about how incredible it was.  I didn't get why the Hoh was so special.  I thought, "OK, it rains a lot, the trees are big, and it's really green."  I didn't figure it to be any different from the old growth forests we have here in Oregon.  But because it came so highly recommended, Roger and I added a stop at the Hoh to our vacation plans.

Obligatory rainy park sign photo

Roger and I left Ruby Beach in a downpour.  We were already soaked from tearing down our campsite and hiking Ruby beach in the rain.  We weren't too sure about taking another wet hike.  But we'd planned to hike in the Hoh Rain Forest that day, and we both thought "well, it is a rain forest, what do you expect?"  Besides, we were already wet anyway.  So we stuck to our plans and headed towards the Hoh.

Great name for a business

On the way to the Hoh visitor center, Roger and I saw many interesting sights.  We noticed that everything that wasn't either National Park or National Forest had been logged.  Apparently logging is big business around these parts.  We saw a couple of poor bicyclists trying to ride in the monsoon (they did not look very happy).  And we had a laugh when we drove by a sign advising that the fire danger was "moderate."  Which made us ask the question, "If the fire danger is moderate in pouring rain, when is the fire danger low?" 

Rainforest phone booth

The rain was still falling as Roger pulled the suburban into the Hoh visitor center parking lot.  I was wishing I'd remembered to bring an umbrella on this trip.  The way the rain was coming down, an umbrella would help keep me drier on our hike.  We first went into the visitor center to look around (and use the restroom).  I got to talking to a nice ranger and he told me the visitor center had spare umbrellas that they loaned out to hikers.  Now my head and shoulders would stay dry.  Yay!

I'm happy to have an umbrella

Roger and I headed back to the car to suit up for our hike.  After hearing that rain was forecast, Roger had the good idea to bring our snowboots along.  They would be perfect for a hike in the rainforest.  My shoes and socks were soaked from this morning's adventures, so when I put on my boots and some dry wool socks my feet felt heavenly.  I also got to christen my new rainpants.  With my boots, pants, gore-tex jacket and umbrella, I felt bulletproof (or at least waterproof!)

At the traihead, ready for the rainforest

We started out down the Hoh River Trail, the main trail from the visitor center.  This path winds through the rainforest, following the Hoh River for 18 miles, eventually terminating at the base of Mt. Olympus.  A ranger lady in the visitor center recommended hiking to a waterfall that was about 2.5 miles down the trail.  As it was already past noon when we began, and we'd already hiked at the beach this morning, I thought the waterfall was a good goal for today.

Moss everywhere

Roger and I didn't get too far down the trail before we were soaking in the sights.  Our cameras were out and firing.  The Hoh was amazing!  It was unlike anything I'd seen before.  The trees were huge and mossy.  There was vegetation growing everywhere.  The ferns were huge and numerous.  And everything was a brilliant shade of green.

A huge moss-draped tree

I learned that the Hoh Rain Forest receives between 140 and 170 inches of rain a year.  That's 12 to 14 feet of rain!  Rainforests used to span the Pacific coast from southeastern Alaska to the central California coast.  The Hoh is the only remaining example of a temperate rain forest in the United States.   Some trees in this forest  are more than 1000 years old. 

The green, mossy forest

I've never seen so much plant life in one place.  Huge ferns covered the forest floor.  Vines and small trees sprouted out of dead logs on the ground.  And everything was covered with a thick carpet of moss.  It truly looked like a jungle.

Huge fallen tree lying next to the trail

There were lots of dead trees lying on the ground sprouting vegetation.  These trees are called "nurse logs" and their decaying wood provides nutrients for new trees to take root and grow.   The fallen tree in the photo above stretched out alongside the trail for a long distance.  The photo doesn't do it justice - that tree was a monster!

Roger hikes among the giant trees

Roger and I splashed through the puddles, whipping our cameras out from under our jackets when we saw something amazing to photograph.  Our hiking progressed slowly.  There were a lot of beautiful scenes to distract us.

Downed tree spans the Hoh River

After a mile or so on the trail, we got a glimpse of the Hoh River.  This is a large glacially-fed river with a gravelly stream bed.  It was swollen from all the rainfall and running fast.  A few of the vine maple trees along its bank were already showing fall colors. 

Totally green forest

The showers continued as we walked along.  But Roger and I were well-prepared to hike in the rain, so the wet weather didn't bother us at all.  It was kind of fun to splash through the mud and puddles, knowing that our feet would stay dry.

All the rain made this waterfall gush

We reached a bridge that crossed a small creek.  Looking up the creek, I spied our destination waterfall.  It was flowing strong, fed by all the rainfall.  I moved in closer to get some photos.  I didn't have a tripod, so I hand held the camera using the slowest shutter speed I dared.  A couple of waterfall shots turned out OK.

Hoh River view through the trees

As I was wrapping up my waterfall photo session, the clouds decided to dump out more rain.  Roger and I decided we'd hiked far enough, and turned back towards the trailhead.

Fall color and more moss

The trip back was just as wonderful.  I discovered sights I missed on the trip out.  This was one trail I didn't mind hiking twice.

The muddy, wet trail

Our guidebook said that elk are often seen along the Hoh River Trail.  Roger kept a close lookout, but we never did see any wildlife.  All the animals were probably bedded down somewhere dry!  The only creatures we saw were some unusual white slugs.

This downed tree's diameter is almost Roger's height

A lot of the diameters of the downed trees were as large as Roger or I were tall.  We got some photos of each other standing next to these logs for scale.  You don't see trees that large in many places.  It's good that some of these great forests have been saved in National Parks.

An albino slug!

We reached our car tired and hungry, but happy.  What a wonderful hike!  I'm very glad I took everyone's advice and visited the Hoh.  It is truly an amazing place.  I'd like to come back and hike the entire Hoh River Trail all the way to Mt. Olympus.  Maybe next year??

After shedding our wet layers, Roger and I hit the road, bound for Sol Duc Hot Springs.  Stay tuned, this will be my next blog post!

Olympic National Park - The Beach

A couple of weeks ago, Roger and I took a mini-vacation to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.  I've wanted to visit Olympic National Park for the past three-plus years, but every time I tried to plan a trip, something came up.  Finally this year Roger and I picked a date, blocked out vacation time, and went for it.

Yes, I know the title of this post says "the beach."  We'll get there in a minute - first I want to begin with a couple of photos of a gigantic tree we visited on our way to the coast.

The world's largest Sitka Spruce tree

Once we reached the Olympic Peninsula, our first stop was Lake Quinault.  As we drove around the lakeshore, we saw this sign advertising the world's largest spruce tree.  Intrigued, we decided to stop and check it out.  The rain that had been with us off and on since we left Portland stopped.  So, thinking we were safe, we just grabbed our cameras and headed down the trail towards the tree.  It was a short hike through the forest and across a small bridge.

The sign that caught our attention

As we reached the giant tree, the skies decided to open up again and gave us a drenching!  Roger and I didn't have our jackets or an umbrella, so we ducked for cover under a nearby tree.  It didn't provide much shelter and we ended up getting wet.  Since Roger and I had only gotten a couple of photos, we waited out the rainstorm in hopes to get a few more.

What a monster tree!

Our persistence paid off.  After about five minutes, the rain let up, and we emerged from our shelter, and clicked away.  There was a sign at the base of the tree that gave the stats.  The spruce is 191 feet tall, 58 feet 11 inches in circumference, and is estimated to be 1000 years old.  The world's largest Sitka spruce tree used to be in Oregon, near Seaside, but a storm blew it over several years ago.  Now this tree is the champ!  It was amazing to stand next to a tree so large.  Makes one feel puny and insignificant.

Our wonderful oceanside campsite

Our original plan was to camp at Lake Quinault that night.  But it was still early, and we weren't impressed with the one campground that was still open there.  Lake Quinault did not impress us either - it was cloudy, rainy and gloomy.  Looking at our map, we saw that the coast was not too far away.  We decided to take a chance and drive on to check out Kalaloch Beach.

Evening at Kaladoch Beach

As Roger and I drove in to Kalaloch Beach Campground, we knew we'd made the right decision.  The beach was beautiful and the campground was great.  Many of the campsites were situated on top of bluff overlooking the sea.  We lucked out and got the last campsite with ocean frontage.  It had a great view of the Pacific Ocean and beach.  And I loved listening to the crashing waves.  Much better than gloomy old Lake Quinault!

Evening beach walk

After camp was set up, Roger got a fire going and started cooking steaks.  I took advantage of the dry weather and headed down to the beach for a quick evening photo session.  Considering the day's rainy start, dry evening weather was most welcome.  The fading light on the sand made for good colors.  Low lying clouds off in the distance threatened rain, but the moisture held off.

A toast to vacation!

Roger and I had an excellent dinner, shared a bottle of wine, and then sat on top of our campsite's picnic table to watch the sunset.

Sunset view from our campsite

The sunset was stunning.  The clouds helped create lots of dramatic lighting.  Roger and I clicked off many nice photos.  We watched the sky turn orange and pink, and the colors reflect on the ocean surface.  Slowly, the sun sunk below the clouds, and we were enveloped by darkness.  Time for bed!

We no sooner get settled in our sleeping bags when the wind picked up and the rain came down in torrents.  Luckily the storm didn't last long.  Then things quieted down, and I drifted off to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.

Seagulls hanging out on the beach

I awoke periodically throughout the night to small rain squalls pounding our tent.  The storms didn't last long, and by morning the rain had stopped.  Not wanting to waste the dry weather, I bounced out of bed and suggested to Roger we take a quick walk on the beach before breakfast.

Roger's reflection in the wet sand

Our guidebook mentioned tidepools both north and south of the campground.  Roger and I started walking south along the beach, only to find our way blocked by a river, swollen with last night's rain.  We weren't going to attempt to cross that, so we turned around and headed north instead.

Yep, I did a lot of this.

I don't get out to the coast much, and I've forgotten how wonderful it is.  I was struck by the beauty of the beach, the pattern of the waves on the sand, the dramatic cloudy sky, and the wind-swept trees along the bluff.  Lots of interesting things to photograph!  I really need to visit the ocean shore more often.

Our only starfish sighting

The sea was starting to transition from low tide, so we did get to see a few things along the beach.  Lots of empty crab shells.  And this lone starfish.

Tidepool creatures

After walking north for at least a half hour, we came to a group of rocks along the beach.  In amongst the rocks were small pools of water.  In those basins were tidepools, with bright green sea anemones.  Wow, very cool!  This was totally worth the walk.

Beach rocks that contained tidepools

Roger and I were getting hungry, so after looking over the tidepools for awhile, we headed back down the beach.  The clouds were beginning to thicken, and the fog roll in, so we decided we'd better head back to camp.

Smile for the camera!

Roger is better at getting these self-portraits than I!  This one turned out pretty good.

Roger found a couple of intact sand dollars

On the walk back, Roger kept scanning the beach for shells.  There were lots of bits and pieces of crab and sand dollar shells.  He did manage to find two whole sand dollars.

We no sooner got back to our tent, when the clouds opened up and dumped rain.  Roger and I hurriedly took down the tent and threw our wet camping gear into the back of the suburban.  We got totally soaked in the process.  Once we finished, we realized neither one of us had eaten breakfast.  I broke out a couple of muffins that we gulped down while pulling away from the campground.

Ruby Beach

I'd talked to a very helpful ranger lady at a visitor information center the day before.  She took out a map of Olympic National Park and circled the best places to see.  One of her recommendations was to visit Ruby Beach.  This beach wasn't too far from where we'd camped, so on our way out, we stopped by.

Some people do artsy things with the rocks on Ruby Beach

The rain had not let up, but that didn't stop Roger and I.  We grabbed our rain jackets, covered our cameras, and headed down to check it out.  Ruby Beach was unusual.  Instead of sand, this beach was covered with perfectly rounded rocks.  Some people had gotten creative with the beach rocks.  We saw small cairns, and other stacked rock artwork perched on driftwood.

Rainy day on Ruby Beach

We would've stayed longer, but the rain was really coming down, and we were getting wetter by the minute.   The beach looked like a really nice scenic spot, and it probably looks much better on a bright sunny day.  Roger and I climbed back up the hill to the parking lot and flung our wet jackets onto the growing pile of wet gear in the car.  We cranked up the heater, and headed towards our next destination - the Hoh Rain Forest - which I'll cover in my next blog post.  Stay tuned!