posted at http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
September 2, 2009
The sea gulls outside our Port Angeles woke us up this morning. We packed and consolidated all our gear into our bags in the car and headed out to First Street Haven for breakfast. This was a lovely little breakfast place with calming music and delicious food. Breakfast came with a baked good. Mark's cinnamon roll was huge and my scone was very tasty.
After breakfast we hit the road and headed towards Seattle making several stops along the way. First we went to the infamous Dungeness Spit Wildlife Refuge. This had been recommended to us by so many people that we just had to stop. We hiked out along the coast for a mile, but we couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Perhaps we just went on the wrong day. I definitely liked Rialto Beach on the west coast much better. Next we stopped at one of the famous lavender farms of Sequim. I wanted to see if the lavender if the lavender (which peaks in mid July) was still blooming. Unfortunately it wasn't really, but we had fun poking around the lavender gift shop.
Now, we really just headed in towards Seattle the same way we came out. We drove to Bainbridge Island and got there just in time to board a ferry to Seattle. The day was very clear and sunny, so I was able to get some good pictures of the Seattle coast line as we ferried towards it. The Westin Seattle hotel where we will spend the next several nights is directly across the street from the Avis rental car return, so it was no problem dropping off our car. Driving in downtown Seattle, as one can imagine, is nearly impossible with all the cars and pedestrians and bikes. For the rest of our trip we will be pedestrians. =)
Our hotel room is up near the top on the 35th floor and we have a nice view north of downtown. In fact, we can even see the Space Needle from our room window. This is also the first time that we won't be moving our sleeping area every night!
Once settled in the hotel, we took a walk around downtown. We started at the Columbia Center hoping to go up to the observation tower for a great view, but it closed only 20 minutes before we arrived. Next we headed towards Pioneer Square for the Underground Tour. Boy was that tour interesting! We had a wonderful tour guide, Terri, who's been doing this for 12 years, so she knew her stuff and really knew how to talk to a crowd. I had no idea before this tour that Seattle actually started at an elevation about 8 - 32 feet below the elevation of Seattle today. The low elevation on the coast didn't work for Seattle and the city rebuilt much higher. It was fascinating information and I was appalled at how Seattle city planners decided to build the city.
After our tour we wandered up the water front and had a seafood dinner on the coast watching the sunset behind the Olympic Mountains across the Pugent Sound. The rest of the night we just wandered around getting our bearings and finally collapsing in the hotel in bed.
pics later
Friday, September 4, 2009
Cleaning up is fun to do
posted at http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
September 1, 2009
I've just spent the evening typing up all mu journals that I wrote while in the back country and I realized that I still need to write today's.
This morning started so long ago. We woke up at 4:30 in the morning so that we could pack up our tent for the last time. Our camping stuff is getting pretty rank and I can't wait to do laundry.
We were going to drive up to Hurricane Ridge again today to watch the sunrise. And what a marvelous sunrise it was! We had met another photographer last night who was doing the same thing, so we had company up here so early in the morning. When the sun rose, the clouds lit up like a fire in the sky. The clouds were forming and moving towards the sun in wisps and rolling balls, so the fire in the sky was very much accentuated. Then the deer came out and joined us at dawn. It was a chilly 55, but it was beautiful. Once it was light enough, the clouds covered the sun turning the day into a cloudy one. We drove out along Obstruction Point Road which leaves Hurricane Ridge and climbs in the mountains about 7.5 miles away. This gravel road was bumpier than the previous Whiskey Bend Road, but our car made it just fine.
Since the clouds were out, we passed by some scenic pullouts noting where they were to come back later and take pictures. We did find a colony of marmots near the road and watched them play for a while. There were several adults out keeping watch while the little kid marmots played. They rolled around in cartoon fashion and were just so cute.
When we reached Obstruction Peak and the end of the road, we decided to hike along Lillian Ridge for as long as we felt. The ground up here is like an arctic tundra, dry and nearly lifeless. The plants are all low to the ground and tiny while snow still covers patches of the ground. We learned that this area was in the rainshadow of Mt. Olympus meaning that Olympus stole all the moisture for itself keeping this area more dry and arid. The hike was interesting and the sun came out for some magnificent views. We took it easy and mostly just strolled for 2 miles.
once back at the trailhead, we picked a spot for lunch. We had two deer bugging us the whole time wanting some of our lunch and we had to shoo them away like flies.
We decided to make this the end of our trip to Olympic National Park. It was very hard to leave all that mountain beauty behind us and drive away. We had a magnificent time. I'd love to come back one day and hike more areas of the park. We had wonderful weather while we were here. It only rained on us one night and never while hiking. The days were perfect with sun and cool temps in the 70s. The nights were chilly, but quite nice in the tent.
The drive to Port Angeles was pretty short. We stopped at the Wilderness Information Center to donate our unused camp items that we aren't taking home with us. Then we came straight to our Downtown Hotel to get cleaned up. I am excited at the prospect now of showering every single day from here on out on our vacation. We even hit up a laundromat to wash all the clothes.
Everything is now organized again instead of spread out all over the inside of the car and we are ready to go to Seattle to continue our vacation there.
We had dinner tonight again at the Crab House and again had the Dungeness Crab. It was still delicious. Now, though, it is time for sleep, in a bed. =)
pics later
September 1, 2009
I've just spent the evening typing up all mu journals that I wrote while in the back country and I realized that I still need to write today's.
This morning started so long ago. We woke up at 4:30 in the morning so that we could pack up our tent for the last time. Our camping stuff is getting pretty rank and I can't wait to do laundry.
We were going to drive up to Hurricane Ridge again today to watch the sunrise. And what a marvelous sunrise it was! We had met another photographer last night who was doing the same thing, so we had company up here so early in the morning. When the sun rose, the clouds lit up like a fire in the sky. The clouds were forming and moving towards the sun in wisps and rolling balls, so the fire in the sky was very much accentuated. Then the deer came out and joined us at dawn. It was a chilly 55, but it was beautiful. Once it was light enough, the clouds covered the sun turning the day into a cloudy one. We drove out along Obstruction Point Road which leaves Hurricane Ridge and climbs in the mountains about 7.5 miles away. This gravel road was bumpier than the previous Whiskey Bend Road, but our car made it just fine.
Since the clouds were out, we passed by some scenic pullouts noting where they were to come back later and take pictures. We did find a colony of marmots near the road and watched them play for a while. There were several adults out keeping watch while the little kid marmots played. They rolled around in cartoon fashion and were just so cute.
When we reached Obstruction Peak and the end of the road, we decided to hike along Lillian Ridge for as long as we felt. The ground up here is like an arctic tundra, dry and nearly lifeless. The plants are all low to the ground and tiny while snow still covers patches of the ground. We learned that this area was in the rainshadow of Mt. Olympus meaning that Olympus stole all the moisture for itself keeping this area more dry and arid. The hike was interesting and the sun came out for some magnificent views. We took it easy and mostly just strolled for 2 miles.
once back at the trailhead, we picked a spot for lunch. We had two deer bugging us the whole time wanting some of our lunch and we had to shoo them away like flies.
We decided to make this the end of our trip to Olympic National Park. It was very hard to leave all that mountain beauty behind us and drive away. We had a magnificent time. I'd love to come back one day and hike more areas of the park. We had wonderful weather while we were here. It only rained on us one night and never while hiking. The days were perfect with sun and cool temps in the 70s. The nights were chilly, but quite nice in the tent.
The drive to Port Angeles was pretty short. We stopped at the Wilderness Information Center to donate our unused camp items that we aren't taking home with us. Then we came straight to our Downtown Hotel to get cleaned up. I am excited at the prospect now of showering every single day from here on out on our vacation. We even hit up a laundromat to wash all the clothes.
Everything is now organized again instead of spread out all over the inside of the car and we are ready to go to Seattle to continue our vacation there.
We had dinner tonight again at the Crab House and again had the Dungeness Crab. It was still delicious. Now, though, it is time for sleep, in a bed. =)
pics later
So pretty, we don't want to leave
posted at http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
August 31, 2009
Tonight is our last night in a tent and we are going to bed early to wake up for sunrise pictures.
Today we toured the most popular section of Olympic National Park - Hurricane Ridge. Taking down our tent in Elwa this morning was no problem and we were at the Heart 'o Hills campground at the base of Hurricane Ridge in only 30 minutes. We were hear early enough to be able to pick and choose our campsite with nearly no one else here. All sites seemed to have that same cemented tent pads as the Elwa, so we gathered rocks again to use as stakes. We left the tent and headed the 17 miles up 5000 feet to Hurricane Ridge.
I'm now in favor of driving to the top rather than walking. =)
We had lunch in the picnic area down the road from the visitor's center with the chipmunks and little birds looking for food treats. This spot had a great view of the Olympic Mountains. Then we hiked, or rather, strolled the paved trails in the area taking our time to read all the nature signs and learn what plants and views were were looking at.
We sat at Sunrise Point for a bit just staring out at the mountains. The sun was out making the clear day about 80 degrees in the sun, but 65-70 in the shade. It was very comfortable and the views were gorgeous.
We listened to a ranger talk about funny visitor stories that happened in the park. It was quite a humorous half hour. We followed the talk with ice cream from the cafe there at the viewing platform. Did I mention that today was relaxing?
We spied several black tailed deer in the area, usually followed by several folks with cameras, but no marmots.
We drove back to the picnic area for our dinner and watched 3 blue striped grouse roam the meadow while we ate. Then, it was back to the viewing platform for sunset and then driving back down the mountain to bed (or sleeping bag, I should say). The morning will come quickly.
pictures later
August 31, 2009
Tonight is our last night in a tent and we are going to bed early to wake up for sunrise pictures.
Today we toured the most popular section of Olympic National Park - Hurricane Ridge. Taking down our tent in Elwa this morning was no problem and we were at the Heart 'o Hills campground at the base of Hurricane Ridge in only 30 minutes. We were hear early enough to be able to pick and choose our campsite with nearly no one else here. All sites seemed to have that same cemented tent pads as the Elwa, so we gathered rocks again to use as stakes. We left the tent and headed the 17 miles up 5000 feet to Hurricane Ridge.
I'm now in favor of driving to the top rather than walking. =)
We had lunch in the picnic area down the road from the visitor's center with the chipmunks and little birds looking for food treats. This spot had a great view of the Olympic Mountains. Then we hiked, or rather, strolled the paved trails in the area taking our time to read all the nature signs and learn what plants and views were were looking at.
We sat at Sunrise Point for a bit just staring out at the mountains. The sun was out making the clear day about 80 degrees in the sun, but 65-70 in the shade. It was very comfortable and the views were gorgeous.
We listened to a ranger talk about funny visitor stories that happened in the park. It was quite a humorous half hour. We followed the talk with ice cream from the cafe there at the viewing platform. Did I mention that today was relaxing?
We spied several black tailed deer in the area, usually followed by several folks with cameras, but no marmots.
We drove back to the picnic area for our dinner and watched 3 blue striped grouse roam the meadow while we ate. Then, it was back to the viewing platform for sunset and then driving back down the mountain to bed (or sleeping bag, I should say). The morning will come quickly.
pictures later
Tired, but happy
posted at http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
August 30, 2009
Tonight is our second to last night in a tent. We are really tired tonight. We hiked almost 8 miles today broken up over a few hikes.
We were very impressed last night with how quiet our campground was and I'm very impressed again tonight. Maybe it's because the kids are in school now, or maybe WA campers are just quieter.
Today we hiked to several waterfalls inside the main part of Olympic National Park. We drove back in land from the coast and stopped at several places to hike. Near Lake Crescent, a huge lake in the northern end of the park, was Marymere falls. This was a shady, forest hike that ended at a rather tall waterfall. There were plenty of other people on this easy hike. Next we headed into the park on the Elwa Road. Just inside, we stopped at Madison Falls, another tall waterfall.
We took a windy 5 mile road up to the start of a hike for Olympic Hot Pools. The hike was actually along an old asphalt road from years ago when explorers planned on bringing people directly to the Hot Pools. The road was now mostly grown over and collapsed in several points. Hiking the trail was pleasant and we finally found all the little squirrels and birds of the park that were missing in the backcountry. There were chipmunks running around as well. In fact one squirrel that was running around scared a bunny out of it's hiding place and it came running past us.
When we reached the hot springs we found the most odd thing ever found on a hiking trail....a shopping cart was here 2.5 miles in. It had been brought here rather recently since the food in the cart was pretty new looking. The hot pools themselves did not appeal to us as we were now hot from the hike, but many people were enjoying them. We decided to hang out on a bridge over a river for a bit before hiking back.
Our next trip was up a windy, one-way, gravel road that traveled 5 miles up a mountain. The drive was pretty bumpy, but we did get to stop at a neat hike to a waterfall along Lake Mills. We had to hike down a very steep trail to the bottom of the falls. The falls themselves were rather hidden from view which made it almost adventurous finding the base of the falls. The hike back out nearly straight up was not as fun, but the trail was relatively short.
There was no good viewpoint to stop and eat dinner at, so we headed down to our campsite along the Elwha river to eat. The campground here was pretty busy when we arrived and we were able to secure one of the last sites available. The tent pad was created out of almost cement-stabilized-sand material, so inserting stakes was out of the question. We ended up using rocks as stakes by tying cord from the rock to our tent poles. It worked out rather well, actually. We picked a site that was right on the river, so we are going to fall asleep to the sounds of the river.
pictures later
August 30, 2009
Tonight is our second to last night in a tent. We are really tired tonight. We hiked almost 8 miles today broken up over a few hikes.
We were very impressed last night with how quiet our campground was and I'm very impressed again tonight. Maybe it's because the kids are in school now, or maybe WA campers are just quieter.
Today we hiked to several waterfalls inside the main part of Olympic National Park. We drove back in land from the coast and stopped at several places to hike. Near Lake Crescent, a huge lake in the northern end of the park, was Marymere falls. This was a shady, forest hike that ended at a rather tall waterfall. There were plenty of other people on this easy hike. Next we headed into the park on the Elwa Road. Just inside, we stopped at Madison Falls, another tall waterfall.
We took a windy 5 mile road up to the start of a hike for Olympic Hot Pools. The hike was actually along an old asphalt road from years ago when explorers planned on bringing people directly to the Hot Pools. The road was now mostly grown over and collapsed in several points. Hiking the trail was pleasant and we finally found all the little squirrels and birds of the park that were missing in the backcountry. There were chipmunks running around as well. In fact one squirrel that was running around scared a bunny out of it's hiding place and it came running past us.
When we reached the hot springs we found the most odd thing ever found on a hiking trail....a shopping cart was here 2.5 miles in. It had been brought here rather recently since the food in the cart was pretty new looking. The hot pools themselves did not appeal to us as we were now hot from the hike, but many people were enjoying them. We decided to hang out on a bridge over a river for a bit before hiking back.
Our next trip was up a windy, one-way, gravel road that traveled 5 miles up a mountain. The drive was pretty bumpy, but we did get to stop at a neat hike to a waterfall along Lake Mills. We had to hike down a very steep trail to the bottom of the falls. The falls themselves were rather hidden from view which made it almost adventurous finding the base of the falls. The hike back out nearly straight up was not as fun, but the trail was relatively short.
There was no good viewpoint to stop and eat dinner at, so we headed down to our campsite along the Elwha river to eat. The campground here was pretty busy when we arrived and we were able to secure one of the last sites available. The tent pad was created out of almost cement-stabilized-sand material, so inserting stakes was out of the question. We ended up using rocks as stakes by tying cord from the rock to our tent poles. It worked out rather well, actually. We picked a site that was right on the river, so we are going to fall asleep to the sounds of the river.
pictures later
Taking it easy
posted at http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
August 29, 2009
It was glorious to wake up in a bed all warm and toasty this morning. We took it easy today. After our tasty hotel breakfast we spent the morning cleaning up our camping stuff as much as possible, then re-packing everything for our 3 nights of car camping. Car camping consists of driving up to a designated campsite and setting up the tent right next to the car.
It's nice that we can take our hotel with us (tent and sleeping bags). We changed our original plans last night and we don't need to worry about where we sleep.
On our way out of Sol Duc, we stopped at Salmon Cascades but the salmon were not jumping today.
We drove to Forks and saw that we had entered the Twilight Zone. Every store was advertising the Twilight books and movies and welcoming fans. It turns out that the books were set in this area. There were lots of tween fans buying souveniers.
In Forks, we picked up some groceries, dropped our bear cans off at the ranger station, and continued to Mora Campground at Rialto Beach. (on the west coast of WA)
Campsites in the national park are first come first serve, but we had no problem finding a spot. It helped that the weather was foggy, misty, cold, and rainy.
After setting up the tent (we can do this in record time now), we drove to Rialto Beach for lunch and a 3 mile round trip hike.
Our hike started at low tide as we strolled along the beach looking for tidepools and interesting driftwood. The edge of the beach is a forest, and huge logs of driftwood line the edge between beach and forest. The weather started foggy, misty, and cold. This made for some interesting photos different from the typical sunny beach. However, about halfway through our hike, the sun came off burning off the fog. The weather became hot and sunny. So, we were able to see the beach in different ways.
We didn't find many tidepools, but in those that we did find, we saw anemone, mussels, barnacles, sea gulls, and the like. We also spotted a perigrin falcon and an eagle today.
Most of the beach was made up of river rock instead of sand. The pieces ranged in size from pebbles to palm sized. This actually made the beach quite different from the normal beach and beautiful.
After the beach, we drove south to La Push for sunset, but though the view was pretty, the area was run-down and trashy. We decided instead to have dinner back at Rialto and take our sunset pictures there.
Sunset was indeed lovely. We sat on the beach for a couple hours just relaxing and listening to the surf.
Car camping is rather like luxury camping as we keep everything we want at hand in the car. Also, there are bathrooms with running water to brush our teeth and everything!
Pictures will come later when I have time to go through them.
August 29, 2009
It was glorious to wake up in a bed all warm and toasty this morning. We took it easy today. After our tasty hotel breakfast we spent the morning cleaning up our camping stuff as much as possible, then re-packing everything for our 3 nights of car camping. Car camping consists of driving up to a designated campsite and setting up the tent right next to the car.
It's nice that we can take our hotel with us (tent and sleeping bags). We changed our original plans last night and we don't need to worry about where we sleep.
On our way out of Sol Duc, we stopped at Salmon Cascades but the salmon were not jumping today.
We drove to Forks and saw that we had entered the Twilight Zone. Every store was advertising the Twilight books and movies and welcoming fans. It turns out that the books were set in this area. There were lots of tween fans buying souveniers.
In Forks, we picked up some groceries, dropped our bear cans off at the ranger station, and continued to Mora Campground at Rialto Beach. (on the west coast of WA)
Campsites in the national park are first come first serve, but we had no problem finding a spot. It helped that the weather was foggy, misty, cold, and rainy.
After setting up the tent (we can do this in record time now), we drove to Rialto Beach for lunch and a 3 mile round trip hike.
Our hike started at low tide as we strolled along the beach looking for tidepools and interesting driftwood. The edge of the beach is a forest, and huge logs of driftwood line the edge between beach and forest. The weather started foggy, misty, and cold. This made for some interesting photos different from the typical sunny beach. However, about halfway through our hike, the sun came off burning off the fog. The weather became hot and sunny. So, we were able to see the beach in different ways.
We didn't find many tidepools, but in those that we did find, we saw anemone, mussels, barnacles, sea gulls, and the like. We also spotted a perigrin falcon and an eagle today.
Most of the beach was made up of river rock instead of sand. The pieces ranged in size from pebbles to palm sized. This actually made the beach quite different from the normal beach and beautiful.
After the beach, we drove south to La Push for sunset, but though the view was pretty, the area was run-down and trashy. We decided instead to have dinner back at Rialto and take our sunset pictures there.
Sunset was indeed lovely. We sat on the beach for a couple hours just relaxing and listening to the surf.
Car camping is rather like luxury camping as we keep everything we want at hand in the car. Also, there are bathrooms with running water to brush our teeth and everything!
Pictures will come later when I have time to go through them.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Last day in the backcountry
posted at http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
August 28, 2009
Day 5 of backpacking trip
Last day.
The morning was fairly warm at 55 degrees; the warmest morning yet and at the highest elevation. Warm mornings mean we are up earlier. We were out to see the sunrise in the mountains. Our camp was very mosquito-y, so we moved our stuff to our cook site. Soon after breakfast and while packing up, 3 mountain goats paid us a visit. They wanted to know what we were doing in their way. They came really too close, finally circled around us, and then nearly made a home where our tent was. Eventually they left and we packed up super quick in case they were coming back.
Our packs were very light coming down off the mountain. We stopped at the nearby Oyster Lake to pump water and then headed down, down, down. The bugs were out today and we knew we had a long hike ahead of us, so we moved pretty fast.
When we got back to the trail junction with Sol Duc, we found that no one had come by to steal our bear can. So, we had to make the packs heavy again to carry everything out. The packs are still much lighter than when we started as we've eaten the food at least.
Most of the trail was either flat or down hill and we moved quickly. The rocky steps nearly did me in, but we made it out to the parking lot in one piece.
It was so exciting to reach the car and so strange to drive it. It was also strange to see so many people again.
Back to civilization, we checked in to the Sol Duc Resort and took a wonderful shower in our cabin. There is just nothing better than getting rid of 5 days of grime! Once refreshed we had burgers at the restaurant and marveled at the non-freeze dried food. We even went for the chocolate yummy cake dessert.
Back in the cabin we planned out the rest of our trip and now are going to sleep in a cozy bed. No roots digging in my back tonight!
We hiked about 8 miles today.
other stories from today:
While eating breakfast, we were surrounded by many grouse hooting around us. They are almost chicken like and run around on the ground.
We did get a chance to stop at the Sol Duc Falls again on the way out of the back country. We saw some otters swimming around below the falls! No pictures as they were too fast, but we did get some more pictures of the falls that I'll have to post later.
During our forest hike along the Sol Duc river today we found the forest in many stages of decay. Some downed trees were demolished to mulch. Some had all kinds of various fungi growing from them. Also, we saw many trees that had fallen and cracked in interesting ways during past storms.
We managed to make it out of the back country before 5pm....pretty good for an 8 mile hike out.
August 28, 2009
Day 5 of backpacking trip
Last day.
The morning was fairly warm at 55 degrees; the warmest morning yet and at the highest elevation. Warm mornings mean we are up earlier. We were out to see the sunrise in the mountains. Our camp was very mosquito-y, so we moved our stuff to our cook site. Soon after breakfast and while packing up, 3 mountain goats paid us a visit. They wanted to know what we were doing in their way. They came really too close, finally circled around us, and then nearly made a home where our tent was. Eventually they left and we packed up super quick in case they were coming back.
Our packs were very light coming down off the mountain. We stopped at the nearby Oyster Lake to pump water and then headed down, down, down. The bugs were out today and we knew we had a long hike ahead of us, so we moved pretty fast.
When we got back to the trail junction with Sol Duc, we found that no one had come by to steal our bear can. So, we had to make the packs heavy again to carry everything out. The packs are still much lighter than when we started as we've eaten the food at least.
Most of the trail was either flat or down hill and we moved quickly. The rocky steps nearly did me in, but we made it out to the parking lot in one piece.
It was so exciting to reach the car and so strange to drive it. It was also strange to see so many people again.
Back to civilization, we checked in to the Sol Duc Resort and took a wonderful shower in our cabin. There is just nothing better than getting rid of 5 days of grime! Once refreshed we had burgers at the restaurant and marveled at the non-freeze dried food. We even went for the chocolate yummy cake dessert.
Back in the cabin we planned out the rest of our trip and now are going to sleep in a cozy bed. No roots digging in my back tonight!
We hiked about 8 miles today.
other stories from today:
While eating breakfast, we were surrounded by many grouse hooting around us. They are almost chicken like and run around on the ground.
We did get a chance to stop at the Sol Duc Falls again on the way out of the back country. We saw some otters swimming around below the falls! No pictures as they were too fast, but we did get some more pictures of the falls that I'll have to post later.
During our forest hike along the Sol Duc river today we found the forest in many stages of decay. Some downed trees were demolished to mulch. Some had all kinds of various fungi growing from them. Also, we saw many trees that had fallen and cracked in interesting ways during past storms.
We managed to make it out of the back country before 5pm....pretty good for an 8 mile hike out.
Fourth day of backpacking
posted at http://markandjoannatravel.blogspot.com
August 27, 2009
Day 4 of backpacking trip
I'm writing this from the most beautiful campsite ever. We are at the top of a mountain with Mt. Olympus in front of us, a ton of stars above us, and surrounded by other mountains. We are also completely alone up here. I wish we could stay here longer than one night.
We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset over purple Olympic mountains while eating dinner. Everything was too pretty to capture on the camera, though I did try my best! I hope my mental snapshot remains long in my head. Oh, we also have a half mood nearly lighting everything up around us. We have shadows cast by the moonlight.
I couldn't ask for a better night.
Tonight was worth the terrible climb up here. I should go back to the beginning of the day.
We awoke in Sol Duc Park to the bugs. Luckily they did manage to stay off of us for the most part. Wearing long sleeves in the cool mornings helps. It was chilly and we had breakfast and packed up pretty fast. Our hiking legs are getting better every day and it is not so hard to get the pack on. Each day we get a little faster and have to stop to rest less.
Sol Duc Park down to the Appleton Junction was a pretty forest hike and all down hill. We stopped to take several waterfall pictures along the way. Soon we came to the trail junction where we would climb up to Appleton Pass. We stopped here for lunch before heading up what we knew to be a 2500 foot climb.
We also had the great idea to pack up everything we didn't need and leave it at the bottom here in one of the bear cans. We'll get it on the way back down tomorrow. The climb was very uneventful. It was hard, steep, lots of switchbacks, and hot. Well, 75 does feel hot with a big pack on and long sleeves to keep the bugs off.
We were very lucky to find a couple headed back down from the pass. For when we got to the top, we found that there were several campsites. We might have just stopped and camped ine one of the 10ish boring sites that we passed. However, this couple told us of a magnificent hike if we just kept climbing. It took all our effort to keep moving and not just stop, but it was worth it. The view is superb. I've captured most of it in RAW format on my camera. Basically this means I can't upload it for you to see on my blog until I get home to convert it. You'll just have to wait.
We set up camp easily and cooked far away. We are getting quite good at this now. After sunset, I took some photos of the stars and of our tent. I can't wait to see how they turned out.
So now, it is time to sleep and not think about bears out there. Being all alone is wonderful as we really do get the absolute silence up here. However, it is also unnerving. A few deer have already walked by in the dark scaring us. Adrenaline rushes are good, right?
Today we hiked 5.6 miles at an average speed of 2.0mph.
August 27, 2009
Day 4 of backpacking trip
I'm writing this from the most beautiful campsite ever. We are at the top of a mountain with Mt. Olympus in front of us, a ton of stars above us, and surrounded by other mountains. We are also completely alone up here. I wish we could stay here longer than one night.
We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset over purple Olympic mountains while eating dinner. Everything was too pretty to capture on the camera, though I did try my best! I hope my mental snapshot remains long in my head. Oh, we also have a half mood nearly lighting everything up around us. We have shadows cast by the moonlight.
I couldn't ask for a better night.
Tonight was worth the terrible climb up here. I should go back to the beginning of the day.
We awoke in Sol Duc Park to the bugs. Luckily they did manage to stay off of us for the most part. Wearing long sleeves in the cool mornings helps. It was chilly and we had breakfast and packed up pretty fast. Our hiking legs are getting better every day and it is not so hard to get the pack on. Each day we get a little faster and have to stop to rest less.
Sol Duc Park down to the Appleton Junction was a pretty forest hike and all down hill. We stopped to take several waterfall pictures along the way. Soon we came to the trail junction where we would climb up to Appleton Pass. We stopped here for lunch before heading up what we knew to be a 2500 foot climb.
We also had the great idea to pack up everything we didn't need and leave it at the bottom here in one of the bear cans. We'll get it on the way back down tomorrow. The climb was very uneventful. It was hard, steep, lots of switchbacks, and hot. Well, 75 does feel hot with a big pack on and long sleeves to keep the bugs off.
We were very lucky to find a couple headed back down from the pass. For when we got to the top, we found that there were several campsites. We might have just stopped and camped ine one of the 10ish boring sites that we passed. However, this couple told us of a magnificent hike if we just kept climbing. It took all our effort to keep moving and not just stop, but it was worth it. The view is superb. I've captured most of it in RAW format on my camera. Basically this means I can't upload it for you to see on my blog until I get home to convert it. You'll just have to wait.
We set up camp easily and cooked far away. We are getting quite good at this now. After sunset, I took some photos of the stars and of our tent. I can't wait to see how they turned out.
So now, it is time to sleep and not think about bears out there. Being all alone is wonderful as we really do get the absolute silence up here. However, it is also unnerving. A few deer have already walked by in the dark scaring us. Adrenaline rushes are good, right?
Today we hiked 5.6 miles at an average speed of 2.0mph.
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