The Olympics! Report and Photo Essay

Thank you for reading this the Olympics! report. No, I haven’t been to Paris. Olympic National Park has been heavenly! Especially if you like big trees, and rain!

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We camped at Twin Harbors State Park to start the week. Last week I wrote, “… with fresh Dungeness crabs on tonight’s menu.” We paired the crabs (one each) with freshly picked corn on the cob. Arguably our best meal of the trip. It’s so good, as son Maxx would say.

The bubble lady at the art show, an artist in her own right.

We also went to the art festival in Westport– our stay there coincided with it. We’ve been to some great art shows, and unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. We both thought the best work was by Patricia Jollimore, and it truly was world class. She could exhibit anywhere, with anybody. Just great. I also got a new sticker for the van- “Out of Breath Hikers Society.”

The sun was still pretty high.

It wasn’t a pretty evening.

This child enjoyed riding through the surf.

And then the sun showed again! A twofer!

From Westport we drive to Kalaloch, on the Olympic peninsula. We had two nights at a national park service campsite there. Of course it was raining, somethings the locals assured us that was unusual in August. I’m writing this on the 23rd of August, five days later, not even on the peninsula any more, and it’s still raining. Sheesh.

At any rate, the rain stopped for a while in the afternoon, and the sun poked through the clouds enough to allow some sunset pictures on the beach. See above.

In the morning, at low tide, we visited some tidepools. Incredibly packed with all kinds of amazing critters, I could only get photos of a few of the larger ones.

Sea anemones.

Sea star.

A slug (banana, maybe?), not in the tide pool.

Susan, defying death.

We then visited the Quinault rain forest, where it was, of course, raining. The plants that grow there seem to love it. We visited the world record Sitka spruce tree, with a circumference of 84 feet. We also visited some waterfalls. The forests here are beyond enchanting. I would have loved to backpack through here. No chance of that now.

A big, fuzzy tree.

Our van, in the same neighborhood.

The Quinault River, home to salmon and steelhead.

A small falls.

Meridian Falls.

However, a two-mile round-trip hike brought us to Sol-Duc Falls. This falls stops the upstream run of coho salmon that enter the river every year. They negotiate another, smaller falls (the Salmon Cascades) further downstream, but they are not climbing this one, oh no.

At the Salmon Cascade on the Sol-Duc River.

Asters by the river.

Bunchberries along the trail.

The Sol-Duc River. At least a little part of it.

Sol-Duc Falls.

A drive out of Port Angeles brought us to Hurricane Ridge, where we took a short hike on a one-mile loop. The temperature was in the 40s. with winds and fog, very invigorating. It’s said that when it’s clear, you can see Mt. Olympus, the highest mountain on the peninsula, from here. We could not see it, however.

A view from Hurricane Ridge.

A lone hiker on the ridge.

We stopped at a native art gallery in the town of Sequim. I so love the power of the Northwest Indian’s art!

Which brings us to Oak Harbor, where we sit in the van, in the rain, planning in visiting Deception Pass State Park, and some art galleries tomorrow, hoping it does not rain. Then we’re wrapping up out stay on the Pacific coast and heading east, looking for more adventures.

One of two bridges over Deception Pass.

That’s the The Olympics! report. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Go for a hike! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

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