Olympic National Park

IMG_0962I know, I know. I’m a lazy bum. I’ve been back from Olympic National Park for over a week now and I’m just getting around to writing the blog post. No excuses. Honestly, it’s hard to fully describe the experience. ONP has some of the most incredible scenery I’ve seen to date. So, I’m not sure what to write. I guess I’ll just spend a few paragraphs telling you what I got up to, and perhaps waxing philosophical, and then I think I’ll just throw a bunch of pictures at you (the one to the left there Mt Olympus). How does that sound?

I went in to the park the first time along the Boulder Creek Trail (near the Elwha River) on the day of the autumnal equinox. It was a fairly leisurely hike by my standards, so I spent some time that afternoon lounging about in the Boulder Creek hot springs. I do love me some hot springs. After that, I hiked my way up an incredibly scenic trail to Appleton Pass, my campsite for that first evening. From there it was back down to the Sol Duc River, up to Deer Lake for another night of camping and then up over Bogachiel Peak on day three.

IMG_0980Along the Hoh River making my way up to Elk Lake (my third campsite), I ran into Brian and Dev (pronounced Dave), who were hiking about the same area as I the next couple of days. It’s always good to have some company, especially for some of the crazy trails that make their way up to Blue Glacier (pictured to the right) and Mt Olympus. We spent a day checking out all of that, and the next day was a long hike out through the Hoh Rain Forest. Excellent times indeed hanging out with Brian and Dev. they even gave me a ride back into Port Angeles.

From PA, I schemed out my next adventure on the Olympic Peninsula, and two days after leaving the main area of the park, I was out along the coastal wilderness of Olympic near Lake Ozette. I spent two days doing some surprisingly difficult hiking south along the coast. There were many rock outcroppings that I needed to scramble over, and of course the rocks were wet, seaweed-covered and otherwise slippery, which makes for an interesting challenge.

Now, I’m back in the civilized world for a bit, but I guarantee it shall not last. In less than a week, I’m making my way for the southwest to explore many of the national parks, monuments, and other wonders of that incredible area. The adventure continues!

As promised, pictures of Olympic National Park…

The view from Appleton Pass
The view from Appleton Pass

Sol Duc Falls
Sol Duc Falls
There were a few hazardous sections of trail heading up to Blue Glacier.
There were a few hazardous sections of trail heading up to Blue Glacier.
That's me hanging out by Blue Glacier
That's me hanging out by Blue Glacier
Hoh Rain Forest
Hoh Rain Forest
Hole-in-the-Wall along the coastal wilderness
Hole-in-the-Wall along the coastal wilderness

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