Olympic National Park

As spectacular as Mount Rainier is, there are other amazing sites to see in Washington. Among these are two other national parks: Olympic and North Cascades (Rainier is actually the smallest of the three.) During my days off, I usually stayed in the park for my exploring, and there was plenty to be done. However, when I was able to get a few consecutive days off, it was tough to pass up on an opportunity to go check out a different area. My friends, Dana and Kenton, had the same time off work, so it was a good opportunity for the three of us to go explore a new place.

Between the three of us, we chose Olympic National Park as our destination. Olympic is the largest and most diverse of the three national parks in Washington, encompassing over 922,000 acres on the Olympic Peninsula.

Due to its large diversity, Olympic is often referred to as "Three Parks in One." The coastal region of Olympic is separated from the main body of the Park, and consists of beaches, tidal pools, and sea stacks (jagged rock outcroppings that jut straight up from the beach.) The western part of Olympic's main body is mainly comprised of temperate rainforests, with massive Douglas fir, sitka spruce, and western red cedar trees. Further east, the Park is much drier due to the rainshadow effect. Hurricane Ridge lies the Park's northeast corner. This is one of the most easily accessed and most visited areas of the Park. Here, you get an entirely different take on Olympic with excellent views of the Olympic Mountains, and abundant subalpine meadows.

On our trip, we started at the coastal district. We spent a night at the Mora Campground before exploring nearby Rialto Beach the following day.

There are no trails at the beach, and simply wandering the shore was the name of the game. The unique geology and tidal pools made it one of the most spectacular beaches I've ever seen.

Me, Dana, and Kenton on the beach:

We wandered the beach for a few hours, admiring the awesome beauty. It was a tough place to leave, but we knew there were other areas of Olympic that were equally impressive. When we finally got our fill, we hit the road and headed to the Hoh Rainforest on the main Park district's west side.

The first time I arrived at Rainier that summer, the first thing that caught my attention was the massive trees. I grew up in Southern Utah, where even our biggest trees are dwarfed by the average tree in the Pacific Northwest.

At Olympic, some of the trees even put Rainier's trees to shame.

Here's an example. This sitka spruce is about 270 feet tall, over 12 feet in diamater, and estimated to be over 500 years old:

On our way to the Hoh River trail for some more forest exploring, this herd of elk was grazing not far from the road:

We arrived at the Hoh River Trail, and quickly got started with our hike.

The trail leads to the base of Mount Olympus after about 18 miles, but we would be turning around long before then. We didn't come equipped with backpacking gear, and we still needed to find a campsite that night.

 

The trail winds through the lush Hoh Rainforest, which gets between 140 and 167 inches of precipitation each year. Massive trees draped with moss and lychen crowded the trail, and every step along the way provided its own unique perspective. Rarely have I ever seen a place so alive!

 

 

 

The afternoon shadows made certain areas of the forest especially cool, almost in an eerie way.

Some of the giant trees' root systems were growing high out of the ground. Everywhere I looked, I was at awe with the unique features of this amazing forest.

Near our turnaround point, there were two huge western red cedar trees, right next to each other. I had one of my friends snap a shot of me sitting between the two.

That night, we found a secluded campground in the Olympic National Forest. We still had two more days to explore, and I couldn't wait.

 

The next day, we headed to the Sol Duc Hot Springs on the northwest side of Olympic. The hot springs themselves were run by a private company, and it seemed to be somewhat touristy and not quite what we expected. Luckily, there was a trailhead nearby and we decided to see where it would lead us.

Although I don't recall the exact trail we took or how long it was, it looks like there are a couple of options you can take from the Sol Duc area. The hike proved to be well worth it. Although some of it was similar to our Hoh Rainforest trip the previous day, this was a higher elevation area that took us through a diverse array of wildflower meadows.

 

The most abundant of these wildflowers was pink mountain heather - an evergreen shrub with pink, bell-like flowers.

There were other wildflowers to be seen as well, including this beargrass:

We even found a few tiger lilies - my personal favorite:

 I don't recall the name of this striking flower, but there were quite a few of them around.

In one of the forested sections of the hike, one of the trees had a huge tumor-like growth, also known as a "burl". I have seen quite a few of these but never one this large.

 As we started back towards the trailhead, the forest was dominated by some giant Douglas firs.

In the same area, the ground was a sea of ferns on both sides of the trail.

When we neared the trailhead, deciduous trees comprised of alder and maple dominated the forest. They formed an overhanging canopy above the trail.

It was yet another great place, and our trip still wasn't over.

After camping another night, we were on the last day of our trip. Hurricane Ridge was a convenient final stop, not far from the 101 highway that would take us back towards Rainier.

We all had to work the next day, and wanted to be back at Rainier before it got too late that evening. We still had time for a quick hike near Hurricane Ridge, though. After checking out the Visitor Center, we took the drive to Obstruction Point and started our hike from there.

It was immediately obvious that this was a much higher elevation area than our previous stops at Olympic. Although it was August, a large part of the trail was still snow-covered.

We trudged our way through the snow, following the obvious boot tracks from others. It was a gorgeous, clear day, and as we ascended the trail, excellent views of the Olympic Mountains came into view. (I was lucky enough to get a raven fly-by in the first shot.)

 Dana and Kenton admiring the view:

  The three of us with the Olympic Mountains in the background:

We hiked until we reached a good viewpoint and resting place to eat lunch. We decided that this would ultimately be our turnaround point, but not before checking out another small ridge that brought us slightly closer to our view.

Dana, hiking along the rocky ridge:

More Olympic Mountain views:

When we got back to our cars, it was a bit disappointing that our trip was about to come to an end. Olympic was truly one of the most magnificent places I've visited, and we didn't even scratch the surface of all the possibilities the Park offers. It's a place that I fully intend to visit again some day, and tack some more mileage into my boots.

We returned to Rainier that evening, and my disappointment with the trip being over was replaced with a reminder that my home for the summer was pretty awesome in it's own right.



Mount Saint Helens

During my summer at Mount Rainier, I wanted to explore the Park as much as I could. However, when a group of friends invited me along on a day trip to Mount Saint Helens, I found it hard to pass up. Although I worked on an active stratovolcano, Saint Helens' has the appeal of its recent eruptive history.

Mount Saint Helens is part of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It was designated a National Volcanic Monument in 1982, two years after the major eruption of 1980, which sent a massive column 80,000 feet high, depositing ash on 11 different states.

The most popular area to visit at Saint Helens is northwest of the volcano, where there is an observatory and visitor center. From that side, you get a great look at the massive crater and lateral blast area from the eruption. However, we decided to check out the closer and less visited Windy Ridge area on the northeast side of the mountain.

The group I went with took two cars, and although the plan was to head to the same area, somehow we got separated. When we arrived at Windy  Ridge, it was just me, my roommate, Shenon, and a co-worker named Casey.

It was the first time to the area for all three of us, and the plan was to find a good day hike. We found a trail map of the area and planned our route. There appeared to be a good half day loop trail that would take us right along the base of the mountain. So far, the weather was a bit gloomy, but if there were any views to be had, the trail we picked was sure to provide them.

The area was pretty, yet desolate. It was obvious that the 1980 eruption had taken a toll on the vegetation in the area. However, in some areas, I was surprised by how much had recovered in a relatively short 30 years.

When we started the hike, the base of Saint Helens was within our view. Unfortunately, it was mostly cloud-covered.



Hopefully things would clear up as the day went on.

There are several different trails that make up the loop that we had planned (see map above), starting with the Truman Trail. I enjoyed hiking with two other people who were also seeing an area for the first time. None of us knew what was around each corner. I liked that.

The trail was relatively easy, with just a light elevation gain. A couple of miles in, the trail opened up into a very large, flat area, which was obviously recovering more slowly from the eruption than the area where the hike started. By now, the clouds had begun to clear, and Saint Helens was in full view. (Also, note the extremely barren landscape in the foreground.)

 
 I couldn't help but wonder what this area looked like prior to the eruption, and what it might like like in a few hundred years.

After a lunch break, we continued on the trail right up to the base of the mountain, before ascending a steep, rocky area. This provided another interesting perspective of Saint Helens.



As the trail started to curve back towards the vicinity of the trailhead, we had fun glissading across some big snow drifts. (In my case, awkwardly stumbling across them.)

When we reached the trailhead, we were greeted by our other friends who got separated on the way there. They decided to go check out nearby Ape Caves without letting us know! It sounded like the caves were cool, but we got to see more of Saint Helens, and probably got more exercise in the process.

Before we left, the group of us hiked to the top of the Windy Ridge Viewpoint. This view gave us a great perspective of nearby Spirit Lake, which contained thousands of floating, dead logs - just one of many signs we found from the power of Saint Helens' immense eruption.

The viewpoint offered a nice view of Saint Helens, too, but the clouds were once again blocking most of it.

The clouds ended up obstructing some views, but they didn't get in the way of us having a good time. It was a great day to explore a new place. Then again, when isn't it a good day to explore a new place? I can't think of an answer to that.