Jul 13, 2013

We wandered around Olympic National Park looking for what we wanted to do. We spent some time at Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center trying to figure that out. We asked some questions about trails and suggestions, and the hike we were going to do seemed long and we were unsure about it, so we decided to do some easier quick hikes to see the park.

First we hiked to Marymere Falls. It was an easy hike down a nice nature trail that led to a viewpoint of this beautiful, cascading waterfall. It is nicely tucked away from the groups of people playing in the river downstream.

I felt like climbing on things and rock hopping so I got down in the stream and made my way out on the rocks after climbing on the bridge for a while. 

I was glad that I wandered out there because I got this nice shot from a mossy rock in the middle of the stream. The whole area was beautiful, but this is one of my favorite spots.

We drove around the park farther to the Hall of Mosses and the Spruce Trail. This was in the rainforest section of the park, which is possibly coolest. Actually, it's really not possible to choose. This place is awesome. The moss-covered trees were just crazy in this area. It was a beautifully lush area and this scene just seemed perfect to me.

The trail had posted information about the many different types of trees and ferns we were seeing as we walked. There is such a varied ecosystem in this area of the country it's insane.

We came upon a large, fast-flowing river whose bank we walked along for a while. We skipped some stones on it, or I should say that I skipped some and tried to show Joanna the proper technique for picking a good, flat rock and then spinning it nicely on its side to skip across the water.

We came across this big guy on the trail and I stopped to take his picture as we tried to figure out why he had a big gash in his side. Maybe slugs fight sometimes.

The rest of the trail was along a stream lined with tall trees and ferns all over. It was a beautiful trail, and I'm glad we decided to check it out. I wish we could spend more time in this park considering there are three temperate zones I believe, with alpine, tropical, and subtropical at different areas in the park. This will definitely be a place to visit again.

We made the long drive back out from the nature trails, watching huge birds in the river area along the way, and got to a very crowded South Beach Campground with a few spots still open. We grabbed a nice one along a ridge with a view of the setting sun over the ocean. It was a nice place to sit in the car and eat while we watched Breaking Bad. We spent a bit of time doing that before getting in the tent away from the wind for the night.