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The Olympic Peninsula, Washington
Aug-Sep 2013

Forks

Here's the first part of our trip - right outside of Forks, Washington. We had sun the first day, and never after that. Still, we LOVED it.

Our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean...

This is the campsite for our first few nights, right near the Hoh Rainforest... We had the place completely to ourselves the whole time. Wonderful thick lush rainforest with a river, and our first and last sunny day. We expected to see monkeys leaping through the trees. We had entered the rainforest.

Caterpillar on a fern

Our tent. Looks fairytale-like now, but when the rain comes... Misery :( After this night it rained every single night. The plus side of this climate is that it never gets very cold. I don't think it dipped below 50 degrees, and there was absolutely NO WIND.

They grow 'em BIG out here.

This Biostove is the best thing that has ever happened to us. THANK YOU daddy!!!! It is our best friend, especially when you have nothing but wet wood around you. Works like a charm every time. Can't be more appreciative of this gift.

There is a river right in the back of the site and while I was sitting on the bank, a trio of river otters came playing down the rapids! SO CUTE and unexpected!

The view from the inside of the tent...

The Hoh Rainforest

Phone at the visitor center of Hoh Rainforest. Couldn't resist.

One of my FAVORITE self-time pics of us. Look where we are!

What?!

What?!

Beehive on the Hoh Rainforest trail... No thank you.

Forever a stone.

We took a ride to the beach outside of La Push - GORGEOUS. And the rain came and never went away. They say "We don't get driftwood, we get drift logs."

Pelicans and howling driftlog.

The rain, the rain... It is very difficult to camp in the rain.

But it never gets cold or windy, and I just LOVE IT HERE. The whole place is so ALIVE!!!

Ruby Beach

We spent the day on Ruby Beach... Fierce and beautiful.

Crabs (etc.) strewn all over the beach...

All of a sudden, a sea otter came out of the waves and ran right past us! CUTE!

Mussels on the beach

I had to actually buy a pair of rubber rain pants. The raincoat I'm wearing lasted only one more day after this. It was like walking around with a shower full blast raining upon you. And it never ended.

I want to live here forever... Rain and all.

Olympic Peninsula Rain Shadow

We couldn't take the rain anymore, so drove about 30 miles east (weather changes quick here) and found a delightful trail.

This nurse log had a whole row of saplings growing on it!

Hurricane Hill Trail

We went to a trail up in the mountains toward the east side of the park... Much more sun! We saw SO MANY animals on this trail. The deer and marmots are completely docile and run up and down the trail with the humans. Such a magical day and a fantastic break from rain.

Grouse

YAY! Sun! Mountains! Aaron!

A whole field of grouse...

Marmots everywhere! They were changing color for the winter, so their coats were half blonde, half brown. SO CUTE!

Deer on the path

We found this cozy little spot and sat for lunch. The clouds rolled in as we watched - so neat.

This buck kind of scared me.

Aaron was filming the other one when he came on the scene!

The clouds rolled in late afternoon, and then... the rain.

Still - what a magical trail.

Elwha River Trail

Our initial plan was to do 2 two-day backcountry trips. The rain took care of that plan. This is our first (and only) 2 day backcountry trip.

THE BEAR - you've seen the movie, you don't need to read the book.

This is where we decided to camp the first night - 5 miles in on the Elwha River trail.

Beavers were here.

They had "bear wire" there - wires tied to a tree setup to hoist your bag of food away from bears. Works great. But not for tiny mice - they got in and chewed through Aaron's dinner for the next night. I guess that's a lesson to not pack food in ziplock bags.