Hiking the short trail wonders of northern Olympic National Park

After the morning on top of Hurricane Ridge, we still had a good part of the day to explore the lower elevation sections of northern Olympic National Park. We had a list of short hikes we wanted to do, so we started checking them off the list. First stop was Madison Falls. After a 0.2 mile hike, we arrived at the waterfall.

Madison Falls -- check!

To give an example of how big this national park was, we drove over an hour to get to the top of Hurricane Ridge from our campground this morning, then an hour back down to Madison Falls. Then we drove an hour to get to Sul Doc Road for the next trail head. It was a mile hike through the forest to get to our next destination on the list.

Many say that Sol Duc Falls is the prettiest waterfall in this national park. Mark hiked to the top of the falls to take a picture back towards the bridge. Denisa was standing on the view point on the left side of the picture below.

Denisa took Mark's picture from the opposite direction. With all the greenery, it's hard to find Mark in the picture below. We ended up hiking 2.7 miles because we had to park down the road from the trailhead on this very popular hike.

Sol Duc Falls -- check!

It was 4:30 by the time we started the Ancient Groves Nature Trail.

This was an old growth forest. That means that these trees were never harvested by the lumber crews that swept through this area. These ancient trees are some of the oldest and tallest in North America.

Because of all the shade from the towering tree tops, the ground underneath the trees was carpeted by a layer of green moss. That moss flooring looks a little like the green shag carpet Denisa remembers from her childhood home.

We have wandered into another of God's wonders! We love these ancient forests, where we often leave with a neck ache from looking up at the tree tops so very high above us. Over and over, Mark would reverently whisper, "I love big trees!" We got another mile of exercise on this hike.

Ancient Groves Nature Trail -- check!

The next item on our list were the Salmon Cascades, and we were happy to get a parking spot in the small parking lot at 5:15 p.m. A short walk through the forest brought us to a viewing platform over the river. We stood there for thirty minutes, watching the salmon make valiant jumps against the frothy water bubbling downhill.

If you look carefully at each of these pictures, you can find one fish in mid air, trying to jump up the falls to the higher level of the waterfall. Coho salmon show up in July after making the seventy mile swim from the ocean. They are programed to come back to the very river where they were hatched two years before.

They have to navigate the cascades, jumping up seven feet to get to lay eggs on the calmer section of the Sol Duc River. After laying their eggs, they die. Their carcasses feed the local wildlife and provide the nutrients that continue to fuel this area.

Salmon Cascades -- check!

After cheering on the salmon for thirty minutes, it was time to return to the pickup and the return drive to our campground. With our early morning start for Hurricane Ridge, we got home about twelve hours after we left this morning. The hot shower felt great after miles of hiking! Most of the people staying in Fairholme Campground were staying in tents, and they didn't have the luxury of a hot shower. Our lithium battery is at 78%, as the solar panels generated 27 amps of electricity on this cloudy day. We were living in the lap of luxury with showers and electricity in the middle of a national park with few amenities! We enjoyed temperatures in the 50s and 60s on this August day. 

Another great day of wandering the short trail wonders in Olympic National Park -- check!