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!

Olympic National Park's Hurricane Ridge

We were up at 5:00 a.m. to get an early start on the day's exploration in Olympic National Park. The sun was still behind the mountains that surround Lake Crescent when we left our camp site.

The rising sun was coloring the clouds pink this early morning. We were up so early because we were headed to one of the most popular mountainous sections of this huge national park.  Even though we were camped deep in the park, it was an hour and 15 minute drive to get to Hurricane Ridge. We had read that they close the road up the mountain when the parking lots get full at the top.

As we drove up the mountain pass, we ran into the clouds. We were worried that our early departure would be in vain if the mountains were covered in clouds so we couldn't see the beautiful views from the top. When we visited Olympic National Park in the early summer of 2017, this road was closed at the top because it was still covered with snow. So the hike we took that year was actually on the road. We can report that the road was completely cleared of snow by August.

We were glad to report that we were on top of the clouds by the time we arrived at the top parking lot. 

We were the third car in the upper parking lot nearest to the best trails on Hurricane Ridge. So our early morning rising was rewarded with having the trail all to ourselves. We were also rewarded with very pleasant hiking temperatures. We needed our jackets for this summer hike with temperatures in the upper 50s.

We were also rewarded with colored clouds as the sun was finally rising over the tallest peaks in Olympic National Park.

The clouds that we drove through earlier this morning were filling the mountain valleys. That made a surreal combination of white clouds and black forests and mountain peaks.

We have wandered into God's wonders this early morning!

We started the hike at 7:00 a.m., and we had the trail almost to ourselves. We saw only three groups coming down the mountain. They obviously got up very early to see the sunrise from the top.

We would have been a little faster, but Denisa slowed us down with her stops to pick huckleberries. She really likes a steep path where the bushes grow up the side of the mountain and are therefore at your hand level for easy picking. No bending over to pick berries on this trail.

It was a nice breakfast fruit snack this morning as we made our way up Hurricane Hill.

It was a steep path, but that meant we were soon at eye level with the snow-clad mountain tops around us. With great views and berry snacks, Mark commented, "Now all we need is some wildlife to make this a five-star hike."

That's about the time we spotted the first marmot of the day.

He was standing guard at the top of the ridge.

We also enjoyed the wildflowers blooming along the trail.

This flower was a harebell, which is also known as the Scotland bluebell.

The clouds continued to sift through the valleys, but we kept our blue skies at the mountain tops.

Once we got to the top of the trail, we continued onto Hurricane Ridge. We took several of the dirt paths that wandered across the top of the mountain. We had gotten a report that there were three elk at the top, and we went in search of them. We never found elk, but we found plenty of deer. This one walked up the hill right in front of Denisa. She was close enough to get a good picture with her cell phone.

All around us were jagged peaks and more places to hike.

We walked out to the very edges of the dirt trails at the top, enjoying this beautiful place all by ourselves.

After enjoying many of the hard-to-scramble-to view-points, we headed back to the more congested paved trail.

We came upon more wildlife. This is certainly going to be a five-star trail!

This black-tail doe brought her fawn out of hiding to show it off.

This ptarmigan was sitting in the middle of the dirt path, standing as still as a statue. Mark got a great picture, but then he wanted to walk past the bird. He was surprised that it still didn't move as he got closer and closer. He found that ptarmigans were better at running than flying. It took a lot of flapping to get that big bird body in the air. Then he discovered why it was standing so still. A large raptor swooped out of a nearby tree, intent on grabbing a ptarmigan for lunch.

The deer near the top seemed to be used to the crowds of hikers that would be on this mountain top today. They were quite tame and ready to pose for pictures.

More and more people were arriving to the top as the morning wore on. We got a picture together, taken by one of the other hikers at the top. From here we were supposed to be able to see Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. But everything at sea level was still blanketed by a thick layer of clouds.

From here, we had views of the highest mountains in Olympic National Park that were still covered with snow in August.

These were actually some of the tallest mountains in the whole state of Washington. Among them were Mt. Olympus and Mt. Carrie.

We found more marmots guarding another section of the mountain.

Denisa thinks you can never have too many marmot pictures.

. . . or ptarmigan pictures.

It was around 9:30 when we started the hike downhill. This was one of the most popular trails in Olympic National Park, and we met a steady stream of hikers that were going up as we descended. By the time we got back to the trailhead, the top parking lot was obviously full. The middle parking lot was also full. The only parking spots available were at a parking area about 1.5 miles further down the mountain. So anyone starting this hike at 10:00 would have an additional 3 miles of up-hill walking along the road to get to the same views we enjoyed today. And we had those early morning view all to ourselves.

As we drove back down the mountain, we gave a ride to some hikers that were having to make that additional 1.5 mile walk back to the lower parking lot. Even though these hikers had arrived earlier, RVs have to stop at the lowest parking lot. Their teenage New York daughter thought it was a great adventure to ride down the mountain on our pickup tail gate.

For those not able to make the hike up to the top, several hikes were available from the bottom parking lot. We hiked the Cirque Rim to Sunrise Point Loop, and realized we didn't take a single picture. After the views at the top on Hurricane Ridge, these lower trails didn't even compare. But why did Denisa take this picture of a clump of bushes on this trail. Do you see anything?

She zoomed in to show the deer that was resting in the shade in the middle of the brush. We spotted her with our eyes, but the camera had a hard time seeing her.

It was after 11:00 when we started the drive back down out of the Hurricane Ridge section of Olympic National Park. It was 53 degrees outside, and we again drove through the clouds on our way through the tunnel section of the 18-mile drive to the bottom.

After enjoying blue skies above the clouds all morning, we were surprised to find that the lowlands were still covered with clouds even at noon. We were ready for lunch, and stopped for a brisket burrito in the largest town on the peninsula--Port Angeles. We had already had a full day of hiking, but it was only 1:00 p.m. Because we saw rain in the forecast, we decided to keep exploring this national park while the weather holds out. But that will have to wait for another blog. . .

Olympic National Park move to Fairholme Campground

We woke up to drizzly cloud-covered skies. That's the kind of weather that we expected in the Pacific Northwest, but we had been lucky to escape thus far. Our lithium battery was at 65% this morning, which was the lowest reading so far on this trip. In our shaded camp site at Mora Campground, we had been generating 5-6 amps per day. Since our refrigerator uses around 10 amps per day, plus more needed for lights and water pump, we used more electricity than we generated for these last three days. We couldn't use our electric induction plate to cook under those circumstances. Mark cooked our breakfast using our gas grill, and it was as good as it looked.

We hooked up the trailer, and left by 9:30--a little early since we only had a 45-minute drive to get to our next stop at another campground in Olympic National Park. We wanted to charge our battery during our short drive to Fairholme Campground. We got some charge for our battery from being hooked to our pickup, plus more from the solar panels when we were driving in sunny areas. We drove through the town of Forks, Washington, made famous from the Twilight series. Its other claim to fame is that it is the rainiest town in the lower 48 states. After Forks, we drove into the sunshine. It was fun to watch the solar app as it showed the solar panels surge up to 11 amps in sunny areas, and then plummeted to three amps when we drove under a cloud. By the time we pulled into Fairholme Campground, our battery was charged to 76%. That should give us plenty of battery for the two-day stay here in this partially shaded spot.

We were greeted by the nicest stack of firewood that we have ever experienced. But it would do us no good, since the "campfire ban" sign was very prominently displayed in our fire ring.

Before we go on, we have to talk about something we have named "hemlock snow." We had been parked under some giant hemlocks in the national park campgrounds. While the trees were lovely, they shed these inch-long yellow bristles over everything. They coat the picnic table, solar panels, and shoes, so that we tracked them inside the trailer. They were wet and hard to sweep away, and we were very tired of this hemlock snow that drifts down from the trees continually. Okay, rant over.

After we got the trailer set up, we headed out for our first outing in this new section of Olympic National Park. The forecast showed rain for the next few days, and so we were taking advantage of these blue skies to drive to the Spruce Railroad Trailhead that was 4.8 miles from our site.

We unloaded the bikes and headed down this flat rail-to-trail path through the forest.

The tracks were laid for the Spruce railroad to transport the cut spruce trees that were used for lightweight airplane frames for World War I. But the tracks weren't finished until after the war was over. So the railroad saw limited use in transporting trees out of the forest. More recently, the tracks were removed and it made for a great bike route through the woods.

It was a downhill ride through the forest to get to the shores of Olympic National Park's most famous lake.

It was a beautiful bike ride along the shores of Crescent Lake.

We planned to kayak on Crescent Lake before we left our spot at Fairholme Campground. Our camp site was on the Western edge of the lake, and we could say that this lake was bigger than we pictured it.

They ran out of real estate on the shore, so the railroad had to blast a tunnel through the rocks in several places.

Short in length, it was easy to ride to the light at the end of the tunnel.

The east end of Crescent Lake was easier for tourists to access. The more miles we pedaled towards the east, the more people we met on the trail.

We parked our bikes when we got to the most popular destination on the trail. This was a little cove protected from the wind called Devil's Punchbowl. This was a popular place for people to jump from the bridge and the surrounding cliffs to swim in the cove. Most pictures of the punchbowl include the picturesque bridge and the cliffs. But both were covered with the people that had walked there from the east end of the trail. 

To get to Devil's Punchbowl from the bike trail, we had to hike around this tunnel on a narrow trail. This was the second tunnel on the trail. Because it was long and curved there was no light at the end of this tunnel.

So bikers were required to dismount and walk their bikes through the tunnel.

It was a short ride to the eastern trail head where most of the crowd had started their walk. Then we turned around to ride the six miles back to the pickup.

Mark tried a couple selfies on the return trip. One was while he was riding his bike . . .

the other was a less daring shot while taking a bike break.

He was quite good at taking action shots while riding his bike.

You won't see any pictures that Denisa took while riding her bike. She had to focus on pedaling and not riding off the trail into the lake. Besides, on the return trip we were pedaling uphill to make up the 600 feet of elevation that we got to coast down earlier.

On our return bike ride, we started noticing some white caps on the lake as the wind came up. It must have been that wind that blew over a tree onto the road. That tree wasn't in the road a couple hours before when we drove the same road. Mark picked the trunk off the road so we could pass.

We got back to our camp site to see that the solar was working great. We were up to 85% of battery capacity with the bright sunshine. We fixed a meal, then headed out again to take advantage of the nice weather. With no ranger station to ask for advice, we were glad that we had made a list of places we wanted to visit in Olympic National Park. 

We found the trail head to Marymere Falls, and started up the 2.1 mile trail through the giant trees. If you look closely, you can see Denisa inside the burned out tree. These big old trees can survive fires that would kill most trees. Because the trunk and the outside layers were still intact, the water and nutrients can still flow upwards to the high branches that were alive and well.

All of this trail's 350 feet of elevation gain was on the steps at the end. This was a popular trail,  so it was no small task to get a picture of Marymere Falls by ourselves.

We climbed even more steps to get a top view of the waterfall.

We have learned that it was impossible to get a picture that really shows how tall these trees were. But that didn't keep us from continually trying.

Our next stop was the Crescent Lake Lodge on the eastern edge of the lake. We checked out the menu for the lodge restaurant. Based on the prices, we determined that we would be cooking at the trailer while we were here. But we enjoyed using the lodge wifi for a few minutes. We found that we have absolutely no phone signal at our campground (again).

It was also hard to take a picture of the wind, but we confirmed that it was blustery. A sign at the lodge apologized that no boats could be rented this afternoon because of the wind.

So we wouldn't be kayaking after all on this popular blue alpine lake. We had to settle for a lake picture off the boat dock . . .

and from the shore.

We were using all our daylight hours this day before the predicted rain.

We started our third trail of the day--the "Moments in Time Trail". The line of big trees where Denisa was sitting were up off the ground. That's because they started as saplings on top of a fallen tree. Called a "nurse log" the dead tree underneath provides extra nutrients and protection to the new trees, that form a straight line along the log.

We enjoyed the unique trees and the signboards that described the lives of these giants. This was a stump left when it was cut down by hand in the early 1900s. The fallen tree was pulled out of this forest by teams of oxen. Because it was so labor-intensive to remove these trees, that actually allowed some of these big boys to survive the deforestation of the early 1900s.

While the Hoh Rainforest on the coast was famous for its moss-covered trees, we found some inland on the Moments in Time Trail. It was 1.4 miles long, and the sun was going down by the time we finished.

We drove back to the trailer, glad to see that the battery finished the day at 79% capacity. The solar panels produced 27 amp hours today, even with the morning clouds and our site shaded by tall trees. We really enjoyed the freedom of camping in beautiful places that don't have electrical hookups!