OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK

If you are anywhere near this wonderful park, please make plans to see it.  There is so much to see and do here.  We spent several different days going to different parts of the park but there is still so much that we did not have time to do.  I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Hurricane Ridge, probably the most popular viewing spot in the park.

Somehow, Doug talked me into taking a one lane (with two way traffic) road from Hurricane Ridge up the side of the mountain to a place called Obstruction Pass, elevation 6100 ft.  I do not have Doug's confidence about driving roads with sheer drop offs and no guard rails!!  I don't have any pictures of the sheer drop offs because I had to close my eyes and pray!

This is the pass, but we did not hike to the summit.  Wow, you can sure see a lot from up here!

Next, we went to the Lake Crescent area of the park and hiked through an old growth forest to Marymere Falls.  Below is a picture of the trail.  As you can see some of the trees are just HUGE.  Yes, that is us standing at the base of the tree.  You couldn't tilt your head back enough to see the top of the tree.  You would have had to lie down on the ground and look up (we didn't try this but I think it would work).

This is the root ball of a tree that had toppled over in the forest.  Doug estimated that the diameter was around 15 ft. WOW!

Marymere Falls

The falls drop 90 ft. from the top into a gorgeous pool

Sol Duc Region and falls

The drop on these falls is not nearly as great as Marymere, but they are unique because there are 3 falls coming from the same water source above.  You can see the depth of the canyon if you look at the bridge at the top of the photo.  We have a 4 (almost 5) year old granddaughter who loves waterfalls; we took this one just for her.

This is Salmon Cascade, where the mature Salmon come in their quest to return to where they were born.  We could see them swimming in the water below the falls and occasionally they would jump out of the water.  It is just an accident if you get a picture of them jumping because they are up and down before you can snap a shot.  Doug saw one jump from the pool up into the swirling water around the rocks, but we never saw one get all the way to the top.  I am told that they will jump until they either make it or fatally injure themselves while trying.

Well, I hate to end on that note about the Salmon fatally injuring themselves, so I found another picture you may enjoy of the fabulous Olympic mountain range.  This is a close up from Hurricane Ridge.