We know that we don’t have enough time to spend in the pacific north west this year, so we are just sort of meandering south, trying to find some hiking to do along the way. Paul has several fraternity functions he wants to attend in Fresno this month, and his high school reunion is next month, so we are headed back to Fresno at a pretty good pace.
I say sort of meandering south because, we are taking the time to do a quick loop around the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Park, and hiking some of the trails.
We warmed up by hiking a short 2 mile trail from our campground in the National Park. The trees here are huge and quite a few have fallen over, exposing some really neat looking root systems.
Our next trail was the Klahhane Ridge trail in Olympic National Park. This is a popular trail that we shared with a lot of people and animals.
After a few miles we were hiking along the ridge line and the views were awesome.
Mountains on one side….
And the Strait of Juan De Fuca on the other…
Since we were so close to Cape Flattery, the northwestern most point of the lower 48, we decided to check it out. The trail out to the point wasn't too long.This is the view from the end of the trail. Very dramatic and the water was beautiful.
In fact, the views all along the coast line were spectacular and there is something so soothing about the smell of the ocean.
Our weather has been great, giving us the chance to see some incredible sunsets along the way.
And once the sun set, we could sit outside and enjoy a star filled sky.
We hiked two more “trails’' along the shoreline in Washington.
The first trail is called the “triangle trail”. I have no pictures of that trail for some reason. Obviously its a triangle- 3 miles in the woods, 3 miles along the “beach” and another 3 miles in the woods- except it has to be done at low tide, or the beach trail “disappears”. Well, either we waited too long, or the trail wasn't marked because we lost our way and had to turn back (but only after trailblazing for a half hour or so). We still hiked 9 miles but not in a loop.
Hole in the Wall is a beach trail. It’s just outside the towns of Forks, and La Push, WA, which “Twilight” fans will recognize. We drove through town without stopping. Although the books are set in this town, it wasn’t filmed here.
This trail also has to be hiked at low tide, but this time, we made it. Once the tide comes in, you can’t hike through the hole. 
We had a great time exploring the shoreline and the tide pools.
Washington redefines the word “driftwood”. The beaches are littered with enormous trees, and signs warn you that floating wood can be deadly. Lucky for us we had no intention of swimming!
