We had a spectacular drive through the rain forests of our Washington Coast to just east of Port Angeles. The weather was pretty sunny but there were clouds that are expected along the coast. It was about 150 miles through the forests and windy Hwy 212. We arrived unscathed at Elwha Dam RV Park, "best RV park by a dam site", just after noon. The park is very nice and a short walk to a view of where the Elwha Dam used to be. The dismantling of it began in 2011 and is already complete. Part of the deconstruction plan was to reintroduce the one time fantastic salmon spawning run. It was originally thought that it would take two years for this to happen. Within two weeks there was thousands of salmon coming up the Elwha River. This was a wonderful surprise but rains fell in the hills and washed a lot of silt down the river killing many of the fish. There is still some silt in the river but it is diminishing. We took a drive to Lake Crescent and visited the lodge. The lodge is a beautiful building built early in the 1900's. We sat on one of the sun porches enjoying drinks. Then back to camp for the evening.
July 22, 2013
After breakfast the sun came out so we took the drive to Hurricane Ridge. After stopping at the ranger station for info we drove the 17 miles to the top of the ridge. Spectacular! The observation point is at about 5700 feet so when we looked back toward Port Angeles we were looking down on the clouds and fog. It looked like there was a covering of cotton below us. We then took a couple of hikes to other observation points around the top of the ridge totaling about 1.5 miles. This photo is of what is called a cirque. It is what is left of a glacier when it recedes and leaves an amphitheater like setting.
This photo is looking from the ridge north at some of the Olympic Mountains.
On our way back we stopped and ate the lunch we brought overlooking a massive valley that thousands of years ago was a huge lake. Back to the park to enjoy the sunny day. At about 9 PM the clouds started coming in but not before we saw the full moon.
July 23, 2013
We woke to another beautiful day. After breakfast we drove to Madison Falls. The falls are about 60 ft high ending in a pool of crystal clear water. It was a hike we appreciated of about .1 mile. Nothing like a 5 minute walk to get energized.
On road near the entrance to the parking lot there is a Cedar tree that is probably 10 feet in diameter. This tree was probably over 500 years old because we saw a tree in a visitor's center that was about this size and began it's life in 1364. There are trees older than this still surviving in the Olympic National Forest. We were amazed how these ancient trees are still surviving.
Then we drove into the Elwha National Park to check it out. The park has quite a few camp sites, some along the Elwha River. In one area we found a 6/10 mile hike into the woods. Another nice walk in the forest.
We also drove to Freshwater Bay. This is a county park with beach combing and a boat launch. When we drove in we saw two trucks in the water near the launch. The tide was out so the boaters had to drive their vehicles into the bay so they could get them on their trailers. One boater waited for the tide to come in which made more sense to me.
Then back to the RV park for the rest of our last full day on the road.
July 24, 2013
Up at 7 and on the road home at 8:20. We made several stops on the way but were home by noon. We are only home for 4 days so we have to get everything washed and reloaded for our annual family trip to Cascade Peaks near Packwood.
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