Olympic National Park - April 2013

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On April 28, 2013, we took the Black Ball Ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington ($68 round trip.) We arrived a bit earlier than I had reserved the Budget car rental for, but luckily they had something available and soon we were on our way up Hurrican Ridge. There was a lot of fog, so I was driving really slow. Good thing too, because as I crept around a corner, a bunch of deer came into view. I was driving slow enough to not scare them off and we were able to snap some pictures.

As we drove higher up the mountain, the fog cleared - we were above all the clouds and the blue sky and mountain peaks came into view. Hurricane Ridge is said to be one of Olympic National Park's best look out points, and I can see why. But since it was still a cloudy day, we couldn't see as far as they say you can otherwise. I was quite satisfied to see blue sky and mountains!

We parked at the Hurricane Ridge Visitors Centre and walked down a path that had been cleared through six feet of snow.

Our next stop was wine tastng at Olympic Cellars Winery, owned by a group of women. We bought a bottle of Dungeness Riseling 2012 and hiked the Dungeness Spit. The Spit is 5.5 miles (9 kilometers) long, so we didn't have time to hike all the way to the lighthouse pictured on our wine label. It was pretty cool regardless. This place is a wildlife sanctuary, so you have to stay on the side of the spit that gets all the waves, to protect the birds congregating on the calmar side.

After the Spit, we returned to Port Angeles to check into our hotel at the Red Lion. We relaxed and drank our wine, then had a lovely dinner at Kokopelli Grill. I had smoked salmon chowder and Dungeness crab avocado salad with dried cranberries, feta and pear dressing with a glass of the recommended pairing, a white wine blend. My partner had clams and sausage with asparagus and cilantro rice with a glass of rosé.

April 29, 2013, we woke up at 7am and were on the road by 8. After picking up a quick breakfast, we hiked the Marymere Falls Trail at Lake Crescent. Next stop was Sol Duc Hot Springs. We had to pay $12 each to use the facilities, and they wouldn't even let us borrow a towel. Towels are for lodge guests only apparently. The aboriginals of this area considered the hot springs water here to have healing powers. It smelled of sulphur and there were lots of old people. I had imagined a bit more of a natural setting rather than a few large hot tubs, but at least the surroundings were beautiful.

I refused to buy a $20 towel, so after showering I kind of air dried and attempted to use the hand drier a bit. It was cold. A towel would have been nice. But soon I was back in my dry clothes, put a toque on my wet head, and we drove down to the end of Sol Duc Road. From there, we did a 1.5 mile hike to Sol Duc Falls.

After a burger lunch at The It Place in Forks, we continued on to Ruby Beach and took some pictures of the sea stacks. We stopped for a couple of short hikes to see some giant cedars along the 101 Highway just south of Ruby Beach, and later saw the world's largest Sitka Spruce at Lake Quinault, estimated to be 1000 years old.

We had another amazing dinner at Salmon House Restaurant, with a nice view of Lake Quinault. It was sunny on one side of the lake and raining on the other. We had the house speciality of smoked salmon and the seafood dinner for two with a bottle of house wine (another Riesling.)

After that we drove out of the park and slept in Abderdeen. The next day we drove down to Portland, and back up for a night in Olympia before re-entering the park on the east side, heading north back up the 101 to Port Angeles. It was May 1. It wasn't even 11am, but we found ourselves passing Hoodsport Winery and I wanted to try their fruit wines. We ended up buying the cranberry and rhubarb.

We hiked the Staircase Rapids Bridge Loop Trail at Cushman Lake. So beautiful. As we were driving back to the highway, my partner was snapping some pictures of Cushman Lake out the window of the car when our camera just stopped working. It would not take pictures for us anymore (the problem wasn't the battery) so from that point on we had to rely on my HTC phone camera. We stopped briefly for coffee at Pleasant Harbor Marina, and then drove up to the Mount Walker look outs. Really wish we would have had our regular camera to get better shots of those views! It was a perfectly clear day, and you could see Seattle across Puget Sound. You could also see Mount Helen, Rainier, and Baker. As we enjoyed the view, a few older men with a bag full of brownies came to enjoy it with us. Too bad they didn't share.

We continued along, stopping at Finn River Farm for cider tasting. We tried a habenero cider they made for the Strange Brews Festival. They were just messing around, trying to make the strangest thing they could think of, but ended up creating something wonderful. She let us try it even though they didn't have any more bottles to sell - that's how popular this had become. We ended up buying bottles of dry hopped cider, honey meadow and sparkling pear before wandering around the farm a bit.

Our friends had told us to make sure we spent at least one night in Port Townsend, and some folks at the cidery also encouraged us to go there, recommending The Cellar Door bar in particular. While it was sadly empty on a Wednesday night, this bar was nonetheless super cool. My partner had absinthe, and I was very happy to see they had the very same Finn River habenero cider on the menu, so that's what I had of course! Would have been better paired with food, but we had just finished another incredible meal, this time at a place called The Belmont. We had a waterfront view, and dined on crab, salmon and sole stuffed crab. We had another bottle of Riesling (we like our Rieslings!) and shared the Amaretto Chocolate Mousse. Then I poured a bunch of habenero cider on top of that. Luckily, my stomach obeyed and digested it all without difficulty.

We stayed that night at The Bisop Victorian Hotel, a very unique, cute place. Our room was bigger than our apartment! It had a bedroom AND living room, with a furnace and big screen tv, two couches, a kitchenette and a kitchen table! Holy smokes! I would have liked to stay longer. Breakfast was really neat - you choose your items the day before, and a basket full of breakfast goodies is placed outside the door at the designated time.

Port Townsend is probably the most charming little town I've been too. But we had to make our way back to Port Angeles, a town not really worth spending much time in though we did have a nice lunch at Cafe New Day. We also drove out on the Ediz Hook and watched some seals pop their heads above water, and a bald eagle and some ducks. The car rental was returned, and we got on the ferry for our return voyage to Canada.

Olympic National Park was by far the highlight of our 2013 Pacific Northwest trip. There's just something about American national parks... they're rugged, yet accessibility, and so immensely beautiful and diverse. The fact these parks are protected feels so good, but as your driving along the 101, you constantly see big trucks taking logs to market. You know this industry is important for the survival of many families living in the region, and along the highway you see signs indicating the year when a particular group of trees were replanted after logging. But you also see huge swaths of clear cut mountain sides and it breaks your heart. There seems to be a debate happening there about expanding the park, which many are opposed to because expansion of park boundaries means they can't make money off the resources. I found this opinion piece that seems to explain the issue pretty well, and though it's from 2012, from the amount of lawn signs we saw the issue hasn't gone away. http://seattletimes.com/html/dannywestneat/2018149922_danny06.html

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