Olympic Peninsula and San Juan Islands

Kalaloch Campground

August 10-11, 2002

Having had such a great time at this campground just months prior, Vickie and I decided to have another go... this time inviting other people from the office. We ended up with 6 total people: Vickie, me, Marie, Carrie, Mark, and Dave.

We met at the company picnic with the plan of leaving at 2, okay, so we left at 3. Then, we headed to Dave's house to drop of Vickie's car and get Dave. In the end, Dave drove himself anyway. So we left with 3 cars: me and Vickie, Marie and Carrie, Dave, and Mark was taking his motorcycle. We headed out (driving around the south), Carrie followed me the whole way.

So, the 4 ladies reached the campground at 6:30, only to find it full. There was one spot that didn't seem to be occupied on the board, but we drove around trying to find it... everything was full. Arrgghh. Carrie headed down to South Beach to see if anything was available... nope. We stopped at the lodge to see if they had any ideas... none... at the grocery I asked the same... the lady there mentioned that if we drove far enough down a small road across the street from the campground far enough, we'd be able to camp there.

I took off down that road and found us a site while Carrie and Marie waited at the highway to see if Dave or Mark showed up. We headed back over to the campground to talk to the site host (in case Mark or Dave came looking for us) and for one last potty stop. There was a ranger parked next to the bathrooms, and the board still had C12 as being unoccupied. I asked the ranger where it was, she tried to explain it, and two people came walking by saying they were in C10 and could show us where C12 was. So Vickie walked with them, and I drove, and we found it... and it was unoccupied!! The folks in the camping spot across the street had parked their minivan in front of our site, so it looked occupied, even though it wasn't! SCORE!!!

Okay, so while I was finding the spot, Marie was talking to the site host. The site host told Marie that "it is very primative down there", Marie confirmed that that was okay. The site host said more... "There's a 500 lb bear and several cougars that have been spotted down there." Yeah, okay... "And you WILL SEE THEM.", the host continued. Yeah, okay... so this was not what Marie and Carrie wanted to hear. Thank GOD we found the campsite!

So now it was 7:30 and we had a camping spot. We set up camp: put up the tents, etc. One big problem: Dave was still nowhere to be found. At about 8:00 Vickie and I decided to drive up to the campground entrance to see if maybe, just maybe, Dave was there. After all, he had all the wood and all the beverages. We pulled out... and there he was! He had just arrived seconds earlier and was just getting out of his car. Yay, again!

So, around 9 the sun was setting, and we had a nice fire going, and we were all ready to eat. Additionally, we were still missing one member: Mark. He was driving his motorcycle, and none of us were sure what time he left, what time to expect him, or anything. Vickie, Carrie, and Marie went over to the bluff to watch the sunset, and Dave and I tended camp. By complete stroke of luck, Mark showed up on his motorcycle!

We were complete! It was time to eat!

Vickie brought salmon, chicken sausages, and corn on the cob. We cooked it up and it was absolutely delicious.... absolutely... delicious... got it? Dinner was followed by smores and fun around the campfire.

Later, Dave, Vickie, and I headed down to the beach to look at the stars... they were amazing... and there were so many!

Needless to say, everyone slept very well.

In the morning, we started the campfire again, for warmth and just because more than anything else. I made eggs mixed with leftover salmon and sausage (in different batches). The coffee was a challenge, but there was coffee.

We packed up camp and left by 11:30 or so. Carrie had to be back in town by 3, so we wrapped up earlier than we might have otherwise. We had lunch (courtesy of Marie and Carrie) on the dock at Lake Crescent.

The innovations of the day: using potato salad (from the company picnic) on a ham and turkey sandwich in the absence of mayo and mustard, and eating brownies, strawberries, and whipped cream (also from the picnic) off a knife (we were out of forks by this time).

From there we headed home... is the adventure over? Not quite. The Kingston Ferry had a 2-hr wait, so Carrie and I diverted to the Bainbridge Ferry, which only had a 1-hr wait. Mark headed to Kingston on his bike, because he wouldn't have to wait anyway. Dave and Vickie were somewhere back there (Dave decided to take a quick dip in the lake). When we got to the backup at Bainbridge, Carrie decided to drive around, so they left me to read my paperwork I'd brought and take a few zz's. I got on the 4:30 ferry (which was more like a 5:00 ferry, and finally got home around 6:30). Turns out, Dave drove down to Bainbridge too, and just missed the ferry I was on... literally just missed it--they were the first car for the next boat.

Wow! It was great! Coming soon is the Wright Group family camping trip... hopefully more people will be able to come, and the campground will be closer in... I'm thinking of of those reservation group campsites on the Mountain Loop. We'll see... no matter what, it'll be another adventure for sure.

May 26-27, 2002

The first camping trip of the year! My friend and I and our 4 girls set out this Memorial Day weekend to test our luck with the coastal weather. The weather turned out as well as could be expected for this time of year... warm (60's) with occasional sprinkles.

On the way out, we stopped at Lake Crescent for lunch. We had a picnic on the dock and took a break from sitting in the car.

We found our camping spot almost right away: D11. Not on the beach, not on the highway... comfortably placed between the two and near the restrooms. We set up camp and went down to the beach to play.

The girls built a house and got covered with sand. We enjoyed the beach for a couple hours, then headed back to make dinner.

I think I've learned a secret to good camping... matchlight charcoal. We cooked hot dogs and corn over charcoal, then added wood after that for our 'regular' campfire. One of the unusual features of our campsite was this tree, (pictured right) which came to be known as the "B-Tree".

The next day, Monday, we headed up to Ruby Beach to check out the tide pools.

We walked down the beach a little ways and found a protected (from the rain) spot to make a campfire and hang out. Unfortunately, not too long after the campfire got really started, we had to evacuate as the tide was coming in and we had to get back towards the trail and the parking lot. The last thing you want to do with 4 complaining girls is to get stuck behind a headland, trapped by the tide.

So, we headed back and found a new good spot for a campfire and started over again.

I made lunch (soup) on the fire and the girls built a house (again).

Kalaloch and Lake Crescent

August 25-28, 2001

This was my big summer vacation with the girls this year... two days at Kalaloch and one night of camping. The weather turned out beautifully, not too hot, not too cold and everything off without a hitch, but with many memories.

I'm not going to do the whole narrative thing here, because what I would say would be the special memories that my girls and I will forever share about this vacation. If you're interested in Kalaloch, I have a lot of ideas that I'd be happy to share. Feel free to email me.

So, for now, it's mostly just a slide show. Enjoy!

<<I'm going to have to fill these in a bit later when I have more time>>

Mount Constitution

August 6, 2005

Looking for any hike that is not buggy at this time of year is a challenge. All the trail reports on wta.org spoke of very buggy conditions with one exception: Cape Alava/Sandpoint on the coast. So, I had planned to go there. However, we only had the day and it's a very long drive to the northwestermost point in the contiguous US, as my partner was quick to point out. So what to do... no bugs was too far and I couldn't bring myself to deal with the worst of bug season. I started flipping through my hiking guide to see what else there might be on the peninsula that would be closer. The problem with the Olympic Peninsula and hiking are two: with few exceptions the mountains are short and the trails tent to be long backpacking trails as opposed to day hikes.

In flipping through the hiking bible, I found the Mountain Lake/Mount Constitution trail on Orcas Island. It has been forever since I've been to any of the islands and Paul has never been, and it's just a ferry ride from Anacortes, about an hour and a half away. The trail specs were pretty wimpy: 6.7 miles round trip and 1500 feet of elevation. I checked WTA, no reports. I went on faith that it would not be buggy.

We left the house around 7:30 to catch the 10am ferry (didn't know how long the wait would be). The ferry fare was a staggering $50 for the car and two people. Bleah! Better be nice! There was a thick marine layer that kept most of the ferry ride in a thick fog. Mt. Baker was basking in the sun as we emerged from the fog and came into Lopez Island. What a beautiful day to be on the water.  :)  Next stop Shaw Island, and from there we could see the Orcas ferry dock across a very small channel (a 5-minute ferry ride).

We got off the boat and drove around the horseshoe which is Orcas Island to Moran State Park. There were a lot of people and I know why... it's very nice. Cascade Lake is very nice and hosts swimming and paddleboats you can rent. Continuing on the road (after we missed the turn-off), we arrived at Mountain Lake just before 1pm and had difficulty finding a parking spot. The park is also a popular camping spot and it was quite full. We took what seemed like the last spot by the boat ramp (when we returned there was one more car next to us in the grass) and started off on the loop trail which would take us along Mountain Lake, up to Twin Lakes, to the top of Mount Constitution, returning via Little Summit and Cold Springs, before arriving back at Mountain Lake.

The lake was beautiful and it didn't take long for us to notice the wildlife. About 5 minutes into the trail we came across a group of at least 4 very small squirrels. The bodies were about 3-4 inches long, and another 3-4 inches of tail. They chirped and jetted around. As it turned out, these were the first of many small squirrels we would see on this journey, but the number and sizes of this group made it the most memorable by far.  :)

We got to the head of the lake and started up towards Twin Lakes when guido noticed his sunglasses had fallen off. We debated for a bit whether to go back and find them or not, and finally decided to head back. Luckily, the first couple we ran into (who where each carrying one side of a large cooler) had found them and picked them up. Whew!

So after a 20 minute diversion, we headed back on our merry way. No problem getting to Twin Lakes. But from there was where the trail got steeper. We knew this would be the case based on the map we had picked up at one of the information desks. After gaining 200 feet in the first 2+ miles, we would now gain 1400 feet in 1.5 miles to the summit. The trail was in pretty good shape, almost no one was on the trail. I think we crossed maybe 3-4 parties that were coming down while we were going up. It was steep, but there were no bugs and almost no people, so it was just great!

The kicker to this hike is that there's also a road to get to the top. So after this brief ass-kicking mile and a half, all sweaty and everything, you come to a parking lot full of cars and tourists. It was a great view, though. Baker was out, you could see Glacier, and barely Mt. Rainier. The islands spread before you like puzzle pieces on a table. It was cool. Seemed like we were a heck of a lot higher than 2500 feet. It worked.

The return half of the loop was very similar to the first half, although slightly longer. We followed the ridgeline (instead of the lake shore) for several miles of up and down, losing only a few hundred feet. Then, with only about a mile to go we dropped the remainder of the elevation on a loose dirt and rock meandering trail that we were much happier to be going down than up. Got back to the car and went for a wade in the lake to cool down and rinse the legs.

Didn't take long to hop in the car and head back to the ferry dock. Got to the ferry dock not too long after 5 for a 7:00 ferry (again, didn't know what to expect of the wait for the ferry that only comes every three hours), had some dinner, went down to the dock and looked for jellyfish and fishies, grabbed a yummy ice cream and off we went! Finally got home around 9.

North-end of the Peninsula (Port Angeles area mostly)

April 9, 2000

Well... today was supposed to be a very lovely day... so I decided that the Peninsula would be a great place to explore. It's been awhile since I'd been on the ferry. Besides, I was kinda lazy and sitting in the car sounded more appealing than re-injuring my knee (again) in some snow-covered excuse for a trail. This being the case, we did a bunch of really short waterfall jaunts. Lots of cool stuff... pretty green water... tons (literally) of lush green moss. Tee-hee. :)

Marymere Falls/Lake Crescent (Storm King Ranger Station) The view was awesome. It's always a windy spot so it was quite nippy. The water was FREEZIN'!!! ... but a gorgeous color. The background of this page is a non-color-corrected photo of the water at the end of the dock at Storm King. BRRRR! A quick .8 mile walk from the Ranger Station takes you to Marymere Falls. This falls is quite a site to see. This picture was taken from the lower observation area. There's another viewpoint about 50 ft. straight up nearer to the top of the falls. The walls of the falls were covered with lush green moss... really cool stuff!   Soleduc Falls Well... supposedly this is one of the most photographed falls in the region. Frankly, I was a little disappointed. Well, yeah, it was really neat, but with so many awesome falls all over the place around here, I thought this one would be reaaaally neat. Yay! Off-season! The little bridge going over the creek has a bench built into the side (instead of just a plain railing). I came to find out later, that the stupid little stream that I thought was Soleduc Falls, really was not... I guess we didn't go far enough... I guess I'll have to go back... oh, darn.  :) Another really odd thing happened while we were on this little walk. About half-way in there's a trail spur that you can take to go back to one of the campgrounds. Ok... so when we were returning to the car, that little trail spur was barricaded and "Closed due to emergency conditions." The campground nearest the parking lot was also newly closed (when we drove by on the way in, there was a ranger and a visitor stopped at the entrance to the campground). All very strange. I wonder what was going on???

Salmon Crossing Falls (on the road from Hwy 101 to Soleduc Hot Springs and Falls) This falls was a very nice surprise... it reminds me a lot of Eagle Falls off Hwy 2 in the North Cascades (North). This was just a roadside sign that we stopped to check out... :) I love waterfall surprises.

DEER!!!! Animals... critters... big ones... lots of 'em... grazing leisurely along the side of the road. :)

If you go up the road another couple of miles, you will find Lake Mills. There's a dam right here too, but you really can't get a good view of the falls coming out of the dam because it's all fenced off. Damn!

Wolf Creek Falls (spur off the Olympic Hot Springs Road just past the Ranger Station) This .4 mile walk... was very unexpected. I have to look at a USGS map for this trail, but I think that in this .4 mile you gain at least 1000 ft of elevation. It's truly one of those stop and catch your breath every switchback kind of trails. The falls was pretty neat, the trail leads you down to basically the head of the lake (opposite from the dam). The rocks on the river bed here were really neat... I brought home a bunch. tee-hee. I know that my companion (hi, Paul) was ready to kill me at the end of this one. Looking back on it... it wasn't that the trail was tooo steep or tooo terrible... it was just NOT what I think either of us had in mind for this lazy, drive around and see the countryside kind of day.