Weekend Trip to The Olympic Mountains

This past weekend, my friends and I went out camping in the old growth forest of the Olympic Mountains. Packed into two cars, we left Friday evening and took the ferry to Bainbridge. From there we drove northwest to Port Angeles and then dove southward into the dark terrain. It was an exciting ride, full of geeky computer humor and talk of the X-Files. Numerous times Paul left us in the dust. I did my best to keep up while simultaneously sparing the "undead" leaves that kept jumping out at the car.

Saturday morning. Here's the crew, minus Jen and Scott. We were preparing for a fine breakfast of pancakes.

This was the beautiful and mysterious view from our campsite. I fell in love with the soft carpets of moss which covered everything. This moss climbed up the trees and seemed to have a parasitic relationship upon their lower branches. You can't really tell from the photos how large these trees are, so in the photo below Scott had Ryan and I pose next to two twin trees. Note my amused expression in reaction to Ryan's buffoonery.


After breakfast we all went out on a hike. Right off the bat we saw a mother deer and her fawn grazing near the road. Parallel to the road ran a trail. While hiking this trail we were all enchanted by the sight of a birch tree grove.

Sadly, this photo fails to capture the beauty of the area we hiked through, but I am happy to have it as a reminder and as a means to share the experience with others. I think all of us there agreed that it was truly a magical place.


Uphill we voyaged, our destination: an isolated mountain lake. There we were to rest and have some much-needed lunch. On our way, Scott paused to take a video with his camera. Check it out!

As we were walking it started to rain. I was starving and sweaty by the time we reached the top, so once we paused to eat the chill really set in. Fortunately, Scott lent me a shirt he'd brought and I was carrying an extra sweater, so I was able to change into dry clothing. On the way down the mountain, we took an alternative route that carried us over a small waterfall. By then the rain had eased off, and were able to take lots of photos of this lovely location:






From here we headed back to camp, mud-splattered and ready for a change of clothes and a campfire. Paul rushed ahead, and by the time we reached our site he was preparing a fine dinner of chili for us all. He and Jen had done a great job planning this trip for us all, and we were very appreciative of their efforts. As the sun descended, we happily huddled to the warmth of the fire with our bowls of tasty food. After much chatter, we retired to our tents to recharge for the next day. I was very excited about Sunday's plans to visit Second Beach, which I'd heard to be most beautiful. Nothing could prepare me, however, for the vista awaiting me.

My next entry will discuss Sunday's trip to the beach at length, but here's a sneak preview...