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| View of the Olympic Mountains |
On Old Olympus Towering Tops is the beginning of the mnemonic to help medical students remember the 12 cranial nerves. But today, it stood for an amazing view of the Olympic Mountain Range at Olympic National Park.The park is a World Heritage Site and a biosphere reserve.
Our first stop this morning was at the ONP Visitors Center, where I immediately picked up a pin to commemorate my visit. We watched a 25 minute movie about the mosaic of life within the national park--it was very beautiful. Because the peninsula is relatively isolated, there are many different species of plants and animals found nowhere else. Also it has very varied climates, including everything from desert to two temperatue rain forests. The east side of the peninsula gets almost no rain or snow, because the mountains act as a block. The moist air comes from the ocean and builds up against the mountains, but as it climbs higher, the cooler air causes the moisture to all drop on the west side. So that side gets something like 160 inches of rain/year, compared to nothing much on the east side. There was also a small nature exhibit in the center, with info about the animals in the park. Before I left, I spoke to two different rangers about what Joe and I should be sure to see. And then we started driving up the road to Hurricane Ridge.
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| Joe and Cassie on Hurricane Ridge |
I was hopeful about the likelihood of having "a view", because the sky was (stop me if you've heard this before) overcast. But I did see signs of sun and blue in some areas, and actually by the time we left the RV, it was actually quite warm--WHEN the sun was not hidden by a cloud! As we drove up the road, though, I thought it was getting more overcast.
The road was nothing but wiggles back and forth through incredibly tall, thick pine trees. It was like going through a green tunnel. Then suddenly we caught a glimpse off to the side of a view--and then there was a turnout, so we stopped. Sure enough, we had a slightly obstructed (by some tall trees) view of the Puget Sound. Information panels told us we were looking toward the islands, and Vancouver. It was a bit hazy, but not foggy--I could clearly see the difference between water and land. But we also could see that there were quite a few clouds between the ground and the tops of the mountains we were driving in. The peaks were above the clouds. I kept my fingers crossed and we drove on.
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| Background: clouds, then water, then Canada |
Finally we got to the top--we were glad, because we planned to eat lunch up there, and we were hungry! The view was just spectacular as we sat at our picnic table. The people next to us struck up a great conversation with us over lunch, but the real star of the show was the view. We were looking out at the Olympic Mountains, and there were quite a few glaciers included in what we were seeing. After lunch, Joey jumped back into the Jeep to rest for a few minutes, while I took a short walk along a trail which led over the ridge. I got a view of Puget Sound again, with lots more details of which islands I was looking at. It was so clear and sunny at the top of the ridge, despite the clouds lower down. We were simply higher than they were!
I went into the nice visitors center at the top of Hurricane Ridge, and spoke to yet another ranger to double check about a road that looked like a shortcut to our next destination ("Don't take it," she advised, since part of it was unpaved!) And then we headed back DOWN the mountain. This time we were on the outside of all those curves, and I have lost my ability to handle those, it seems. So I looked down most of the time while Joey drove. I did take one photo, though, when we started driving through clouds. One minute it was all clear green trees, and the next, this CLOUD was in the road. Like, who INVITED it? So it seemed very gray and murky for a little bit, until we came out again under the clouds, and discovered that it was, once again, a "partly sunny" day, as a weatherman would call it.
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| A cloud hovering over the road |
We found the road along the Elwha river (although we missed it as we whizzed past, and had to turn around.) It had ominous signs insisting that the road was closed, but two different rangers had told me that we should go see the waterfall there! So despite Joe's anxiety about it, I told him to drive anyway. Sure enough, there were 2 miles of public land, and then we went into the park to find a parking lot and then a road barrier. Apparently, a flood from the Elwha River some years ago flooded out the road and bridge and campground that used to be there. So you can hike in, but you can't drive it anymore. However, there is a nice (short) path to Madison Falls there, which is even dog-friendly. (Dogs aren't allowed on most trails.) So the three of us hiked up to see Madison Falls. It was very pretty. We spent time looking closely at the mosses and lichen and ferns growing all along the path, as per the film we'd seen in the morning. Microcosms of ecosystems.
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| Joe and Cassie by Madison Falls |
After that, we decided it was getting a bit late to move on to the next access road another half hour down the road. So we drove back home, stopping at the store for some needed groceries. Then I spent several hours trying to suss out how we will manage to see the rest of the park despite the rain on Sunday, and what our vacation schedule will be like after this. I can't believe we only have about 3 or so weeks left! We haven't seen everything yet--it's too soon to go h
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| Standing by the Elwha River |
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