Olympic National Park - Part III

2009-07-25: This is Part III of the photos from Olympic National Park. The last one is where I felt I was being watched.

Olympic National Park - Part II

2009-07-25: This is Part II of the photos from Olympic National Park.

Olympic National Park - Part I

2009-07-25: The Olympic rain forest was everything I had expected, and then some. The trees here, regardless of species, grow to tremendous size. Everywhere where something could grow, it did. I encountered trees growing out of other trees; in one instance a sapling was growing straight up out of a stump. Many trees had hollows underneath them where the tree they grew on top of had lain before rotting away. Mushrooms and moss grew upon the trees. Ferns and other small plants claimed any remaining open soil. The air here was slightly cool and damp - it would cool dramatically at night. The scent of the trees and the earth was very thick. Many parts of the forest were quite dark. The trail I took followed a clear and cool river. I walked quite a distance on this trail - 7.5 miles, and then back another 7.5. Unfortunately, I wore through the pads in my boots and ended up with some very painful blisters on my soles. Oddly enough, in one particular part of the forest trail, otherwise unremarkable, I had a strong feeling that I was being watched. I continued on, watching and listening for movement. Nothing came of it, but when I was on the return hike, I felt the same sensation. How strange!

Later, in the evening, the temperature dropped dramatically. I was exhausted and the cold may have been less tolerable because of that. While driving, I caught a glimpse of a cloud of fog pouring rapidly down the side of a mountain and looking like an enormous plume from a melting block of dry ice. Soon the thick fog filled the air, and was present until I had come out of the high mountains. Along some parts of the highway, the huge trees of the rain forest lined both sides of the road, creating the appearance of a gargantuan hall lined by massive pillars. At one point, a great horned owl swooped across the road in front of my car, its wingspan six feet wide, or possibly more. I stopped to capture some photos of a brilliant sunset. That night, again behind schedule, I had to find somewhere to stop and sleep. The city of Aberdeen, WA looked much like Chicago in many ways - not somewhere I wanted to stay. So as before, I found a rest stop to park at and there I slept.

Travel Notes: Port Townsend » Olympic National Park, WA

I was very much anticipating my visit to Olympic National Park. Kanaskat-Palmer State Park had certainly given me a preview of what I was about to experience. Olympic is a very large park, and I noticed several different areas could be accessed. I was not planning to camp here, so any of them were valid. I stopped at a tourist information center in some random small town and grabbed a vacation guide. I decided that Hoh Rain Forest would be the best place to go.

The hills and rivers of Washington were on a smaller scale than I might have expected along this route, though they were many. Small lavender farms could be seen along the road, though none were photo-worthy in my opinion. It looks like one had to stop and pay for a guided tour to get anything good.

Nairn Falls Provincial Park » Port Townsend, WA

2009-07-24: On this morning, all of southern British Columbia were enveloped in fog. My goal was to reach a park on the coast of Washington. I drove with leisure as the distance was not too great. Unfortunately, the ferry crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca had been delayed by an hour or more earlier on, so the entire schedule was off. I had missed the most recent by a matter of minutes and had to wait about another ninety minutes for the next one to arrive. By the time I had crossed, I was too tired to drive and I had to stop and sleep. Though it was all too mundane, a 24-hour grocery store's parking lot was my stopping place.

Nairn Falls Provincial Park

2009-07-23: Canada's Sea to Sky Highway had a uniquely wild look to it. As I drove along it, following the winding road back and forth, going up and down the hills, black storms thundered across the region. I looked up at a high, rocky precipice and saw a bolt of lightning viciously strike a tree. Smaller rocks tumbled down the slope. It seems that it is a constantly changing landscape. Chinook helicopters, some with buckets attached, constantly flew overhead. CBC radio reported that firefighters had been battling a massive wildfire; luckily it was not a threat to the area I was in. I watched one of the helicopters dip a bucket into a lake and fly away over the mountains. About 50 miles north of Vancouver, I found a small provincial park called Nairn Falls, and decided it would be a good place to camp. I walked along a noisy, cold and fast river to visit the falls here. Minerals dissolved in the river gave it an odd, milky appearance. The forest trail opened up into an area of solid rock, which had to be climbed to get to the viewpoint for the falls. I made my way forward and took a few photos, taking care not to slip on the smooth rock. The drinking water here was excellent; I enjoyed it so much that I dumped out what I had and filled up my bottles with it.

Porteau Cove Provincial Park » Nairn Falls Provincial Park

2009-07-23: Just north of Vancouver, I arrived at a small provincial park named Porteau Cove. This park is located in the Howe Sound, on North America's most southern fjord. Sometimes the winds here become so severe that the park is closed! This was my first view of the Pacific Ocean. The campground here was full, and seems to be so perpetually. I travelled north along the Sea to Sky Highway looking for vacancies in campgrounds along the way. All along the way, preparations were being made for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Travel Notes: Kanaskat-Palmer State Park » Porteau Cove Provincial Park, BC, CA

I was now ready to make a major step on my journey - crossing the border into Canada. I had never done this before and I did not know what to expect. It turned out I had a bit of a hassle at the crossing due to long-passed legal issues, but I was eventually able to convince them that I was not there to cause trouble.

Once past the crossing, I encountered some of the legendary Canadian hospitality - people would go out of their way to help you if you asked. It was almost unsettling. When I asked a gas station clerk where a certain building was, he came from behind the counter and outside to the lot to point it out, not worrying that anyone would steal things from his store. Canadians in general seem patient and polite in all things.

Kanaskat-Palmer State Park

2009-07-22: This was a pleasant introduction to the more lush western Washington. A clear and shallow river ran through a small forest where ferns and other dense underbrush filled in the space between trees. I was able to walk in the river for a bit before standing on an unstable stone and falling in, waist deep! This was not an issue on a warm summer day.