The Shady Adventure: Olympic National Park, Washington

Before we actually saw Olympic for ourselves, we were told it was the most remote and unexplored of all the National Parks. It is also the largest, and covers numerous different ecosystems- from rainforest, to beach, to glacier fields, and to old growth forests. After seeing this place, I am convinced that it is the greatest National Park we have been to yet. Our experiences here can never be topped, and this place will stay in my heart forever.

We started our trip from Rainier to Olympic by heading up the coast of Washington, on highway 101. We stopped the first night in the Quinalt Rainforest, and finding a place to camp became a jungle expedition! We took a forest service road into the rainforest in hopes of finding a place to sleep (not the one pictured above, think narrow, and rainforest jungle). The road became narrower, and narrower, to the point of branches scraping the sides of the van as we drove. We had to keep moving forward until we could find a place to turn around- and turning around the extended Ford on the side of a rainforest cliff was no easy task! I was sure we were going to be stranded! Brady got out when we saw a little space open up and was immediately attacked by giant rainforest bugs, so I was definitely not getting out to help... I laid in the back looking out the windows saying "keep coming, keep coming" and "stop stop stop!" as Brady succeeded in making a 100 point turn, getting us back down and out of the thick jungle... Whew! That was a close one!

The next morning, we stopped at Kalaloch beach to see the northern Pacific coast off highway 101. It was freezing! With high humidity and lots of fog- it reminded me of the Gulf Coast in December!

We decided to head into the Hoh Rainforest for a 6 mile hike. Olympic National Park is so large that it has to be separated into sections.

This Cedar tree is over 1,500 years old!! Imagine all the things it has seen in that amount of time!

More big trees!

The moss in the rainforest drips off the tree limbs everywhere you look. Also, in this forest when a tree falls over and dies, more trees grow up from it's trunk on the forest floor.

Mossy covered branches on 250 ft. trees!

Waterfall bridge!

The destination of this trail was actually a lake, just passed this waterfall. We decided the waterfall was a much more interesting feature. You could hike all the way up to its base!

The giant Banana Slug is a common sight in the rainforest, and they are usually about 4-5 inches long. We saw plenty of lime green slimy slugs, but this was the only black one we saw... Pretty gross looking!

Brady loves to play with bugs... Gross, not me!

We were hanging out at a beach on the Hoh river for lunch after our hike and a guy named Paul took an interest in our pups and came over to chat with us. He told us he had a boat and was a fisherman on the river we were at. He gave us his number and said to call him the next day if we were interested in going fishing. He also gave us invaluable advice on where to camp, which is how we found this spot. It is called Cottonwood Campground, and is right off the Hoh River. Brady found a pink axe "ground score" here!

Narrow rainforest road, typical driving conditions in this part of the world...

We talked it over, and decided a fishing day with a complete stranger was a good idea... We texted our friends in Seattle our plans and location, just in case we didn't make it back...

This is Cap'n Paul, and his rowboat. We set out with Steelhead Trout hunting on our brains. We may have been a little apprehensive at first, but Paul was such an awesome character that any worry went away quickly and we had so much fun!

Cap'n Paul took us to one of his favorite places on the river- this beautiful waterfall with a little swimming lagoon at the bottom. Brady and Paul jumped in- I am not so brave in the glacier melt waters!

We fished for hours, and hadn't caught anything (besides 2 small trout we released). At some point, we started singing, and soon discovered Paul's love for so many of the same musicians we have both grown up loving- including John Prine! He also sang a song he wrote about the Hoh river he has loved and fished for over 20 years. The whole experience was magical, even if it was so far unsuccessful... We took a break halfway through the day to check on the dogs (waiting patiently in their air-conditioned van under some trees) and decided to keep going down the river. The mood got serious when we got to what Paul said was a "very fishy" hole...

Then suddenly SHABLAMO! A fish finally took the bait on my rod, and put up the biggest fight of any fish I have ever reeled in. The whole process took about 7 minutes but seemed to go by forever! I managed to finally get him into the net, and had myself a 10 LB Steelhead Trout!! I had such an adrenaline rush going, and could not get this smile off my face for days afterward! Paul seemed incredibly proud of me too! He said at this specific hole, without fail, every girl he has taken out there has caught a steelhead. Luck? Maybe. I had to rub it in for days to Brady though, that I was the provider of the family now... And obviously the better fisherman!

What an amazing day! This experience was by far the best we have had on our trip yet. Not only did we meet Paul, now a lifelong friend, we also got to ride along the Hoh river in a way that most tourists will never get to do, and eat the freshest pink trout meat I have EVER tasted, for 3 meals!! We saw a herd of Elk scramble off the beach and swim across right in front of us, as well as Bald Eagle and Osprey flying over head. This will live in my memory as one of the greatest days I have ever enjoyed. To top all that off, Paul came back to our campground with us, to help us cook the fish over the fire (mmmm!!). We spent the night listening to him play guitar (which he was extremely skilled at!) and sing John Prine songs with us. At some point, it was dark around us except for the fire, and we heard one of the dogs licking their chops. We shined a light over on our table and found Jazz, standing on top of the table in the dark eating away at what was left of the fish bones...haha! They'll never forget that taste either! And Paul, I hope you get the chance to read this because we will never be able to say thank you enough for showing us around and giving us this gift! You're an amazing fishing guide!

Well, we couldn't stay on the Hoh forever and decided to head north for one more day in the Olympics. Brady started picking berries off the side of the road because they were growing everywhere, and maybe because he felt like he should start contributing to the family too, since I brought home the meat, he had to be the gatherer...haha! Washington has tons of varieties of fruit and berries growing wild, and he ended up filling this whole container!

We pulled off on the far northern part of the park to hike to Marymere Falls. It was pretty, but we were still coming down from the previous days events and the overwhelming amount of tourists made this hike pretty non-eventful.

Lake Crescent

The view behind Brady is the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Canada beyond that!

Our second night of eating Steelhead Trout cooked over the fire. MMMMMMM!

This campground is at the far northern part of the country and is called Lyre River Campground. There is a sign as you drive explaining that the explorers named it "Lyre" because the river sings as it flows over the low, rocky river bed.

Jazz was helping Brady rock hunt. I had never seen her do this before, picking out a rock of her own choosing, and putting her head completely under water to grab it and bring it over... She brought us a beautiful, big, green rock!