Sunsets on the Pacific

We made it!

One of the most exciting points of our trip was getting our first peek of the Pacific Ocean and then getting to dip our feet in its icy waters.  We made it across the country.  Quite literally from the Atlantic to the Pacific although I can't say either one of us had touched the Atlantic's waters for quite some time.

I was really excited to see Olympic National Park.  I've never spent much time at the beach but it has always fascinated me and I find the crashing waves so soothing and just plain beautiful.  I think my ideal honeymoon would be to rent a quiet house on the beach and just get to sit on the porch and listen to the water all night.  Anyhow, we were trying to save time to visit my best friend and Michael's cousin in Colorado, so we decided to skip most of mainland Olympic.  I am sure it is stunning and I definitely want to return someday, but after Mount Rainier, we figured it probably couldn't compete.  We did, however, spend the first night in the Hoh rainforest campground, got a brief glimpse of Mount Olympus, and then explored the rainforest the next morning.  It was pretty impressive with an average rainfall of 142 inches each year!  The entire forest smelled damp and the trees and moss were spectacular.  It is definitely not something we could see anywhere else.  We even got to see some baby salmon.

After the rainforest, we drove to the northernmost tip of the Olympic coast where we camped on Ozette Lake.  We were both sitting in camp after dinner (Michael was writing a blog post) when a barred owl flew over our heads and landed in a tree at the back of our site.  We spent a long time watching it and photographing it as it sat quietly on a branch.  When it finally flew off, it was completely silent.

The following day, we headed out to what is known as the Ozette Loop.  It is a three mile walk through the rainforest, three miles on the shore, and three miles back through the rainforest.  The walking was pretty easy as they have built boardwalks on much of the trail.  The terrain on the beach, however, wasn't quite as forgiving as downed trees were abundant and every step in the sand seemed to take us back a half pace.  It was overcast, but still beautiful.  As we were walking, a huge flock of birds squawked as they flew away from us.  I figured they had been enjoying a pile of sea trash, but Michael glanced over and instead saw a whale skeleton.  From what we could tell, it was entire skeleton complete with puddles of blubber.  Each vertebra was six or eight inches wide.  It was a remarkable site, although pretty eerie.

One of the coolest things we saw was petroglyphs.  They are rock carvings which look as if they once adorned a headwall and have since fallen.  No one can accurately date them, but it is thought that they were drawn by the Makah Indians who once inhabited the region.

We also saw many bald eagles and heard the haunting cries of seals sunning on the rocks.  When we returned to camp, we packed up and headed to Mora which is a beach south of Ozette.  There, we played a few games of Rummikub, made dinner, and drove back to the beach to catch the sunset on the Pacific Ocean.

 

Elevation: 32'

Michael lost this game

Our final day in Olympic, we braved the chilly waters and walked along a breakwall to some tide pools.  It was fun to find creatures we rarely see and just to enjoy the beach (although it's not exactly swimming temperature!)

Little jellyfish

Shrimpy shrimp

Sea anenomes

Starfish

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On to Oregon and Crater Lake!