Seattle 9: Olympic National Park

Today I got up very early, packed my stuff and left at 5:45am for the Olympic Peninsula. I knew it was a long drive, but I really wanted to go again. I was at a very special place which I have visited in 1993 (15 years ago!!!) with my dad. We went to the west end of the peninsula to Ozette, and did a wonderful hike there (part of the Olympic National Park). I had it in such good memory that I wanted to do it again. And I was keen to see the sea otters again, which we saw back in 1993. The trail was incredibly beautiful, and consisted of three parts: 3 miles, mostly on board walks, from the Ranger Station to the beach (Sand Point Trail), then 3.1 miles north along the beach, and another 3.1 miles, again mostly on board walks, back to the Ranger Station (Cape Alava Trail). So, all in all 9.2 miles (14.8km).

Some photos of the Sand Point Trail:

The work of woodpeckers
(My guess, since I heard some in the distance)

This is the point where the trail hits the beach. As you can see, it was quite foggy and misty, and visibility was poor. This is also the point where we saw the sea otters last time. But this time I got there at low tide, and this - combined with the poor visibility - resulted in me not seeing any. The hike along the beach was quite touch, since you had to either walk on (mostly) deep sand, or on rocks and pebbles, and puddles (tide pools). The light and fog made it an eerie atmosphere.

Selftimer photo - first attempt...

Selftimer photo - fifth attempt ;-)

The world famous hole in the rock.
Oh wait - wasn't that in the Bay of Islands? ;-)

A photo to appreciate the vastness and dimensions of this beach.
Click on it and look at the yellow circle - there are two humans in it!

These crabs were everywhere. Whenever you walked across rocks
you heard them rustle while quickly hiding under rocks.

This rock reminded me of.... oh, I just leave it to your imagination!

A dead seal (I assume a Northern Fur Seal) on the beach

And after 3.1 miles I was at the trail head of the Cape Alava Trail. It went steeply up the hill, and then again over board walks for miles...

I climbed literally hundreds of those steps!

Almost back at the Ranger Station: Ozette River (front), flowing into Lake Ozette (back)

After that I had to do the long drive back to Seattle. While on the way to Ozette I took the northern route via Port Angeles, this time I took the southern route via Aberdeen and Olympia. Back in Seattle, I went straight to Candyce and Marc's place, where they had saved me a bit of delicious grilled salmon, with potatoes and salad - yum! Carina and Carl, as well as Aaron were there again, and Carl's Swedish colleague Martin. A great way to end such a beautriful day!