Olympic National Park

10 days, 6 states, 3200+ miles, = memories to last a lifetime:) We also have HUNDREDS of photos so it is going to take some serious decision making skills to narrow it down for a reasonable post. Not sure I am up for the challenge. This year the parks presented for our NP Road Trip were: Yosemite, Glacier, Cuyahoga Valley, Olympic, and Mesa Verde. By a slim margin, Karsyn's choice (for a second year) came out as the winner. So we began planning our adventure and in mid July hit the road for Olympic National Park, the farthest west we have ever been.

 We left early on Friday, July 17th and headed to Utah for a quick overnight stay with Grandpa Ralph & Grandma Shirley. We were lucky enough to get to see some cousins who dropped by to say hello. The kids had so much fun playing together for a few hours and it was nice to get to catch up with Kevin, Migdalia and Luckie.

Our girls sure do love these girls.

The following day was a long 10 hours of driving. We broke it up with little breaks. We made a stop in Idaho.

 We came to Mountain Home just about lunch time so we picnicked at the City Park. It just so happens my bro in law Neal, grew up in this little town (with fond memories) so we felt like we had a connection.

We carried on into Oregon.

We stayed in Pendleton OR that night. It was late when we got there. However, we were now on Pacific Time so we had gained an hour. We had just enough time to grab dinner and hit the pool (absolutely necessary). We were hungry and tired and didn't really want to wait for food, but we also like to try local eateries when were on the road. We ended up at Abby's Legendary Pizza . Wouldn't really say it was "legendary", but it hit the spot and they were pretty fast:)

Sunday was a short driving day with only 200+ miles to go. We had plenty of time to stop and see some things on the way. One of the things we stopped for was berries ... as we drove down a canyon road, Mark spotted BLACKBERRIES and we simply had to stop. He went on a bit of a frenzy and I thought for sure we had lost him to those bushes.

It was all worth it when we had these delicious fresh picked blackberries to snack on. It wasn't the last time that would happen on this trip. We LOVE that about OR/WA .. ...  fresh fruit stands right at the side of the road-YUM!

Next up- Bonneville Fish Hatchery.

 I was in awe at the beautiful grounds. We have been to a few hatcheries in our time, and I have never seen one like this.

 This place raises millions of Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and Steelhead every year. They also have a pond of sturgeon and trout.

 The girls had so much fun feeding the fish and making sure the ones that looked like they needed it most got it;)

We traveled up the Columbia River Gorge which is a vacation spot in itself.  I was trying desperately to get a good photo of Mount Hood. Not as easy as it would seem.

 There are several falls on the Oregon side of the gorge to hike/walk to. We started off with Ponytail Falls. This trail is unique in that it takes you right behind the falls for a view in this cavernous area. It was so so crowded though and I think there may have been more dogs in the water than people:(

 A view of the Columbia River from the trail

 Of course, we all had to take advantage of the opportunity to cool off by walking under the run off from the falls.

 We then headed to see Multnomah Falls which is the most popular waterfall in the gorge.

 To see the falls requires only a short jaunt down the path, but the view is pretty spectacular. With water flowing at 600+ feet, it is said to be the 2nd highest year round waterfall in the US.

 Before we actually hiked up to it, we had to stop at the Lodge for ice cream to get our strength up.

The best up close view of the falls is on the bridge, which was packed with people. It was nearly impossible to get a photo opp to yourself, but we did manage to sneak in one or two.

 This is a view of the lower falls from the bridge.

 We took another little hike over to Wahkeena Falls. By this time hikers had cleared out a bit and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. This photo doesn't give you the full scale of this fall, but it was pretty remarkable.

We saw so many amazing things along the way, and we weren't even at our destination. We were on to Washington!!

We stayed over in Vancouver WA for the night where we tried out Burgerville for dinner.The burgers were pretty darn good, but the Huckleberry shake was even better:)

We headed into the park the next morning

 We had a campsite reserved at Kalaloch Campground, which is the ONLY campground in the park that accepts reservations in the summer. When we made ours, they were so booked that we had to reserve 3 different sites for the 3 nights we were there. So .. .. we moved camp each day, this was a first for us, but worth it to stay in this campground that borders the beach.

trail from campground to beach

 When we arrived our spot was still occupied (albeit unauthorized), so we killed some time at the beach while that all got "straightened out".

 We spent a lot of time at the beach that first day and most evenings after seeing other sites. We hiked along the beach to Browns Point finding more Jellyfish on the sand than you could believe.

 The girls spent hours beachcombing and playing in the waves

Bailee took this cool pic while experimenting with her photography skills:)

 There was an abundance of driftwood all along the beach which made for great seats and lots of exploring

 Our first day was the best day for the beach. It got a little cooler and cloudier after that.

Frisbee

We got settled in our campsite for the night (after getting our squatters out). This one ended up being the best spot of the three (they progressively got less appealing)

 

The next morning we went on a Ranger led walk to the tide pools at Ruby Beach. 

We saw all sorts of cool sea life at the pools, like anemones, mussels, crabs and sea stars

It was a great little morning activity

Once our new site was vacant, we packed up and moved over. Rather than take tents down we just carried them through the trees.

On our way north to the Hoh Rain Forest, we stopped to get a look at the world's largest Red Cedar. 

 

  When Karsyn presented her park to us, the Hoh was on the top of the list of "must sees". It is among the only protected temperate rain forests in the Northern Hemisphere and it did not disappoint.

 We hiked through the rain forest most the the day. Our trails included the Hall of Mosses and the Spruce Nature Trail.

fungi

 

 Our last day in the park we ventured to the Ozette Triangle. The triangle is formed by 3 trails that allow you to experience rainforest, headlands and beach. Each leg is approximately 3 miles. 

 The trails that have been constructed and maintained to protect the vegetation were pretty impressive and made for a very comfortable hike. A good majority of the first leg was boardwalk.

 

another cool fungi

 We arrived at the rocky beach of Cape Alava to have lunch and explore. The beach provides opportunity for viewing sea animals. Although could hear them from a distance, we never did get a very good look.

 When making the trek from Cape Alava to Sand Point it is necessary to cross at low tide. High tide brings very big waves, making it a dangerous hike. Unfortunately, we were informed by a Ranger in the area, that it was not safe for us to continue along to beach to Sand Point due to the tide. Even though I think we missed out on the coolest part of the loop, what we did see was well worth the hike.

On our way back to camp, we stopped in Forks WA. Yes .. .. the "Twilight Forks" and this little town is playing it for all its worth.

 We walked around town a bit and looked in a few of the shops. It seems to be stuck in time, which I find somewhat charming.

 We also passed through the town of Sappho where we found these giant Sasquatch cutouts for the sheer enjoyment of tourists. It was totally hokey, but we couldn't pass it up .. .. at least not these two!

 

We left Olympic National Park on Thursday morning and headed back to Oregon. We had to stop on the Columbia River Gorge again and catch a hike that we didn't get to do on the way in because of the throngs of people. 

 What an adventure!! The river is the trail for this hike. You begin having to navigate this enormous log jam .. ... no easy feat I tell ya.

 The girls begin to make their way up the creek

Pretty quickly you are waist deep in cold water.  I say freezing water, but I don't have as much tolerance as the rest of my posse.  Emm definitely needed a little boost here. If she had been any shorter we would have had to carry her.

When you reach the falls you are already so wet, you may as well just get right in there. At first it was just like this ... ...

Then Mark convinced everyone (but me) to just go for it and jump in. I think my reaction to the cold might have been too much for all the other visitors;)

 Like I said, it was quite an adventure and I am so glad we didn't let Oneonta slip by us.

 Later that day, we stopped in at Bonneville Lock and Dam where we got to see the operation of two of the Nation’s largest hydroelectric powerhouses

 

 This huge turbine on display was pretty cool

 

 We also watched migrating fish traveling upstream at the underwater viewing rooms

Pacific Lamprey

Steelhead

Outside we watched the fish travel upstream through the ladder. That was fun!!

I could have watched the salmon jump up that ladder for quite a bit longer, but it was approaching closing time.

We had another hotel stay in Pendleton 

In Malta ID we stopped at this "middle of nowhere" gas station and fed the alpacas. Another dose of hokey for the road trip.

 We then drove back through Utah where we stayed with my parents. 

 We arrived late on the 24th, but just in time for fireworks on Bar M Circle.

 We were joined by their neighbor, Jackson and Mark instantly became his new best friend.

We were able to see a few more family members the following afternoon before heading home.

Then it was back to our territory and home to Colorado.

Whew .. ..  What a time we had!!  After a few days of decompressing, we were all ready to go again. We kinda live for this road trip thing:)