I needed a day off because I worked through the entire month of July. I asked Mom when her day off was in August and she said the 13th. I took the same day off just so I could get away from the work computer for a long weekend. I asked her what she wanted to do and we originally planned on going to Washtucna to see the old buildings, the art bus and to explore the area around such as Palouse Falls. We decided to stay closer to home because of the wildfires, the smoke, WSU students heading to Pullman that weekend and having Grandpa's birthday on the Sunday.
We came up with another plan instead. We were going to drive up to the Port Angeles area and spend time up in the Olympic National Park. We wanted to make it a two day trip and spend the night some where. We found out most hotels during that weekend were super expensive so we crossed that idea off and just decided on a long day trip. I asked Mom to put a bunch of stuff on a list and if we got to it, we got to it. If not, then we'll save it for another time we were up there again.
We got a preliminary list drafted around Tuesday night and had several conversations with Mom throughout the week. We got somewhat organized the night before. I told Mom to be at my house by 6:30 and I got gas the night before so we would be ready and could just head up without any stops. I set my alarm for 6:05 and this was the earliest I've gotten up in a while. It was just way too hot that night and I couldn't get to sleep.
I actually hated it when the alarm finally went off. I didn't get much sleep. Ben's alarm went off shortly after so he could get ready for work. I made myself a PBJ sandwich and put some Doritos in a bag. Ben left for work after he fed the kitties and ate some breakfast. I told him we would be home late so to make himself some dinner. He told me to have fun and he would see me when I got home.
Mom got her a little bit after 6:45 (she was late), we loaded the stuff into the Escape, gave the kitties some treats and headed out. I told the kitties to guard the house and that I would see them later. The drive up there didn't take very long, we talked about work, our upcoming trip to Peru (which we were hoping that we got to go) and other random things that came up as we talked. I haven't been up to Sequim and Port Angeles in at least 5 or 6 years.
I was upset that it was smoky today. Of course it would wait until we drove up there to be annoyed by it. I was hoping that it wasn't going to be as bad as the weather said it would be. Fingers crossed!
We followed Nuvi to our first location, driving through Sequim and Port Angeles, there was some road construction along the way. Madison Falls was our first stop along the Elwha River, which I've never heard of this waterfall before, so it was a unexpected treat. We parked, used the biffy and then walked the short distance to the falls.
We took several pictures, kinda did the earthcache, Madison Falls Plunge (GC812Z0) and talked to an Asian family who were on vacation from Utah. We walked back to the Escape and took pictures of the Elwha River before we left.
We got back on the road and then got back onto Hwy 101 towards Marymere Falls. We stopped at a store on the side of the road to pick up a traditional cache, Sasquatch Sightings (GC6T2KN). It took me a while to figure out what the hint was saying. Then my geosenses kicked in and found the plastic ammo can. I'm sure the owners of the store were wondering why I was walking back and forth. I signed our names and put it back where I found it.
We got back onto Hwy 101 and headed west and kept our eyes peeled for the Marymere Falls turn off. We saw the sign along the highway and the parking lot for the Storm King Ranger Station. We pulled in and tried to look for a parking spot. We were very lucky to have found that spot since the place was packed! We grabbed the stuff we would need and followed the trails to the falls. It was a 2.1 mile roundtrip hike. We brought our masks because we passed a lot of people along the way. The trail was very worn but very well manicured, we saw huge trees, lots of downed nurse logs with new trees, brush and plants growing out of them, you could hear various types of birds and we tried to keep our distance from people.
We walked over a couple foot bridges over Barnes Creek and Falls Creek and then up a staircase to the falls. We had to take turns up there because there were so many people coming down and going up. Once it was our turn we went up to the viewing area and took a few pictures. The falls was actually cooler in real life. We walked back the way we came and back towards the Escape. When we got closer to the ranger station, we took a small detour to Lake Crescent just to see it. It was so smoky we could barely see it. We used the restrooms and then got back in the Escape.
I set the Nuvi to Sol Duc Falls. Neither one of us has been here. We got back onto Hwy 101 and drove further west to the turn off to Sol Duc.
We had to pay a $30 fee because it was a National Park area. We were hoping that we had enough time to hit up Hurricane Ridge later that day to make the $30 fee worth it. We followed the road to the parking area and got lucky again with a parking spot. We were getting hungry so we decided to eat lunch in the Escape for about 15 minutes. We both brought sandwiches and chips because it's easy to pack. We got our stuff ready and walked to the trail head. Sol Duc Falls was only 0.8 miles away so roundtrip was less than 2 miles.
This walk was similar to the other one, lots of tall trees, many nurse logs, root exposures, twists and turns. You could see the smoke hovering above you while you walked. There were also a bunch of people walking along this trail as well. I know a lot of people are getting in their last couple weeks of camping before school started. We made the last turn and there was the bridge and the falls. There were a bunch of people at the falls trying to take pictures and whatnot. The falls was pretty cool. I did the virtual cache, Don't Duc in the Falls (GC6125), which is another oldie back from June 2002. Then we walked to the top of the falls along the side of the river to view it from that angle. Mom took a bunch of pictures and then we decided it was time to head back.
We hiked the short distance back to the Escape and stopped at Sol Duc Hot Springs on the way out. I wanted to do the earthcache, Sol Duc Hot Springs (GC351FN) while we were out this way. I read some of the logs prior to coming here so I knew what to expect. I parked in the lot and Mom stayed in the Escape. I went to the front of the building because I saw an informational sign. I took a quick picture of it just in case I needed it to answer questions. I went inside and followed the hallway to where the pools where. I took note of some of the questions asked about the pools themselves and saw some information about the fault lines and how these pools were being heated. I decided that I had enough info to answer the questions so I left and went back out to the Escape. Mom asked if I got what I needed and I told her yes.
On the way out we stopped one more time along the road so Mom could get a couple photos of the Salmon Falls viewpoint. It was barely a falls but Mom wanted to see it. She got her photos and we moved on to the next spot on our list.
We left the area and drove east back towards Lake Crescent and turned off to go to the Spruce Railroad Trail because the sign told us it was there. I didn't have phone service so we just went with the flow. It turns out we were at the wrong end of the five mile trail after we walked two plus miles. We turned around and walked back to the Escape. I felt dumb because we wasted all that time. I did find out that there is another trail head at the other end and of course that was at the other end of the lake. There was no sign on Hwy 101 indicating that end of the trail.
We followed the road to the trailhead, parked, used the restrooms and walked the mile-ish in and saw a tunnel and a sign for the devils punchbowl. We weren't sure what that was so we went through the tunnel and then looped back because Mom wanted to see what the devil's punchbowl was. I saw the bridge and this is what we were looking for because I saw pictures of it on the Washington Hiker's and Climber's Facebook page. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of people here swimming so I couldn't get any good pictures of it without people. We watched people jump off of the cliffs into the pool for a while. We will have to come back someday on a day where it's not hot enough to swim now that we know where this is.
Mom and I walked back to the Escape and we almost watched a little boy on his bike get ran over by a car in the parking lot. Luckily, no one was coming or it would have been bad. We followed the road back out to Hwy 101 and drove back towards Port Angeles. Once we had cell phone service, I had Mom look up some of the food options we had. We wanted to go to Fat Smitty's in Discovery Bay but it would be close by the time we got there so we decided to go to Frugal's instead. We got gas at the Arco while we chatted with Erika on the phone. She wanted us to check on her dogs the next day because she and Zach will be out of town most of the day.
I didn't know Port Angele's very well so I had to put the address into Nuvi. Frugal's was super busy so we had to wait in a very long car line. It took about a half hour to get our order in. We both got burgers, fries, sauces, I got a Cherry Coke and she got a strawberry milkshake. We paid for our food and collectively decided we should eat our food at the waterfront. We got lucky again with a parking spot, found a picnic table and ate our food while people walked down the Discovery Trail.
It was getting chilly but still smoky outside. We decided it was too late to visit Hurricane Ridge and I told Mom we would come back and go there next time.
We drove home. I had to follow a stupid Prius that didn't know how to drive and it took us a while to get home because there was just no safe place to pass him. We did eventually get to pass him near Shelton when Hwy 101 split into two lanes. We got to my house around 10 p.m. Mom went home, I got cleaned up, worked on my blog, ate popcorn and watched sports highlights.
Next Adventure: Salmon Creek Meet and Greet in Vancouver and Errands with Mom
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