Olympic National Park

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike. —John Muir

Every national park is an awe-inspiring experience. There is none better than the other. Crater lake, Mt.Rainier, Cascade mountains, Glacier national park,.. each of them carves out a niche of itself. And another one of its kind is the Olympic national park. With 3 different ecosystems co-existing beautifully, it's a wonderland. You have the snow capped mountains, the thick rainforests ornate with lakes and waterfalls, and the sparkling beaches. 

We visited the Olympic on 26th April, 2014, on a 1-day trip. Olympic is not really a place fit for a 1-day trip because the drive along the entire loop itself takes around 6-7hours. But we didn't want to take all the pains of finding accommodation and carrying a backpack. So we chose to cover only as much as was doable. 

While going from Seattle, the easiest way is to take a ferry to Port Angeles. In an effort to bypass the ferry, we took a longer route via Olympia. 

Seattle - Olympia - Port Angeles- Olympic - Tacoma - Seattle

So, when you travel via Olympia, you take US 101, which has a spectacular coastal route. Although it's a longer and a not-so-efficient route, you would end up loving not just the destination, but also the journey.

On the way to Port Angeles are two old towns - Port Townsend and Sequim. Sequim has a Lavendar festival in July. Since it was April, and we were short of time, and Sequim had nothing more to offer, we didn't stop there.

Port Townsend is a historic town with old Victorian style buildings and a clock tower. 

When you travel from Seattle, whichever way you take, you need to bow to Port Angeles to enter Olympic national park. 

Since it was a one day trip, we had only a couple of places in the park planned out. No hikes, no time-consuming drives. A national park is incomplete without a hike ; so pardon me for the abstract description. We'll visit the place again extensively some day, and I will update this post then!

Hurricane Ridge

(Remember, it was April end, and the mountains were still snow capped)

It's the Canadian coast that you see here.

Lake Crescent

Marymere Falls trail

**We took pics of everything except the falls without our hideous mug spoiling the pic. So i'm guilty of copyright violation for this pic!

Back to Lake Crescent

Port Angeles

(to be contd.. some day..)

Have a great trip!

Regards,
Gayathri

Glacier National Park

"One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, what if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?"  - Rachel Carson

America was built on its roads, and no amount of distance stay a hindrance to explorations. Neither did it hinder us from crossing Washington and Idaho and graze the gorgeous land of the river, Montana and melt in the grandness that the Glacier National Park is.

Seattle is infamous for its rains. Howsoever I'm tempted to dispute that, we live for the 3 months of summer, and the bonus of fall and spring to fall in love with every rubble and gravel in Seattle all over again. With sun working overtime from 4 or 5am to 9 or 10pm, and with even the weeds flowering beautifully, Pacific Northwest transforms into the heaven on earth. And so, the most anticipated holidays tend to be Independence Day and Labour Day.

So we set forth, on the 4th of July, 2014 to witness the grandeur of the Glaciers before they disappear from the face of the earth. 

I've often wondered what could amaze humans the most? The lush green forests? The giggling rivers or the zen lakes? The unending deserts? The monstrous volcanoes? The giant mountains? And I could never weigh one over the other. I was equally amazed by the rainforests of Olympic as I was of the Glaciers. The great lake in the crater aced no poorer than the phoenix that Mt St Helen is! The cannons on the beach didn't impress me any less than the wild flowers blooming on any valley. The fact is, every nuance of mother nature is amazing, impressive, humbling. 

So, back to the melting Glaciers. We set off to the bear country on July 4th on a 4 day trip with hopes to spot at least one grizzly that the footballers from Montana so rave about.

Day 1 - 536 miles
Seattle - Spokane - National Bison Range - Flathead Lake State Park - Kalispell.

Although Spokane was a historic town, it served as nothing more than a pitstop for us. Water, Food, Restrooms. 

National Bison range, as the name suggests was bisons + a lot more. We saw bisons, horses, deer, and antelopes, grazing freely in sprawling grasslands without the fear of predators. We'd never seen bisons before, neither had we seen antelopes outside the shackles of zoo.

Flathead lake state park was a serene and beautiful lake, with options for water sports. All along your journey, you would see the beautiful flathead lake flowing and giggling with you. 

And finally we hit the bed at Kalispell late into midnight.

Day 2  - 142 miles

Kalispell - Lake McDonald Lodge - Avalanche Lake trail - Logan Pass - Going to the sun road - St Mary Lodge - Two medicine lake - Browning

Glacier national park is like a windows wallpaper wherever you turn to. So apart from these, there were several other photo moments along the road. Beautiful waterfalls, lakeshores, mountains, valleys.

Avalanche lake trail was a good hike for a beginner. It was a 4.5mile hike with an elevation gain of 730ft with a lot of ups and downs. We started off with jackets and caps expecting the chill of glacier, but instead ended up stripping each of our extra clothing. It was a hot and sultry day, and the trail wasn't particularly cold either. At the end of the trail awaits a beautiful turquoise glacial lake closely parented by those towering mountains. 

Logan pass and Going to the sun road do not require any special explanation. Anyone planning to visit Glacier would have heard about these a lot.

St Mary lodge was supposed to be an old antique lodge, but served as a dinner destination for us serving us toasted subway style sandwiches.

Two medicine lake was a disappointment as we drove a lot for nothing.

Day 3 - 308 miles

Browning - Swiftcurrent pass trail - Goat lick overlook - St Regis

Swiftcurrent pass trail was the highlight of the day. With a 14.2 miles round trip and an elevation gain of 2400 ft through forest where grizzlies answer to your Hello, it was a pretty strenuous hike. We did only a 11-12 mile distance and didn't go for the last lap of the mountain. But even with that, the path and the view were amazing. Although we couldn't spot a bear due to the summer heat, we spotted a lot others like Moose and deer. The Ranger-guided trail starts as early as 8.30am. And the advantage of traveling with a ranger is the insights of a seasoned biologist about the forest as well as the protection from the wild animals due to his experienced instincts.

Goat lick overlook is along Highway 2. For need of certain minerals, mountain goats come down to a certain rocky area to lick away the minerals on the rocks, and it's an awesome sight to see the balance with which those goats cling on to the steep mountain walls.

Day 4 - 468 miles

St Regis - Riverfront Park, Spokane - Palouse Falls state park - Seattle

Spokane was again supposed to be just a pitstop. But we happened to hear of the gondola ride around the Spokane waterfalls in the Riverfront park and decided to give it a try. But it was a huge disappointment. And the scorching sun just made the experience even more torturous. 

Palouse Falls is supposed to be one of the best in the Washington.It's magical and mysterious as the Palouse river crawls almost unseen through the basalt highlands, and only around the edge will you be able to identify and appreciate the falls and the river which thereafter flows through a beautiful canyon. With all that expectation we drove a great 3hrs from Spokane, through the nowherelands of the west which gave us a near Texas-like feeling in terms of the terrain as well as the heat. But the end of it was again a torture which reminded us of Guatemala and Iraq with the sun shining at a 95 degree farenhiet and not a shade in sight. And the summer had taken a great toll on the river as well, which had by then starved to death and had lost half it's volume. 

Drive back home was pretty amazing. Anyone who enjoys driving must feel heavenly. 70mph on long curvy roads with a Linkin park or Metallica in the background is amazing indeed!!

Tips
1) Any place east of Washington is very very hot in summer. So have as much water as possible. An ice-box, coke, water, anything would help
2) Trips to national parks are always associated with starvation if you don't plan well. There wouldn't be any restaurants for miles. When on highways, you might be lucky to find some Subways or Taco bells. But not in a forest. So carry any sort of back-up food. Even fruits, nuts, or energy bars would help.
3) When on a hike, drink half a litre of water for every mile covered. Else it's not the fatigue but the dehydration that's going to break you down.
4) Bear Spray! When going to any bear country, bear spray is a must even if you forget a beer spray!

http://www.hikinginglacier.com/ 
http://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm

Have a great trip!

Regards,
Gayathri