Olympic National Park

 On Wednesday, July 28th, we had breakfast at the Whittaker Cafe: a pre-made, heated-up egg, cheese and sausage sandwich, with cappucino.  Not terrific, but good enough, given the lack of alternatives.

We checked out, and drove back to the Sea-Tac car rental facility by a route (state highway 7 and Interstate 5) that wasn't the shortest, but was by far the simplest.

At the airport, we took the Link light rail train into Seattle, and after a little more than half an hour, we arrived at the Westlake station, got out onto Pine Street and walked three blocks to our hotel, the Paramount, a very nice place with a terrifically helpful staff.

After checking in, we took a quick look at Pike Place Market, then went looking for new hiking boots for Mary Joy, whose old ones were causing her problems,  We ended up getting them at REI (of which we are member-owners--we like cooperatives: our electric company is a co-op, we do much of our grocery shopping at a co-op and our bank is a credit union).

We had made dinner reservations at Le Pichet, a French bistro at the Pike Place Market.  Mary Joy had marvelous salmon; I forget what I had, but it was very good.

On Thursday, July 29th, we got up early for a 7:15 pickup for our Evergreen Escapes all-day tour to Olympic National Park.  

Our guide, Sarah, went around to various downtown hotels. picking people up until the mini-van was not quite full--nine participants.  Then we drove to the Bainbridge Island ferry and made the crossing, eating a continental breakfast on the way.

We crossed over to the Olympic Peninsula, made a pitstop on the Jamestown S’Klallam Reservation, at Blyn, on Sequim (pronounced "Squim") Bay, of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates the peninsula from Vancouver Island, in Canada..

Then we drove to Port Angeles, where we headed inland, to Hurricane Ridge, in Olympic National Park.  Usually, there is a ferry across the 20 miles of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria, the very British capital of British Columbia.  But COVID-19 shut down the border between the United States and Canada.

The road to Hurricane Ridge winds 17 miles, going from sea level to 5,242 feet (1598 meters).  Once there, you can look inland toward Mount Olympus and the Bailey Range, or walk up to a ridge overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and across to Victoria, or hike to Hurricane Hill.  We did the first, then Sara led our group did on a loop to do the second.  On that loop, we saw a young buck, lying close to the path.

We left Hurricane Ridge and drove to the Elwha River, where we walked to Madison Falls, and then had a very nice picnic lunch, put together by a cooperative grocery.

We followed that with a visit to Lake Crescent and the Lake Crescent Lodge.

Sarah led us just off the lake to the Moments in Time Trail, through old-growth forest, with impressive trees.

Next was the Salt Creek Recreation Area, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Olympic National Park is huge--922,650 acres (3,733.8 square kilometers).  It has three principal ecosystems: mountain, forest and coast.  It is not possible to see very much of the park on a daytrip from Seattle.  We saw Hurricane Ridge, but we could not get to the Hoh rainforest or the Pacific beaches, with their rock stacks.  Instead, we saw the Elwha Valley, and, now, one stack at a beach on the Strait.  On a treetop on this stack--really a small island, someone noticed a bald eagle.

Sarah demonstrated digging for clams, looking for air bubbles in the retreating wavelets.  Instead of a clam, however, she found a shrimp.

We headed back for the ferry and Seattle.

That evening, without any dinner reservation lined up, we went down the block from our hotel to the restaurant of the Hyatt at Olive 8, which had just changed its name to Tidal+.  Our meal, which, as I remember, included some little tacos, was very good.