Living Our Dream

Olympic National Park (North)

We visited the western side of Olympic National Park from Forks 101 RV Park in Forks, WA. We could have also visited the northern side of the park from there, but there were other things we wanted to do to the north, so we moved the motor home about an hour's drive to the Salt Creek Recreation Area in Port Angeles, WA.

Salt Creek Recreation Area is a Clallam County Park located on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which is the waterway that separates western Washington from Canada. The recreation area includes 196 acres of forests, beaches, and rocky coastline. The campground has 39 RV sites with 50 amp electric and water hookups, and about 50 tent sites with no hookups. The roads and RV pads are paved, and there is grass between the sites. The RV sites are a little narrower than we usually see in state and county parks, but seven of the RV sites are pull-throughs, which are extra long. The photo below shows our pull-through site at Salt Creek.

Salt Creek Recreation area was very popular. Most of the RV sites were filled every day we were there, as were many of the tent sites. As soon as someone would leave, someone else would pull in, even in mid-week. They were mostly locals who were coming out to enjoy the great outdoors. Some of the locals were even staying at the recreation area and getting up every morning and going to work.

It's easy to see why the campground was so popular. Most of the sites have a nice view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The photo below is the view from our site. That's Vancouver Island, Canada on the other side.

A spit of land called Tongue Point is located within Salt Creek Recreation Area. We took a walk out to Tongue Point for some photos.

 

There are several places where there are steps down onto the rocks where you can check out the tidal pools. The tide was still pretty high when we were there, so there most of the pools were still underwater. We did see a few anemones like the ones in the photo below.

There are several things to see on the northern side of Olympic National Park. Our first excursion was to the northeastern corner of the park to an area called Sol Duc, also sometimes spelled Sole Duck. The name is a corruption of a Native American phrase meaning "sparkling waters."

On the way to Sol Duc, we passed by Lake Crescent, which is located in Olympic National Park. Lake Crescent is a 624-foot deep, glacially-carved lake. It is about 8 miles long and one to two miles wide. The photo below shows Lake Crescent.

There is hot spring resort at Sol Duc, but the reviews we read said the pools were small and crowded, so we opted to skip the springs and hike to Sol Duc Falls. From the end of the road, there was a fairly easy hike of .8 miles each way to the falls.

In our last post, we talked about our visit to the rain forest. The forest at Sol Duc is a lowland forest without the heavy rainfall that the western side of the park gets. There are some big trees, but not as many as in the rain forest, and there isn't as much moss or lush understory growth.

At the falls, the Sol Duc River splits into three parts before tumbling down into a narrow slot. The trail approaches the falls from the downstream side.

 

The next photo shows us on the bridge that overlooks the falls.

And the next photo is looking over the falls from upstream.

The other area of Olympic National Park we visited while we were staying in Port Angeles was Hurricane Ridge. Hurricane Ridge is the most easily accessible location to view the Olympic Mountains. Hurricane Ridge is named for the gale force winds that can occur. Fortunately, the winds usually only occur in winter, and it was a relatively warm, calm day when we were there.

On the way up to the ridge, we got some nice views back down toward Port Angeles.

 

At the top of the ridge, we checked out the visitor center. They had a good video about the Olympic Mountains and a few displays about the park, including the section of Douglas fir tree in the photo below. The tree was 650 years old when it fell. The seedling sprouted in 1349. Paul is pointing out 1492 when Columbus landed in the New World.

We had packed a lunch, and we got to enjoy it on the patio behind the visitor center with spectacular views across to the Olympic Mountains like those shown in the next two photos.

Unlike the volcanic Cascade Range to the east, the Olympic Mountains are an uplifted wedge of sandstone and oceanic basalt. Even though the mountains are not that high (Mount Olympus is the tallest at 7,942 feet), the large amount of snow the mountains receive in winter means there are numerous glaciers.

After we finished our lunch, we noticed a black-tailed deer sitting under a tree about 15 or 20 feet below the patio.

There are several hiking trails at Hurricane Ridge. We took one that travels along the rim of a glacial cirque, which is the bowl-shaped starting point of a glacier. In the photo below, you can see one side of the bowl that was carved by the glacier that once existed along the ridge.

There are sub-alpine meadows at Hurricane Ridge; and unlike the ones at Yosemite and at Lassen Volcano, it was late enough in the year that these meadows were not snow covered. We saw numerous wildflowers blooming like the ones next to the road in the photo below.

 

We also saw quite a few Columbia lilies.

 

The most common wildflowers at the top of the ridge were lupines.

 

After our hike, we drove back down from the ridge to the motor home. We used Port Angeles as a home base for more adventures, so look for our next post.

Olympic National Park (West)

Olympic National Park is a very large, diverse park. It covers 1,442 square miles and has temperate rain forests, lowland forests, mountains, glaciers, alpine meadows, and even Pacific beaches. The main part of Olympic National Park covers the central part of the Olympic Peninsula, and the beaches are located on a strip of land about 73 miles long and only a few miles wide along the western coast of the Olympic Peninsula.

We picked our stopping point in Forks, WA, for its convenient access to the western part of Olympic National Park. The western part of the park includes the rain forests and the coastal areas. The mountains are located near the center of the park, but the easiest access to the mountains is from the north. We'll have more info on the northern part of Olympic National Park in our next post.

There are several rain forest areas in Olympic National Park, which is one of only a few locations in the world where temperate rain forests exist. Most rain forests are tropical. A rain forest is defined by the amount of rain it gets with the usual minimum annual amount being 68 to 78 inches. The rain forests on the Olympic Peninsula get 120 to 140 inches of precipitation a year.

At Olympic National Park, we visited the Hoh Rain Forest because it is probably the best-known and because is was located only about half an hour from Forks. There are several hiking trails in the vicinity of the visitor center at Hoh Rain Forest. The first trail we took was the Hall of Mosses Trail, which is a .8 mile loop. The photo below shows Margery at a wooden bridge that crosses a small stream near the start of the trail.

 

The mosses, which are so characteristic of the temperate rain forest, are called epiphytes. Although the epiphytes get their moisture and nutrients from the air and do not harm the trees, they sometimes become heavy enough to break branches. The next photo shows us along the Hall of Mosses Trail with plenty of moss-draped trees behind us.

The next photo is another view along the trail with more mossy trees.

The abundant rainfall, along with relatively mild temperatures (it rarely gets below freezing in the valleys), is what makes the growth in the rain forest so lush. The primary tree species in the rain forest are Sitka spruce and western hemlock. Some grow to over 300 feet in height. Shrubs, ferns, and ground covers make up the understory plants.

There is such competition for growing space on the ground, seeds that germinate on fallen, rotting logs are frequently more successful. The fallen logs are called nurse logs. At first, the logs will grow some fungi and a little moss.

 

As the wood begins to decompose, it will begin to soften and hold more moisture, and a few small plants will begin to grow. Soon trees may sprout like the ones on the log shown in the next photo.

 

At the trees grow, eventually their roots reach the ground and the trees straddle the nurse logs.

There are several trees in the next photo growing over a nurse stump.

Finally, the nurse log will decay completely leaving a row of trees with spaces under the roots where the nurse log used to be.

Spruce Nature Trail is another hiking trail in the vicinity of the visitor center. There were lots of interesting informational plaques about the rain forest along this 1.2-mile loop.

Part of Spruce Trail passes by the Hoh River, which is one of several glacier-fed rivers in Olympic National Park.

Because the river floods during periods of heavy rain, the river frequently changes course. Therefore, the forest areas along the river are a little different not only because they are younger, but because the area was formerly the river bed. The trees are different - willow, alder, maple, and Douglas fir. These varieties need a little more sun than can be found in the old-growth forest a little farther from the river. The sun-loving trees will eventually give way to the more shade-tolerant Sitka spruce and western hemlock as the forest matures.

The coastal areas are another part of Olympic National Park. We visited two beach areas - Rialto Beach a little to the northwest of the campground and Ruby Beach located south of the entrance to Hoh Rain Forest.

The beaches along the Washington coast are strewn with huge driftwood logs. When the rivers in the forest flood during periods of heavy rain, the high water can topple trees and carry them out to sea. The ocean tosses the logs around a while and scrubs them smooth, then deposits them back on the beaches. The huge logs frequently create a gigantic jumble on the beach, and visitors need to be very careful, especially during storms, not to be trapped among the logs at high tide. The photo below shows some of the driftwood logs at Rialto Beach.

The next photo shows some of the picturesque sea stacks at Rialto Beach. As you can see, the fog was starting to roll in the same way it did at Cape Flattery.

The next photo shows log-strewn Ruby Beach.

Many of the beaches have tidal pools where you can see starfish, anemones, and other sea life during low tide. Unfortunately, low tide always occurred at inconvenient times; and we never got to see any of the tidal pools.

From Forks, we headed north. We'll have more info about the northern part of Olympic National Park in our next post.

Mount St. Helens

From the Portland, OR area we had a short 1½ hour drive north to Castle Rock, WA, where we stopped at Mount St. Helens RV Park. Mount St. Helens RV has paved roads, gravel pads, full hookups with 30 amp electric, cable TV (limited channels), and free Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, the sites are quite narrow and short, so we had to park our car in an empty site across the road. The campground accepts Passport America for a 50% discount for one night of your stay, so it's not bad for a one or two night stay to visit Mount St. Helens. The photo below shows our site at Mount St. Helens RV.

Mount St. Helens RV Park is located only a few miles from the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center and about 40 miles from Johnston Ridge Observatory overlooking Mount St. Helens itself. Mount St. Helens, which is yet another volcano in the Cascade Range, is famous for the catastrophic eruption that took place in 1980.

Much of the area around Mount St. Helens was part of Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The mountain and the area devastated by the 1980 eruption to the north was designated Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in 1982.

It was a short drive from Portland, so we arrived in Castle Rock early. After we got set up, we decided to drive to the Mount St. Helens visitor center a few miles up the road at Silver Lake. Actually, we found out later there are several visitor centers for Mount St. Helens. The visitor center closest to the campground is outside the national monument and national forest and is operated by the state of Washington. There is also the Hoffstadt Visitor Center about halfway to Mount St. Helens (also outside the national monument and forest boundaries) operated by Cowlitz County. Then there is the Forest Learning Center operated by Weyerhaeuser Lumber a little farther down the road from the Hoffstadt Visitor Center (also outside the national monument and forest). Finally, there is a visitor center inside the national monument at the end of Spirit Lake Highway at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. The Johnston Ridge Observatory is operated by the U. S. Forest Service.

The state-operated visitor center has some nice displays and an excellent movie. Although similar information is presented at the Johnston Ridge Observatory at the end of Spirit Lake Highway, there was an advantage in learning more about Mount St. Helens and the 1980 eruption before we drove into the park. As we came to various features along the road, we had a better understanding of what they were and how they fit into the sequence of events that occurred during and after the eruption.

Other than the movie, probably the most helpful feature at the state visitor center was a scale model of the area surrounding Mount St. Helens. There is a similar, larger model at Johnston Ridge, but, as we said, seeing this one before driving the road all the way to Johnston Ridge was helpful. The model is shown in the photo below.

Before the eruption, Mount St. Helens was the fourth highest mountain in the Cascades and was known for its beautiful symmetry. All that changed on May 18, 1980.

Prior to 1980, the most recent period of volcanic activity at Mount St. Helens was back in the 1840s and 1850s. Around the middle of March, 1980, there were several minor tremors centered around Mount St. Helens indicating magma might be moving underground. Then on the afternoon of March 18, 1980, there was a shallow, magnitude 4.2 earthquake indicating the volcano was definitely coming back to life.

Scientists flocked to the site and set up monitoring instruments. Over the next several days, there was a swarm of minor earthquakes. There was a minor volcanic eruption on March 27 that formed a new crater and sent an ash column 7,000 feet into the air.

The tremors continued and in early April, scientists reported a large bulge on the mountain's north face. The bulge grew and the tremors and minor eruptions continued until the morning of May 18, 1980. At 8:32 AM, two months to the day after the initial earthquake, there was a magnitude 5.1 earthquake centered directly under the north side of the mountain. The second earthquake triggered a huge landslide on the north slope of the mountain, which in turn, exposed the magma in the neck of the volcano causing it and trapped steam to explode. An ash cloud eventually reached 12 miles into the air and ended up circling the globe.

The landslide and the subsequent near-supersonic blast of hot gasses and debris from the eruption caused devastation as much as 19 miles from the volcano. The heat from the blast melted the mountain's glaciers and snow cover creating massive mudslides. The mudslides carried with them rocks and boulders. These cement-like slurrys are called lahars. Trees were blown over like matchsticks. In aerial photos taken after the eruption, the forests looked like freshly-mown hay fields with the tree trunks all aligned and pointing back toward the volcano. Enough timber to build 100,000 houses was destroyed or damaged.

Spirit Lake Highway that we drove into the park is a new road that wasn't opened until the 1990s. The mudslides and lahars that flowed down the North Fork of the Toutle River destroyed much of old State Highway 504. The new road travels a safe distance from the river farther up the hillside. The next photo is looking up the North Fork of the Toutle River toward Mount St. Helens. The tan-colored straight line near the center of the photo is the remnant of the old road.

The next photo is a different area that gives a little better idea of how the debris spread out in the valley. The gray area is debris from the mudslides, and the light-colored spots near the center of the gray areas are the river.

 

In an area along a smaller stream, we saw trees half buried in the ash and debris along the banks.

We stopped at the Weyerhaeuser Forest Learning Center, but, unfortunately, it is only open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (we were there on a Tuesday). Weyerhaeuser is a major property owner on the western side of the national forest, and they lost 68,000 acres of timber equal to 12 million board feet of lumber. They also lost logging camps, roads and bridges, railroad track and rail cars, and many pieces of logging equipment in the eruption. Although no replanting was done inside the national forest, Weyerhaeuser quickly salvaged what lumber they could from their property and began cleanup. They replanted millions of trees. This helped re-establish wildlife habitat and stabilize the soil to reduce runoff from carrying silt and ash to nearby streams and rivers. This sculpture of a forester planting trees outside the learning center commemorates Weyerhaeuser's replanting efforts.

Weyerhaeuser replanted one large area with nobil fir trees. Nobil firs grow with a distinctive horizontal pattern to the branches, at least at the age of the trees were on these hillsides. You can see the horizontal pattern in the photo below. It kind of made our eyes feel blurry when looking at entire hillsides planted with these trees.

A little farther along Spirit Lake Highway is Castle Lake Viewpoint. Castle Lake (at the lower right of the photo below) near the base of Mount St. Helens was created when landslide debris dammed up one of the tributaries of the Toutle River. When we stopped for this photo, we were happy to see the clouds that were previously obscuring the top of Mount St. Helens were finally starting to dissipate.

 

Debris from the eruption also dammed up Coldwater Creek to form another new lake called Coldwater Lake. Unlike Castle Lake that can only be reached by hiking, Coldwater Lake is easily accessible by car, and it even has a boat launch (non-powered boats or electric motors only). The next photo shows Coldwater Lake.

At the end of Spirit Lake Memorial Highway is Johnston Ridge Observatory. The observatory is located about 5 miles away from the north slope of the volcano. The ridge on which the observatory is located is named for David Johnston, who was U. S. Geological Survey volcanologist who was on duty monitoring geological activity on May 18, 1980. David Johnston was one of 57 people who lost their lives the day of the eruption.

The observatory is designed to be unobtrusive in the stark, blast-zone terrain. The building is low, it is built into the ridge behind it, and it even has non-reflective glass to help it blend into the surroundings. The photo below shows the Johnston Ridge Observatory from the hill above it.

 

Inside, there are displays about the 1980 eruption. There are photos and written accounts by a number of people who were nearby the day of the eruption, but survived. There is also a theater with another excellent movie about the volcano and the events leading up to the 1980 eruption.

A demonstration that was fun has a platform on the floor that you can jump on to watch the vibrations register on a seismograph. The next photo shows Paul seeing how big an earthquake he can make.

Outside the observatory there are walkways and overlooks that provide excellent views across the area of the greatest devastation right into the crater of Mount St. Helens.

 

The next photo is a closer shot of the crater and the lava dome that formed after the eruption. The lava dome, which is a build-up of thick, pasty lava, is currently about 1,100 or 1,200 feet high. The dome continues to grow slowly, and at its current growth rate, it would take over 200 years to build Mount St. Helens back up to its pre-1980 height, which was 1,300 feet higher. Although smoke is sometimes seen from the crater, as far as we could tell those are clouds in the photo below.

Spirit Lake, shown in the next photo, is located near the base of the volcano to the left.

 

Before the eruption, Spirit Lake was surrounded by lush forests and was a popular tourist destination. Some of the rock and debris from the initial landslide ended up in Spirit Lake. So much rock hit the lake with so much force that the water in the lake was sloshed several hundred feet up the sides of the surrounding slopes. When the water ran back into the lake, it carried with it downed trees. The landslide also raised the surface of the lake by about 200 feet, but it also raised the bottom of the lake by 295 feet resulting in a higher, but shallower lake.

The immediate area to the north of the mountain still looks rather barren 29 years after the eruption. The Indian paintbrush (red) and Cardwell penstemon (purple) in the photo below were growing on the somewhat protected side of Johnston Ridge facing away from the volcano.

There were wildflowers on the top of the ridge as well, but they were a little more sparse. You can see some of them in the earlier photo of the outside of the observatory building.

After exploring the area around Johnston Ridge Observatory, we headed back to the RV park. We had seen other volcanoes or the results of volcanic activity throughout our travels around the country, but to see the devastation that occurred from a volcanic eruption that occurred during our lifetime was very moving.

We left the Mount St. Helens area the next morning and continued north.