Olympic National Park–Crescent Lake

With all of our parts on order, we were free to leave Brazel’s RV for several days while we waited for the parts to arrive.  We made our way north through the capital of Washington, Olympia, and continued on US-101 to the coastal town of Port Angeles.

 

The road was narrow and winding in many areas, and we crossed many bridges.

Port Angeles is a small town on the Strait of San Juan de Fuca, a major shipping channel from Seattle out to the Pacific Ocean. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s also the location of the ferry that travels from the US to Vancouver Island, BC.  We arrived at the Conestoga Quarters RV Park and got parked for a few days.

We’re supposed to get some true Pacific Northwest weather this week, we were hoping to have at least a couple of clear days for visiting Olympic National Park.

 

Later on Friday afternoon, we were starting to see a few peeks of blue sky, but it still looked pretty overcast on the mountains, so we decided to drive west on US-101 to the Lake Crescent area of the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Crescent is a 624-foot deep glacier formed lake, with crystal clear blue water.  It’s surrounded by mountains, and is stunningly beautiful.

We were having a few minor “Friday the 13th” moments, including forgetting both my purse and our National Parks pass, but fortunately the Ranger Station was closed on Friday and they were not checking passes or collecting fees!

There was only this guy to greet us as we arrived, and he wasn’t looking for money!

We decided to take the 1.5 mile hike to Marymere Falls.  We passed the Ranger station and the lake,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and set out on the trail.  I had debated whether or not I needed to change into my hiking boots and bring my hiking pole, but if the entire trail is like this, we were going to be fine.

We passed by the lake again, and Bryce found a few good skipping stones.

It really is a beautiful lake!

 

There’s so much moisture in the air here in the Pacific Northwest that all the trees are covered in moss!  We’ve seen this all over in Oregon and Washington . . . it’s quite the contrast from the dry desert of Arizona!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued along the trail, marveling again at the magnificent tall trees . . . all of these seemed to be some variation of fir.

 

We were also surrounded by ferns . . . it really did almost look like a rainforest!

I guess all the water makes some of these plants grow really big!

As usual, the boys enjoyed climbing on logs and rocks,

We followed the trail along the stream, and soon reached a couple of bridges.

The first was a long metal bridge that looked fairly new,

and the second was a log between two railings that was a little more rustic!

 

 

I got a picture of the boys on the log bridge,

and the stream flowing from the waterfall.

After crossing the bridges, there were a series of steps to take us up to the waterfall view. 

We were making our way up, with the boys up ahead and me lagging behind, taking pictures as usual, when suddenly we heard this loud “Crack!”.  Bryce yelled “Watch Out!” from up above, and as we all looked up, we could see a very tall tree falling towards us!

I was just coming around a corner on the steps (this very same corner!),

when I saw this tree coming down, and I hurried to catch up with Tom and Nick, hoping that we wouldn’t get hit! 

 

We had no idea where Bryce was on the trail, and it turns out he was just on the other side of where the tree fell across the upper trail and took out several smaller trees!

Whew!  Talk about another “Friday the 13th moment!” . . . that was really close!  Some people behind us on the trail heard the noise, and ran up to see if anybody was hurt.  Luckily, nobody was!

 

 

 

A little bit further, and we reached the top of the trail at Marymere Falls . . . it was definitely worth it!  what a great waterfall!

 

It was a lovely hike, and a great way to celebrate Nicolas’ 18th birthday!

We hiked the same trail back to the Ranger Station (with no more incidents!), and went back to the RV for his birthday dinner, stopping at Baskin-Robbins to pick up an ice cream cake for dessert!

It was a beautiful day!