I haven't given any of my backpacking trips enough print. I was feeling a bit guilty, so I thought I'd post some pictures to satisfy my guilt and hopefully impress you with the beauty of Washington State. Heidi, Kendra and I spent a week in Olympic National Park. This park gets more rain than any other park in the US - 220 inches annually. We made it out that week only experiencing one night of rain and part of a day. Other than that, the weather was near perfect.
Lots of wildlife in the park made this trip exceptional. It is mating season for elk, so we were lulled to sleep most nights by the bull elk's bugling. The herd pictured above contained one bull elk, while the other 30 or so were female or young. Decent size harem, buddy. We watched this group for a spell, and got to see Mr Bull Elk chase off two younger males who were trying to get fresh with the ladies.
Though most days were bright and sunny on the mountain tops, it wasn't unusual for there to be a thick cloud encasing the valleys. This is what I would call, "socked in". We spent two nights at the bottom of this valley camping along the Hoh River. The cedar, douglas fir, and western hemlocks were the biggest trees I'd ever seen. Many "firsts" for me on this trip.
- blonde marmot
- 9 black bear within 2 hours
- black bear swimming and then shaking like a dog
- hike to a glacier
1 comment:
Wow! That is an amazingly beautiful place! Thanks for sharing the pictures.
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