Welcome to Olympic National Park
No cell/internet the last couple of days so I will have to catch things up
Thursday 9-21
I woke up early, at 6:40 am. I got dressed and made pancakes for breakfast. We were only going 45 miles but it was going to take an hour and half. We got the Minnie ready to go to Hoh Rainforest Campground in Olympic National Park. We were on the road by 8:00.
The road was a two lane curvy road. It went through the forest. As we drove we saw a beautiful river running along side of the road. After turning off the highway you have to travel about 20 miles to geet to the campground. Part way up there was a flashing sign that said we may be delayed up to an hour because of construction between mile 3 to 7. We were delayed at mile 3 for about five minutes or so. They were doing major roadwork. At one part we had a single lane road because they were working on a bridge. They were using flag people during the day and at night they used a traffic light. The ride was slow but very nice.
We
arrived at Hoh Rainforest Campground around 9:30. It was the first
day of first come first serve instead of reservations. A
ranger was going around and taking down the reserved signs. There were
plenty of sites to choose from. We
looked at a couple of sites. The first one was too close to the road
and no internet at all. Larry walked around a couple other nearby
sites same problem. Also the sites were in the trees. We found a pull
through that had sun and it was level. We had a little cell signal if we were outside.
After setting up the Minnie for a couple of nights we walked to the visitor center. The power was out but they had a sign saying they could still help us. We walked around the grounds and found the trailhead for the hiking trails. Then we went back to the Minnie. When we got back we had soup for lunch.
After lunch we relaxed with a book. About 2:30 we walked over to the visitor center and did some hiking. We hiked the Spruce Nature Trail (1.2 miles loop) and Hall of Mosses Trail (.8 mile loop). There were a lot of people hiking the trails. The trails were very beautiful through the rainforest. As we hiked there were signs about the trees. One sign was about a tree, that had fallen and other trees grew from it. This was called All In A Row. There was a beautiful creek that ran through the area. We crossed via a bridge. The trees were very tall and the root system was huge. They get up to 2500 people walking these trail per day. We had a great hike.
Root of a fallen tree
All in a row
Hoh Visitor Center
On our way back to the Minnie Larry pointed out there was an elk. This was the first one we have seen on our trip. She was a beautiful cow. Larry asked our neighbors across from us if they saw it. The ladies were excited and ran to see it. Then we walked by the river and saw a young bull munching on a tree. After dinner we went back outside to see if any more were around. Our neighbors said they saw a herd of six by the river. The family was from Germany (father, mother, daughter and grandmother). We visited with them for a long while we watched the herd of three cows, two calves and a young buck. The herd walked right through our campsite. We watched them for a long time. This was great entertainment.
A young buck coming to visit
The German family enjoying watching the elk visit
The first cow we saw
After the herd moved on Larry and I walked around for about 40 minutes. I ended up doing 19,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.
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I would love to hear friendly comments on anything at all. Ruth