We ended up going to the Elwha Valley portion of the Olympic National Park. I was surprised that in order to drive up to the trail head that we had to pay $20 for parking. Once parked we headed out with a couple of backpacks, loaded with water and snacks for our day hike.
The trailhead marker at the end of the parking area
We started our hike with nowhere in particular to go, we just wanted to get out of the house, see some nature, and get a little exercise.
The start of the trail is wide and well maintained
The start as you can see above is an easy trail with a slight incline. We headed out and just enjoyed the scenery. Not knowing what to expect and hoping that we may see a waterfall or two. The day was nice and the scenery was amazing.
This was the first bridge we came across along the trail
The first bridge we came across along the trail was pretty big. In the picture above you can see our friend standing in the middle of the bridge. We kept going soaking up all the scenery and nature.'
Here you can see the trail is smaller and trees are everywhere
We continued through the forest...amazed at all the large trees everywhere. In the picture above you can see how small our friends are with all the trees around them.
The second bridge (well more like a large log) that we came across
After crossing the second bridge we decided to take a break and eat snacks...and drink water. This is one thing that is important to bring...water! There are no water fountains or any other service areas out on the trail. This particular spot was pretty cool, we enjoyed the running water all around us and even a little waterfall as well.
Some girls hanging out in front of the small waterfall
After our short break we continued to head up the trail. We then started to smell what I'm going to describe as a strong sulfur smell. We came across the first natural hot spring on the trail. We had already seen a couple people walking back on the trail with towels around them as if they had just finished swimming. We now see that they were probably hanging out in the hot spring. There were a few people in there when we arrived. We had to go up and stick our hands in to feel just how hot it is. It felt pretty similar to a hot tub. This is just one of several hot springs I've read that are located around the park. The water is heated from the earth's interior.
Looking up at the hot spring from the hiking trail
Folks just relaxing in the hot spring
We continued hiking up the trail for a while, but then decided to turn around and head back. We realized we could have used some more water along the way, we finished ours on the way back and were still pretty thirsty by the time we arrived at our car. Our total hike was a little over 8 miles. More than we had planned for a first time here, but we were enjoying ourselves so much that we just kept wandering around. From the trailhead to the hot springs is about 2.4 miles.
When we got back to the car we all drank a bunch of water we had left in the car and ate more snacks. On the drive back we stopped to take a quick picture of what we thought was a dried up lake due to drought conditions, but I later read was a dam removal for the Elwha River restoration. You can take a look at the pictures below to see the dramatic difference now that the dam has been removed.
We all had a blast and look forward to checking out a lot more of the hiking trails that the Olympic National Park as to offer. The place is beautiful!!
