Every once in a while, it’s good to visit our home ground and stay in touch with our roots. Making trips up to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula has been a regular thing for me over the last decade of living in Oregon, and I find I start to really miss it if I go too long. This time, I was itching to spend some time up the Quinault River, and even had grand plans to backpack up to the Enchanted Valley. We also had some friends to visit and had yet to see the Elwha River post dam removal. It’s funny how plans go, because once I made those plans, winter storms washed out the roads to both places. With the distance to the Enchanted Valley on the East Fork trail now being almost 20 miles, we decided to explore the North Fork instead. The thing about growing up with Olympic National Park in my backyard was that I spent enough time there to become enticed to see more, and seeing the whole park could very well be a lifetime endeavor.
We didn’t make it there until later in the day, after making a few stops along the way including the Kurt Cobain Memorial Park in Aberdeen. From there we checked into our room at the historic Lake Quinault Lodge before heading up the river. We had thought about camping, but considering the March weather and the fact that we had friends to stay with for the rest of the trip, we went for the creature comforts. The lodge is very grand and rustic, with no televisions or phones in the rooms and an enormous fireplace in the lobby that you can gather around in comfy chairs and play board games with a delicious beverage. Definitely my kind of place. The drive to the trailhead was beautiful, and we were not the only ones out enjoying the day. We saw quite a few folks out fishing for steelhead and quite a few elk out on the gravel bars.
The trail started out at a seasonal ranger station with a few cabins and a hitching post for pack animals. This is one end of the historic Press Expedition route, a trail blazed by 6 gritty individuals in 1890 who set out to explore the interior of the Olympic Mountains. They started at the Elwha and hiked up and over the Low Divide, coming out here along the North Fork of the Quinault to reach the Pacific Ocean almost 6 months after embarking on their journey. I decided that 44 mile backpacking trip is a definite future goal.
Not every trail in the park follows the rivers closely enough for views, but this one offered a breathtaking view of the Olympics around every turn. The salmonberries were blooming and the hummingbirds were having a heyday. Spring is a happening time out in the woods.
The section we hiked was pretty flat, with large alder flats and gravel bars and a couple of small stream crossings. There were a few trees down from the November storm and one that had just happened the week before, so we encountered some sizeable logs to scramble over. It all just made it more of an adventure.We finally turned back at a stream crossing I didn’t have the right boots for, and vowed that we would come back someday with backpacking gear and a week or so to make the trek over the Low Divide.
Those Roosevelt Elk I mentioned seeing along the river on the drive in had multiplied by the time we drove out. It was evening, so they were coming out into the meadows to graze. Judging by their nonchalant attitude, they were no strangers to a camera.
It even seemed possible they were posing for us.
Before heading North to other parts of the Peninsula, we stopped at the bottom end of the lake to get a different perspective. The clouds and mountains were reflected in the mirror of the lake, making it look like it all went on forever. It was quite and peaceful, soothing to both the eyes and ears. After feeling like I have been going full bore in life these past few months, this lake was exactly where I needed to be for some rejuvenation. It’s no wonder President Franklin Roosevelt signed the bill creating the Olympic National Park nine months after staying at Lake Quinault. I can’t help but think he must have been inspired by this very same view. I am grateful that we have this place set aside today and it’s easier to leave knowing it will be here, unspoiled for me to enjoy when I return and for my children and children’s children to enjoy in the future.
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