Fun on the Olympic Peninsula

Today is Sunday, July 15th. I don’t know where the week went! We had a nice day—Tuesday? Wednesday? I’ve lost track-- with Frank and Judy touring the museum and Chief Seattle’s grave in Suquamish, and then Judy and I got to “tour” the quilt shop in Poulsbo, which is a wonderful—great selection, nicely laid out, etc. I bought a few half-yard chunks of fabric and a couple of fun patterns, including one for a hilarious fish-shaped oven mitt—guess what many of my friends will be finding under their Christmas trees come December! They next morning we headed off for the Olympic Peninsula. Our first stop was Neah Bay, out on the northwestern tip. It’s a little town on the Makah Indian Reservation, and has a really excellent museum and cultural center there. This museum was unique in that there were lots of artifacts that were hundreds and hundreds of years old. This is unusual for the Pacific coast tribes because the damp climate meant that things rotted away instead of being preserved. However, several hundred years ago, a mudslide buried a whole village that was only recently discovered, and everything was protected from the damp by the mud. It’s been really interesting to learn about the coastal tribes because their culture is so different from the Plains Indians and the desert peoples of Utah and the southwest.

Neah Bay is described in one of our guidebooks as a “rather bleak” reservation town, but we didn’t find it so. The RV park we stayed in was certainly nothing special, but it was right across the street from the marina, so we wandered around the docks looking at all the fishing boats. There was also an espresso shop, and a restaurant with fabulous onion rings and fresh fish and chips. On the beach next to the docks, along with the obligatory seagulls, were bald eagles—4 or 5 adults and at least that many more juveniles. The campground owners, Rita and Roger, said they’ve counted as many as 45 there at a time. One of the local fishermen cleans his fish on the beach for the specific purpose of luring the eagles there so he can collect their feathers. There were also bald eagles just hanging out in the trees surrounding the campground. Very cool! The next morning we headed out to Cape Flattery, which is the most northwestern point in the lower 48 states, and were treated to dramatic views of the Pacific Ocean. After that, we headed down to the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.

Olympic National is home to three temperate rainforests; there are only two others in the world—one in Tasmania and one in Chile. To qualify as a rainforest, you need to get at least 100 inches of rain a year. Hoh gets 140 to 160! It is like no place I’ve ever seen before. Trees are huge here—spruces and firs that grow 60 to 100 feet in other places are 200 to 300 feet tall here. The forest is lush and achingly green. Ferns, mosses, and lichens are everywhere. In fact, the forest floor is so thick with growth that baby trees have no place to take root. Instead, they start out on top of stumps and fallen trees that have been covered with nutrient-rich mosses. As the seedlings grow, their roots wind down around the sides of the log until they reach the ground. Eventually, the “nurse log” rots away, leaving weirdly-formed tunnels and holes between the now-thick and exposed roots. There are several nature trails right at the campground//visitor center that we were able to hike. We took lots of pictures, but mostly of the forest floor—how do you take pictures of something that’s 200 feet high?
We wildy underestimated how much time we would need for the Olympic Peninsula. There were two other rainforests we wanted to explore, as well the part of the park that borders the Pacific Ocean, but, because of our hard-won reservation at San Juan County Park, we had to leave these places for another visit. This morning, after one more short hike in the rainforest, we drove back to Poulsbo. Tomorrow morning, we’ll hop on the Kingston ferry, drive about an hour and half to Anacortes, and catch the ferry to San Juan Island. Last night in the campground, we met a couple about our age who are ardent kayakers, and have kayaked out of San Juan County Park. They say it’s great, and also that we are practically guaranteed to see orcas when we kayak there. We’ll keep our fingers crossed!