Day 31

The night before I told the kids we would be getting up early to hike Hurricane Ridge. This was a very popular spot so I wanted to make sure to get up there early enough to be able to stay for the morning. I dragged them out of bed and we were on the road before 8am - maybe a record for this trip! As these kids are in and approaching the teenage years their sleep requirements have increased dramatically!

It takes us about 20 minutes just to get to the main road from our campground then we slowly go around Lake Crescent with some added construction stops. I would rather go slow to admire the water and mountains surrounding it though!

Once we made it through the gate for Hurricane Ridge the real drive began! We went up for a gorgeous 17 miles to finally be able to see the glacier-covered mountains we had been searching for during our whole stay!

The programming and store opened a little later so we hit the trail to get acclimated to what all trails we wanted make sure to hike. I was planning on spending the whole morning here to enjoy the view. We decided to first do the half mile meadow trail that meandered along the lower meadow near the visitors center. We spotted a little robin searching for breakfast in the meadow but he was too quick for a good picture.

The first program of the day was all about glaciers. We had a bit of an expert ranger talking to us this morning having spent a few years in Glacier National Park before coming to Olympic. We learned about the process of forming and clasifying glaciers as well as the rock formations left behind when they melt for good. She had loads of photographs of the changes of the glaciers over the last century. One set of photos was especially interesting illustrating the complete disappearance of the Anderson Glacier.

The ranger had a scope set on Kerry Glacier so we all took a second to see it up close. She mentioned we could always do the 18-mile hike up to Blue Glacier. As tempting as it sounded I decided to save that one for a backpacking trip.



We had a quick visit to the gift shop before grabbing our backpacks for the trail. The kids think it's fun to overhear people talking about all the stickers on our roof cargo box. I kinda wish we'd had it from the beginning instead of 4 years into our travels!

The first trail we picked for our hikes was the High Point trail. It was a short, steep trail to a lovely point overlooking the meadow below and far off mountains. You can see the parking lot and tiny cars below!

We continued on to sunrise point and I heard the kids saying they were thankful I didn't get them up to come here for sunrise! I'll put that on my list for me and Dave I suppose. The 360 degree view was absolutely breathtaking.











The next trail was Klahhane Ridge which extended through the mountains for about 6 miles. We decided to do part of it which meant about 2 miles before I could tell Laney wasn't feeling it anymore. I guess I will also have to put that on my list for Dave. We grabbed a feast for lunch from the car and enjoyed the best lunch view we've ever had!

We stopped in Port Angeles for some ice cream before picking up Lola from the RV. She was so happy to see us but kept looking for Grammie to show up too. We sat outside for a little while while I updated the blog and downloaded a few more podcast episodes. Depending on who is in the car we are currently enjoying Forever Ago, Pants on Fire, 6 Minutes, and Smash Boom Best. We haven't listened to a single episode of last year's hit Wow in the World!

We lucked into some prime parking for our evening at the City Pier and walked to grab Grammie from the ferry. She wasn't too thrilled with us making her take a picture with the girls. But she was surprised to see Grammie walk around the corner! The kids were hungry so we spotted a pizza spot with outdoor seating so we could have Lola with us.

We shared a giant cheese pizza while we caught Grammie up with our events of the day and us with her stops around Victoria Island. We hadn't found the Sasquatch in all our hiking so the kids decided they needed to take this picture instead!

We made it back to the city pier just in time for the start of the music of a Summerfest concert. The band was defined as a classic rock band but they ended up playing mostly oldies which I enjoyed much more. The kids even knew some of the Beatles songs. We enjoyed cupcakes the girls had made in Oregon while we watched the band and the people dancing. Ryan decided at some point she wanted a better vantage point and climbed the tree behind us. 

After about an hour we decided go drop Grammie off at her spot and head back to ours. We spotted a little library on the way out so Laney grabbed another book. Hopefully she won't read it in one day like she has the last 5!

Once we made it back to our campground we stopped by the Sol Duc Falls. I was nervous about trying to fit it in before dark so we put it on our agenda for in the morning. Instead the kids helped organize things for our travels tomorrow. It's funny how things get spread out around our site the longer we stay in a campground. It's all little things that have to be tucked back where they belong but all that reorganization adds up if I'm doing it all by myself in the morning!

Day 21

It was a a challenge to sleep for all of us last night. There was a section of sites that seemed to be all camping together having a great time with music pretty late. The kids and I were laughing remembering our late night neighbors singing karaoke in Pennsylvania. We were just thankful it wasn't that again!

Today we were going to try to hit all the best spots for hiking. After my initial research on hikes along the parkway I purchased a book that has really been indespensible for planning the best outings for us. Evey isn't really up for hiking so today we were looking for the most bang for our effort.

Our first stop was the Linn Cove Viaduct. We were actually fortunate everything in this area was open today as up until a few days before the road and all the trails had been closed for inspection and repaving. The viaduct is the iconic road in most pictures of the parkway with it's long curve around the mountain tucked into the trees at both ends. Our hike underneath and around was fun with lots of cool caves and rocks to climb over.






Our next stop was Rough Ridge to take the Tanawha trail south for a 360 degree view on a rock. This trail is different as it has been built mostly over an around some of the sensitive environmental plants in the area. There were beautiful arched footbridges and boardwalks taking us to the overlook. The trail was very busy which always reminds me it is a not-to-miss trail but also to try and pick these trails on weekdays instead.



The first viewpoint was beautiful but there were so many people we kept moving after a few seconds. There were people sitting on rocks jutting out a little higher that we decided to target. The hike was a climb but nothing we couldn't handle.  The second viewpoint was even better with those mountains that seemed to stretch forever.

Here is our view of the viaduct a few miles away!

The third viewpoint there was only a spot for Emily and Evey since there were a few other people there so we tried to find a bit of shade while they made Father's Day phone calls.

With so much success hiking with Evey we decided to take a short drive into town. Brayden had spotted a place with 40 different kinds of milk shakes the day before so we thought it would be the perfect post-hike snack. Emily also needed to pick up batteries and ice so it was a good excuse to make the drive. We also took the opportunity to call Dave for Father's Day while I had service in town (but we didn't tell him about the shakes!).

By the time we got back to the campground it was pouring down rain so we all raced to our tents and tried to dry out. We played cards to pass the time and I dominated in 3Up 3Down as well as Sorry Revenge. I was close to giving up as I hadn't won any of the games in weeks!

Once the rain slowed I walked down to the boat dock to check on kayak rentals. Our water kids were excited about the opportunity to get out on the lake and explore! I don't have any pictures from the outing as I was nervous about bringing my camera or phone but we all had a great time exploring all the little inlets of the lake and spotting some enormous bullfrog tadpoles. Some were as big as an egg!!

Next up was showers. It felt like a month since we'd had showers but we were suprisingly not as stinky as I'd imagined when planning the trip. Or maybe I'm just used to the smell! It sure did feel great though!

It was dusk once we were finished so the kids snacked for dinner. I have no idea how they could possibly still be hungry but they are all three bottomless pits these days. They must be growing like crazy!! Our deer made her daily visit to us so Laney took a few more pictures of her. Then Laney and Brayden tried to beat Brayden's and my record with the frisbee while Evey and Ryan caught fireflies. We repurposed a peanut butter jar for a collection jar. I think they must have caught 50 before letting them go for bedtime!