Fine Short Hike

Sol Duc Falls is one of the marquee sights of Olympic National Park. If you make a photomosaic of only three scenes, one of the three would be Sol Duc Falls. On the cover of every third tourist brochure. (The other two: Mt. Olympus, and a wild beach.) Short hike, nice forest, big bang view at the end.

Sol Duc Falls (Click for larger image.)

Only day hikers visible in the late morning on Saturday. You can go on from the bridge across the river at the falls to connect to the Deer Lake Trail into the high country: High Divide, Little Divide, and onward. But the Park's Trail Conditions page tells us, "Deep snow remains in the high country. Route-finding can be difficult." "Deep continuous snow." Unlikely anyone is heading that way yet.

Ancient Groves Nature Trail, Sol Duc Road (Click for larger image.)

Not a whole lot of woods plants in bloom yet, either. Mostly violets. One trillium. It had been raining, and the flowers were less than pristine. I took lots of pictures of ferns just in the middle of unfurling, but I was so into fresh green unfurling on a fresh green background that none of the photos read clearly.

This is not rainforest country, the dominant trees are douglas firs. Um, yeah, tall ones.

This

is the same river where, a couple of river miles below this absolute barrier, the Quillayute-Sol Duc Summer Coho salmon (see WDFW's Salmonid Stock Inventory) spawn in the side creeks around river miles 61 to 63; where they jump up the Salmon Cascades at river mile 59. Oh they jump. Not right now. October is good:

October, 2007, Salmon Cascades. My first best jumping fish picture. (Click for larger image.)