Olympic National Park and another change of plans - August 8th & 9th

So our intention on August 8th was to be online at 7am to get a site at Mount Rainier National Park.  Sites are released 6 months in advance and then another group are released 7 days in advance of your stay.  So when we first looked it was after the 6 month mark so there were no sites available so we were going for the 7 day release.  We were online and had our site picked out. Once the clock turned 7, Dave hit reserve and the site was already gone.  We had 4 other sites we were trying for and all of them were gone by 7:01.  Dave’s theory is there are bots scooping them up for various camping apps that offer services of getting hard to get sites.  So we went to Olympic not knowing where we would land after that.

We stayed at Sol Duc Campground.  This is the view from the campground and a stellar jay we saw while relaxing at the site.

August 9th - we did not have any kind of cell or internet service at Sol Duc, so we went into the nearest town of Port Angeles and found a coffee shop.  We needed to figure out where we were going after Olympic since we couldn’t get into Rainer and that was our plan.   After 2 cups of coffee and good wifi, we were able to make Plan B.  

We then went back to Olympic National Park and hiked the Marymere Falls Trail. (Thanks for the recommendation, Brett).  It was a beautiful hike through old growth forest to the falls.  I also got to go out by the stream on the way back.  Enjoy the pics.

This tree was just gynormous

the leaves were very large.  Dave put his hand so you could get an idea of how big they were

These mushrooms were growing in the crevice of a tree.  Wherever the conditions are right.

Marymere Falls

The root systems are soo interesting

When there are rocks, I must go

We also walked down by a part of Crescent Lake.  The sparkly water and high mountains are a refreshing site.

Til next time…