Olympic Sept 19th-23rd

After leaving the North Cascades and Bacon Creek we continued to travel west toward the coast. Right around sunset we got to the sound. Not really truly the ocean, but pretty darn close.

To cut out some time and gas money we decided to take the ferry over to Port Townsend. It was dark, so we didn't get to see too much, but it was neat anyway.

The next day we went through Port Angeles and were keeping an eye out for a bike shop. We found one on the main street and went in to so if we could find some good rides in the area. These guys made us want to move there. They talked about the really good riding, and how when they're not riding they'll ride there kayaks on the surf, and if the surf isn't good then they'll just go rock climbing. It sounded about perfect.

Unfortunately the riding that we found wasn't all that great , probably partially due to the fact we were almost run over by a couple of motorcycles, and then on top of it the trail had some very ugly clear cut sections.

That night we stayed near salt creek, and checked out the tide pools in the morning

Tide pools

For the rest of the day we decided to go find Olympic hot springs. It's about a 2.5 mile hike one way, and there are these really nice rock pools, the perfect temperature for dipping. There was also a very not hot-spring fed river near by. So after a nice soak, we jumped in the cold river too.

The waterfall before the cool dip

Enjoying the natural hot tub

That night it rained a lot, we got up and decided to try another trail in the area. Mt Muller was fantastic. After 3 loong miles up through pine forest we got to spectacular views. The only problem was that we had gained so much elevation and it was so windy that by the time we got to the top we were freezing. We had to boogie the next 9 miles shivering the whole way. All said, I would definitely like to ride it again sometime, maybe when the weather is a little warmer and less wet.

One of the many amazing views. That's looking back into Olympic NP, I think it's crescent lake.

And the way down, which was a blast

We got down just in time for sunset

After the ride, we headed down the road to a campground that was closed, but still open- meaning free. It was a neat place, especially so considering we had the place all to ourselves. It was so green and so full of life, including giant slugs, I took a ton of pictures. Some of which are below.