The next national park on our Washington list was Olympic National Park. We were expecting beautiful views and it didn’t disappoint! We spent a full week in the park, but suspect another three weeks could easily be filled with adventure and sight-seeing. This park is HUGE!
We stayed at the Sol Duc campground the whole 7 days. It was a beautiful place to park, with massive trees, moss and a nice creek rolling right through camp. This was the hardest site to get in yet on our trip. Actually, we had to leave the campground the same way we came in due to some tight corners and leaning trees (that bared the signs of frequent paint sacrifices).
From Sol Duc campground you can hike to one of the main attractions of the area – Sol Duc falls. We combined this with the Lover’s Lane hike on our first full day in camp.
We decided that we wanted to experience the backcountry in Olympic National Park, so we kept our eyes on last-minute backcountry campsite cancellations and we both lucked out with some very nice spots on the High Divide/Seven Lakes Basin loop. I did my hike on Tuesday night and Andrea did hers Wednesday night. It was around 18-19mi total.
So this loop is well known for bear activity. As it turned out, we both saw black bears on our hike. Mine (Kyle’s) experience was pretty intense. I just got to the top of an exposed ridge climb and was cooling off in the shade. My shirt was off, my pack was on the ground and I was enjoying the breeze when I hear some rustling in the woods behind me. I duck out to see what it was as it sounded like it skirted back towards the trail. Sure enough, this fine black bear emerged about 10-15 yards away from me eating blueberries. I quickly grabbed my bear spray and stood tense for a few minutes before determining the bear could care less about me – the berries were very plentiful! I put my gear back together and my shirt back on and started walking around to the left to continue down the trail. The bear took that opportunity to slip back into the woods to give me space as well. All in all, seeing a bear that close in the wild was a great – if tense – experience.
The High Divide/Seven Lakes Loop was spectacular. It was a very demanding hike at 18+ miles and 5300’+ elevation gain, but we are both glad we got to do it!
After our backpacking trip(s), we took it a bit easier and explored Lake Crescent for one day and drove up to Hurricane Ridge another. We saw momma bear and two cubs up near Hurricane Ridge, too! This time from the comfort and safety of our truck.
We had a great time in Olympic National Park and will definitely be back one day to explore the many other areas. Next up, we head to Trillium Lake Campground just south of Mt. Hood in Oregon.
-Kyle