In August 2021, we stuffed Ursula with lots of food and clothing, filled the 4Runner with a bunch of gear, loaded Cato into the back seat, tied our kayaks on top, and headed off on our first multi-week adventure to explore the Olympic Peninsula. We had a rough plan, but no campsite reservations (except for the first night at Denny Creek Campground near Snoqualmie Pass), so we had our fingers crossed that we’d be able to find places to stay. After a day and a half of driving, we arrived at Big Creek Campground in the southeastern corner of the peninsula on a Wednesday afternoon and had an abundance of choices – so far the plan was working great!

We stayed at Big Creek for five nights and did several hikes to explore the area. First up was the Big Creek Trail, right out of camp. It was pretty steep for our first hike after all that driving, but we were rewarded with some great waterfalls. The next day we left Cato behind in the trailer and headed to the Staircase entrance to Olympic National Park, where we hiked along the North Fork of the Skokomish River to Four Stream and enjoyed views of Staircase Rapids. Our run of sunny weather ended on the third day, so we spent a lazy day in camp and hoped it would clear the next day. But this is the Pacific Northwest, so even though camp was shrouded in fog the next morning, we headed off to hike Mt. Ellinor. Sue hiked the lower portion of the trail with Cato, while I made the steep climb to the summit (3,200 feet in ~3 miles) in the increasingly dense fog. On our last day, which happened to be a Sunday, we hiked to Lower Lena Lake. Our hiking guidebook said that this lake is one of the most popular backcountry destinations in the Olympics and they weren’t joking – on our way to the lake, we passed at least 80 backpackers who were headed out.

For the next phase of our exploration, we headed to the northern portion of the peninsula. Based on a recommendation from the ranger at the Hoodsport Visitor Information Center, we decided to check out the campground at the Salt Creek Recreation Area. We arrived around 10 AM on Monday morning and scored an awesome first-come, first-serve campsite on a bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We ended up spending six nights at Salt Creek, as it provided a great base camp for exploring both the mountains of the Hurricane Ridge area of Olympic National Park and the ocean along the strait. After climbing Mt. Ellinor in pea soup fog, I got my reward with beautiful weather for hiking Grand Ridge, a fantastic ridge walk from Obstruction Point to Deer Park, with two side excursions to tag Elk Mountain and Maiden Peak. And thanks to Sue for the car shuttle that made the hike possible! We then spent two days doing some ocean exploring. We checked out the tide pools below our campground and saw some harlequins and purple sea urchins. We walked part of the Dungeness Spit and saw loons. And we paddled Freshwater Bay, where we were entertained by a family of river otters. Our last day at Salt Creek was another mountain day and we had perfect weather for it. We hiked up Sunrise Ridge for a few miles and then I kept going to the summit of Mount Angeles. Amazing views in all directions – Mount Olympus to the south, Mount Baker to the northeast, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the northwest.

For the final stage of the trip, we headed west, so that we could explore the rainforest and coastal areas of Olympic National Park. We pulled into Klahowya Campground around noon on Sunday, hoping that it would be fairly empty after people headed home at the end of the weekend, and we were rewarded with a nice site where we could hear the Sol Duc River through the trees. For our first adventure, we made the long drive to the Ozette entrance, so that we could hike the highly touted Ozette Triangle. After hiking three miles through lush maritime forest, much of it on a planked boardwalk, we arrived at Cape Alava and could hear sea lions barking on the distant rocks. We then turned south and walked the shoreline for three miles, where we saw lots of coastal birds, including a great blue heron. We also checked out the Makah petroglyphs at Wedding Rocks and enjoyed all the sculpted sea stacks. When we reached Sand Point, we headed back inland through the thick forest of western red cedars and Sitka spruce to complete the loop.

We also did a nice hike in the Hoh Rain Forest, making it all the way to Five Mile Island. We enjoyed the enormous cedar trees and moss-covered maples, but almost didn’t get to do the hike as there was a huge elk blocking the way just past the trailhead. We explored Rialto Beach and Cato even got to join us, as dogs are allowed for the first mile. Sue stayed with Cato while I continued on to Hole-in-the-Wall, a natural sea arch, and poked around to find giant green anemones and ochre sea stars. On our last day at Klahowya, I headed into the Sol Duc Valley to do one more mountain hike – a twenty-mile loop hike called the High Divide Loop that boasts amazing views of alpine lakes and Mount Olympus from Bogachiel Peak and the High Divide ridge. After seven nights at Klahowya, we started our journey home, and made one final stop at Kalaloch to walk on the beach in the fog.