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April 2001

Olympic National Park

David Aaronson
2005-09-25 16:05:41

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in this view.) This makes it hard to stroll any distance along the beach. Intrepid explorers that we are, we didn't let this deter us until after we had misjudged the depth of at least two of these crossings. Unfortunately it was too cold to simply wade through the water barefoot. In the end we just waded through the water in hiking boots. There is a fantastic trail along the oceanfront section of Olympic National Park which runs along the beach, and occasionally across rocky headlands where currents are too dangerous and tides too high. Alas, this trail is not a day hike and we didn't have time for it on this trip.

Here is an action shot of David leaping a creek before he later gave up and just started wading through them (8). Melanie was secretly hoping he would fail miserably and provide a more amusing photo. Oh well. Also notice again the enormous piles of drift logs in the background. These become very dangerous at hide tides when they start floating around and crashing into one another. All of the pictures here were taken within a few hours of low tide.

We finished our trip in Olympia, the capitol of Washington state. This of course would be that capitol (9). A suprisingly rural town for being part of the Seattle-Tacoma sprawl, it is yet another town on Puget Sound that claims several distinct local seafoods. Also typical of the area it can claim several fine local microbeweries as well. We feel it necessary to point out that we don't include 'Olympia' among these. The scaffolding on the right side of the dome here is part of renovations to correct damage from the Februray 2001 earthquake which was centered nearby. Allergy sufferers should beware of Olympia in the Spring. While the government buildings are nicely landscaped they don't involve many flowers, but the residential areas surrounding it are utterly awash in them. We were starting to wonder if there might be a town ordinance to that effect. The capitol building was finished in 1928 and claims to be the last of the 'great-domed capitols' in the U.S. For the record, the Oregon Trail of old ended in Olympia. So does this travelogue.

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