SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS

After working in Eugene, Oregon for a couple of days I returned to Seattle. I had another job there, which I finished on Friday afternoon. Afterwards, I returned to Bainbridge Island to spend another weekend with Brian and Jill. I was still driving my rented Chrysler PT Cruiser, which I had come to loathe. The PT Cruiser must be one of the most poorly designed cars on the planet. The gas mileage is horrible, yet it doesn’t have that much space. It has the turn radius of a small yacht. On the way to the ferry, I stopped in downtown Seattle for gas (again). While I was filling up, I was approached by what must’ve been a homeless man. He came up to me and said, “you know what you ought to do with that car you’ve got there”? All I could think was, wow, here’s a guy that doesn’t have a car, or a home, and he’s about to make fun of my rental. Well, who could blame him? Then he proceeded to tell me that I should drive it to the northern end of Alaska, before turning around and driving it to the southern end of Argentina. My first thought was, “what makes you think this car would make it that far”? Well, I’d had a lot of ideas of what I’d like to do with that rental car, but that hadn’t been one of them. At the top of the list was driving it into oily Pungent (sic) Sound. I’d just tell Thrifty that I missed the ferry.

On Saturday, Brian and I decided to take his 7-year old daughter, Kaitlyn, for a hike. We choose to visit the old-growth forests of the Sol Duc River valley in the northwestern part of Olympic National Park. The weather forecast called for a 100% chance of rain, so we figured we might as well go to the rain forest.

We drove through Port Angeles and past lovely Lake Crescent. While passing the mist-shrouded lake, I noticed that fresh snow covered the hillsides above us. It was a chilly, rainy day, and it appeared that it was snowing only 500’ or so above us. There was a distinct snow line, and before I knew it, route 101 began to climb into the hills.

We reached the turn for the Sol Duck valley and headed that way. We used Brian’s annual pass to gain free entrance (the normal cost is $15 per car) and continued up the road. My rental car was equipped with a thermometer, and I noticed the temperature steadily falling. At Lake Crescent, it had been 40 degrees. At the Soul Duck entrance station, it was 35. A few minutes later, we spotted a few snowflakes mixing in with the rain. By the time we passed Sole Duck Hot Springs, more snow was falling than rain. At the trailhead, we found the ground covered with fresh snow. Heavy wet snow was falling, and much of it was catching on the limbs of the 200’ tall fir trees that define the Sol Duct valley. What is normally a lovely place immediately turned beautiful.

Best of all, we had the area almost to ourselves. Christy, Dave, Myron, Dorcas, and I had started our 7-day Olympic backpacking trip in the Solduc valley back in the summer of 2002. That had been a sunny weekend day, and the place was swarming with people. Today promised a different experience.

Hiking through the forest was still like a walk through a cathedral, but the snow added to the beauty. Fir trees dominate this part of the park, but we spotted a couple of graceful cedars along the way as well. The conditions did force us to alter our plans a bit though. Brian doesn’t own rain gear, save for a wide-brimmed hat. He hadn’t been expecting sub-freezing temperatures, as he had come in shorts. Kaitlyn didn’t have real rain gear either, although a wind-breaker over my fleece sweater seemed to be enough to keep her warm. She did look a little comical though, walking along with my fleece hanging down below her knees.

After almost a mile we reached the shelter above Soul Duct Falls. If anything, the forest is even prettier here. We followed the trail down to a sturdy bridge, which crosses the river immediately in front of and just above the falls. The bridge provides a nice view of a very unique waterfall. Just above the falls, the river splits into three channels, and each channel tumbles diagonally over a ledge. Sole Duck Falls isn’t the highest waterfall around, but the heavy volume and unusual formation of it makes it worth a visit. Perhaps the best view of the falls is from the bank immediately upstream. From that vantage, you can look down the falls, under the bridge and into the narrow gorge of the Sole Duct River.

On my previous visit, I had followed a steep, primitive path down to the river below the falls. I had been hoping for a view of the falls from the base, but found just enough of a bend in the river to keep the falls out of sight. That day, I didn’t have tevas to help me cross the river. Today I’d brought tevas, but with the wet ground and falling snow, I didn’t risk trying to descend that path. Plus, it was way too cold to wade the river.

We returned the same way we came. Back at the trailhead, we ate lunch within the warm confines of my rental car. Then we headed down the road for our next hike. Along the way, Kaitlyn got car sick and decorated the back seat. Oh well, it’s a rental!

Our next stop was at the Ancient Groves Nature Trail. This trail forms a .6 mile loop through a stand of particularly large fir trees. Along the way, we passed some truly incredible trees, a small bog filled with large yellow flowers (orchids?), and some interesting nurse logs hosting new saplings. Although it’s only a simple nature trail, it provides an interesting hike under towering trees.

From there, we returned to Lake Crescent, where we made a final stop. We planned to take a short hike to Marymere Falls, but it began to pour as soon as we reached the trailhead. Kaitlyn had experienced enough wet and cold, and wasn’t real interested in another hike. Brian decided to stay in the car with her and play games while I made a quick visit to the falls.

I made good use of my gore tex as I hiked through the downpour. I passed near the edge of the foggy lake, before passing under the highway. The first part of the hike was uninspiring, as the trail remained close to the road. Eventually I turned away from the pavement as I neared Barnes Creek. I passed some impressive trees, before crossing the creek on a bridge. I then crossed a tributary, and began a short but brisk climb to the falls.

Marymere Falls is fairly impressive. It’s on a small creek, but it’s a high cataract over mossy cliff walls. In short, it couldn’t be more different than Sol Duc Falls.

I hurried back to the car and Kaitlyn, Brian, and I headed for home. That evening we enjoyed more pizza before we parted ways. I headed for a hotel close to the airport, since my flight Sunday morning was brutally early. It had been a great trip, and I hope my business travels give me the opportunity to visit my friends in Seattle again.

Editor’s Note: In the preceding trip report, “Sol Duc” was spelled in every conceivable way, in honor of the many spellings of the name that are found on various maps, books, and signs.

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