Olympic National Park - Part I The Coast

Rialto Beach, Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula in Washington State is home to Olympic National Park.  Like the peninsula, the park has several distinct parts: the Pacific Coast, temperate rain forests, high mountains, and glacial lakes.  We recently visited the park spending time in each area, beginning with the coastal region.

We began at Kalaloch, a NPS lodge overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  It had been raining on the 3 hour drive from Seattle, but when we arrived the clouds were parting and the rain had stopped.  Unlike our Atlantic beaches in the Southeast, there are few broad sandy beaches on the Olympic Peninsula.  Thick forests of spruce line the headlands and most beaches are reached by a trail that leads down to the water.

Kalaloch Creek reaches the Pacific Ocean at the Kalaloch Lodge and restaurant.

Evening light and clearing skies silhouette a tree on the coast.

Above and below: Pacific Ocean sunset

The Spruce trees at Beach #1 have formed large burls.  While burls are not unusual, the concentrations of them makes this area unique.

Numerous burls on spruce trees.

At beaches farther north we began seeing sea stacks, more drift logs (drift trees really) and some sea stars as the tide went out.  Enjoy the pictures!

Sea stars cling to rocks as the tide goes out.

Sea stacks at Ruby Beach.

Morning light through the trees.

Drift logs at Rialto Beach.

One huge drift log!

Rough surf and distant sea stacks.

Maddron Bald to Cosby Campground

Yes, we were hiking right by Campsite 29 and the "aggressive bear activity."

A yellow sign attached to the Maddron Bald trailhead sign provided a wake up for me when I arrived.  I wasn't planning on camping, just passing through, so bear or not five of us started hiking at  8:45.  Our hike would take us along the Maddron Bald Trail over the bald of the same name, connect to the Appalachian Trail and hike north to Low Gap Trail which would take us to Cosby Campground.

We faced a long climb - from 2000 feet to 5800 feet - from the trailhead to the Appalachian Trail over 7.9 miles.  It was overcast and a little cool, but the climb warmed me up quickly.  Within a mile we came upon the Baxter Cabin, one of many cabins restored by the park service.  It was built in 1889 by Willis Baxter.

Almost every trail in the Smokies follows and crosses streams that course over the landscape.  The Maddron Bald trail has 9 crossings of several streams, a couple with foot logs, the rest either rock hopping or wading.  Footbridges are convenient, but are subject to removal by flooding.  Rock hopping means you can keep your hiking boots on.  Wading means either get wet boots or change into water shoes and wade across.  Since I knew we would be making several wet stream crossings over a two mile stretch, I kept my water shoes on so I would only have to change shoes twice.

Footlog over none of the numerous creeks we crossed.

Wading across streams lets you enjoy the upstream views at stream level.  Moss covered rocks and rushing water make for great "Kodak moments."

Logging cleared much of what is today the Great Smokies Mountains National Park, but there were areas that were too steep and too remote for commercial logging.  As we climbed higher we soon began to see some forest giants - poplar and tuliptree, American beech, and silver bells - that had escaped the loggers.  Albright Grove Loop Trail branched off and wound it way through the giants.

After 8 miles we reached the AT and a well deserved lunch break.  It was foggy and after sitting for a few minutes the chilly 50 degrees had me putting on a jacket.  We hiked north on the AT toward Low Gap.  Along the way the sun came out and we came upon a volunteer trail crew doing some heavy work on the trail.  Many thanks to trail crews how make the trails safer and a joy to hike!

The Low Gap Trail has two parts; one part leads toward the Big Creek area, and the other leads to Cosby Campground.  We took the trail that led downhill toward Cosby. The trail was rocky and rooty, but well graded.  We covered the 2.9 miles in short order and arrived at the cars at 5:15.  A short car shuttle took us back to the Maddron Bald trailhead.

One last look at Cosby Creek.

Tale of the tape:
Total miles hiked: 16.5
Elevation gain: 4066 feet
New trail miles: 15.5
Total trail miles to date: 236.6