As we drove up the south shore road, we stopped to capture this picture of the snow on the trees across the lake. You can see it on the trees just below the clouds.
The south shore road is very rural. There are some tourist areas near the Lodge where we were staying, but as soon as traveled up the road a few miles we were in to farm country.
We found a couple of waterfalls along the way. This one had a number of your people trying to decide whether to try and climb the rocks to the top of the falls but they were kind enough to move out of the way so Diane and I could take pictures.
Even the lower part of the falls were beautiful with the trees and moss.
A little farther up the road we came to this second set of falls. It was not as dramatic but very nice with the water flowing down the rocks.
Diane welcoming me in to the Olympic National Park.
As we crossed the bridge over the Quinault River, I took this looking back down river from the direction we had traveled. The road we came up is in the trees on the left, not far from the river.
As we came off the bridge, I thought we were in good shape as the road was blacktop. Over half of the drive from the lodge was wet, rutty dirt road. I figured the drive back on the north shore road was going to be a lot nicer. Just after we crossed the bridge we came upon a herd of elk feeding in the grassy meadow between the road and the river. You can see the young bulls with their antlers just starting. Their faces are very different. To me they have kind of the look of the devil about them.
Well, I quickly found out that the blacktop road after the bridge only lasted about one quarter mile and then we were back to dirt road. This pictures shows some of the best of the dirt road. There was one stretch that is was truly a one lane road with small pull outs. Of course the narrow road was the part that went up the side of the mountain with a drop off on the left into the river. Fortunately, we did not meet any other cars along here. In fact, until we got back on the blacktop road near the ranger station we only saw one vehicle going the opposite direction we were traveling and that was on the blacktop portion near the bridge. After we passed young people near the first falls, we didn't see any other vehicles traveling our direction either.
I was amazed to see the ferns growing out of the moss on the trunks of upright trees.
Once we got around the lake and river and back to the main highway, we drove down a little to see the lake from the highway. This is Quinault Lake. Our lodge is about 2.5 miles up the south side (left side in the picture).
After leaving the lake and river area we decided to drive down and see the coast/beaches in the park. There are 4 numbered beaches (Beach 1, 2, 3 and 4) as well as a beach at the Kalaloch Lodge and Ruby Beach.We stopped at Kaloloch to check out the beach and grab a bite of lunch. The beach was sandy and there was a fire pit where people had recently had a fire on the beach.
Diane looking down on the beach from up top near the gazebo and parking area.
As we were going back up to the parking area, I turned around and saw this black bird peacefully sitting in this dead tree.
When we stopped at Ruby Beach, we were surprised to look down and see all the logs on the beach.
Also, on the way down to the beach, there was snow along the side of the trail. So much for spring in Washington state in April.
As we got close to the beach, we encountered this trail sign. Pictures below highlight Logs and New Route.
Logs at end of what used to be the trail to the beach.
New Route, climb over the log and work your way through the logs and debris.
Logs on the beach at Ruby Beach.
Sea Stack with hole in the center. Picture below taken through that hole.
Looking south from Ruby Beach
Looking north from same spot on Ruby Beach.
Diane in front of Sea Stack at Ruby Beach.
Another view of the logs as we were leaving Ruby Beach.
Diane walking up the steep trail from the beach.
We decided to head back to the lodge for the day. Tomorrow we will drive up past these beaches on our way to Hoh Rain Forest and then on to Port Angeles.
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