Going Green

Seattle is neighbor to many national forests and parks, including Olympic National Park.

It seemed a little out of the way, but was added to my list as a “maybe”. After a strong recommendation from a fellow hiking enthusiast in Seattle, I was convinced to drive over and check it out. He claimed I could pick any little trail on the peninsula and never be disappointed.

After leaving the city, I drove down to Olympia and spent the night outside Planet Fitness once again. The drive the next morning took me north along the coast, the road curving through quaint little town after quaint little town.

The still waters of the Puget Sound and the forest pressing close to the shoreline made for a scenic drive, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the road for long, as logging trucks began to materialize around every corner. Heeding the friendly Seattleite’s advice, I kept a lookout for potential walking trails. Eventually, I saw signs for Lena Lake and turned off the main highway to do some exploring.

The road conditions began to get rougher as I twisted the van further into the forest and up the mountain. Cell service dropped and I gave myself an hour to find the trailhead before I would call it quits. Luckily, I soon stumbled across the trail and neighboring campground and scouted out a parking spot.

It was the weekend, and the trail was busy despite how remote it felt. Once I began hiking, I was surprised by the number of youth groups and families enjoying nature. Everyone on the trail was friendly enough, and I exchanged my fair share of “good mornings”. I took a break after half a mile and chatted with some fellow hikers about other trails in the area.

They recommended I check out Hurricane Ridge, telling me it was a paved path that offered some stunning views. I added it to the list of things to see and continued my hike. I was falling in love with the peninsula and would take any opportunity to see more of it. The trail was pleasant enough (a series of well-maintained switchbacks) but the forest surrounding it was downright lovely.

The views I had been getting from behind the wheel did not do justice to the dense woodlands I had been driving through for the past two days.

The trees provided constant shade with their intermingling branches and coats of moss. Sunshine broke through in the occasional brilliant ray. The floor of the forest was a carpet of ferns, moss, and tiny sprouting plants. The green carpet covered fallen logs and rose with the hillside, the trail the only place where bare earth was visible.

A woodpecker caught my attention as it was flinging moss away from its perch, and I could hear the chattering of birds in the canopy and rodents in the underbrush. Waterfalls were also audible, although I didn’t see any that day, and I crossed over several streams and rivers on creaky wooden bridges.

It was about as far away from the dry desert as I could be, and my renewed sense of awe was a salve for the soul. The forest was old and foreign, the air thick and nourishing. Everything felt new and exciting again. After hiking three miles to the lower lake and sitting down to enjoy a little snack, I felt the weight of all my recent setbacks lift off my shoulders for the first time.

I opted not to continue to the upper lakes and instead returned to the van to get back in range of cell service and plan out where I would be sleeping that night. So far Planet Fitness had saved my skin, but there was a severe lack of gyms on the peninsula. I would have to find a different sleeping arrangement and decided to stay at Seal Rock campground a little further north.

I parked the minivan among the trees and got busy planning another day in Olympic National Park. What had started off as a “maybe” was quickly becoming an obsession.