Our Daily Log at Sol Duc, Olympic National Park - Saturday, August 8, 2020

Life is an adventure and you never know what kind of adventure might be in store. Today, Diane, Bob, and I set out on the 10k (???) Sol Duc Falls Volksmarch/hike. First, we had to get there. You have to understand the magnitude of Olympic National Park. You don't just drive in and have a central area where everything is compactly driveable on a loop or out-and-back road. 

From our place in Gig Harbor to Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort where we started the walk, it was a 3-1/2 hour drive. We picked Diane up in Silverdale, Washington on our way there. This was not just a hike, this was a day trip! We were prepared with Senior National Park Pass, hiking poles, backpacks with snacks, water, hiking boots, hats, sunscreen, umbrella, toilet paper, first aid kit, and Diane remembered to bring a comfy pair of shoes for after the hike. (Good thinking, Diane. I forgot mine.)

There was not much traffic at 7:00 a.m. on a rainy Saturday morning. The forecast for the Sol Duc area was a diminishing chance of rain by mid-morning. Driving through the rain in the Gig Harbor-to-Bremerton corridor gave us pause about hiking today. Were we going to get rained on? 

By the time we made it to Silverdale, the rain had stopped. We hoped Sol Duc Fallswould be rain-free as well. 

Our drive took us over the Hood Canal Bridge. It sits really close to the water, so you have to expect bridge lifts to occur on a regular basis. We did not have a bridge lift this morning and the weather was mild. 

Entering the Hood Canal Bridge. 

Hood Canal.

On our way to the Sol Duc Hot Springs/Falls area, we went through Sequim and Port Angeles. Those towns have Volksmarches and I see those walks in our future as well. The prettiest part of our drive was past Lake Crescent. Wow! It looked like a Norwegian fjord. 

Lake Crescent in the morning. 

Lake Crescent in the morning.

Twenty-eight miles from Port Angeles, we turned south into the Sol Duc Hot Springs area. There was a little "rest area" when we turned onto the road that had great signs about the sights to see, a map, history of the area, legends, and geology. They had a pit toilet there and it was devoid of toilet paper. This is when I'm glad I come prepared. We spent a few minutes reading all the signs in the kiosk.

    

The dragons

From the kiosk "rest area," we headed into the park. My Senior National Park Pass is good for everyone in the car. The drive up to Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort where our walk started was 12 miles from the entrance gate. 

Sol Duc Hot Springs.

What the resort used to look like.

We stopped in the gift shop area of the resort to check on trail conditions (suggested by our walk instructions). The young lady in the gift shop was not a ranger and said she didn't know about or hadn't heard of any problems with the Lover's Lane Trail. She didn't sound very confident about that information. We had a choice whether to start with the Lover's Lane Trail or the Sol Duc Campground trail to the falls.

After a short decision-making process, it was decided to take the Lover's Lane trail to Sol Duc Falls and return via the campground trail. It was a good decision in the long run.

This trail is in the Olympic National Park rain forest. The trees are incredibly huge as are the ferns. The trail started out uphill past the outdoor hot springs pools, but soon leveled off and we hiked on roots and rocks through a primeval forest. 

Lover's Lane Trail. 

Diane and Bob on the trail.

A huge tree blew down, these are its roots.

Fungus?

It became apparent that recently there was a very strong wind storm or tornado-like occurrence. Huge trees were down all through the forest. Some of them had been snapped, some were horribly mangled, and because pine trees have shallow root systems and the soil is very wet, many trees had toppled over entirely. 

A pine tree root system is exposed.

In swampy or muddy areas, we were very thankful for the boardwalks!

A particularly long boardwalk.
(Photo by Bob Alton.)

Diane continuing on
 the boardwalk above.

The daily log I  mentioned in the title of this blog refers to a specific log I neglected to take a picture of. It seemed a bridge over the river had either rotted or been destroyed. When we came up to the area, our first impression was that there was no trail. All we saw was a HUGE log over the river. 

Then we saw the trail on the other side. This log had recently been put in place to cross the river. It was about three or four feet to get up on it. There were NO STEPS OR LADDERS to make it easy! The bark had been removed from the log and the rounded top had been sawed flat and then hewn to make little ridges to give traction so we wouldn't slide off. 

I was taken aback. I do not like heights. This log, wanna-be bridge, was about 10-15' above the river. There was NO RAILING. Turning around and going the other way was not an option at this point as we were a couple of miles into this route we chose. Diane was ready to try to cross on a couple of medium-sized logs in the river. What to do? What to do?

On the big log, there was a tiny, stubby knot or knob about 1-1/2 feet up. I got my foot on that and hoisted myself up on the log. Geez, it was high up. Once I got up there, though, the log seemed wide enough, flat enough, and not slippery. I quickly and carefully made my way across the river. Diane decided to come up and cross on the log. Bob came up next and helped Diane climb up.

When I got to the opposite side, there were no stairs or ladder to get down off the log. There was a deep pile of sawdust on each side of the log, so I surmised we had to jump off the log! This posed a major problem for me. I froze. I waited for Bob and Diane to come over. Bob got down like it was no problem. He told me it would be all right. He told me it was easy; but to me, it looked so far down from where I was standing. 

I carefully lowered myself to a sitting position. It still looked to be 3-4' from my dangling feet to the sawdust. It took a combination of Bob talking to me for 10-15 minutes, and my deep breathing to convince myself I wouldn't hurt my knee or other body parts before I finally pushed off/partially slid down the log. Once I did, it was no problem. The sawdust made such a soft landing, it couldn't have been easier. I made it so much harder than it had to be because of my fear of heights. Sigh.

Old-growth forest.

From there on out, we enjoyed seeing the mossy trees, all the fungi, the forces of nature it took to destroy some of the behemoths of the rain forest, and the smells of vanilla, ripe huckleberries, and butterscotch emanating from the trees and plants. 

Our kind of "Lover's Lane."
(Photo by Diane Evans.)

What could create such havoc
on a tree this size?

There were MANY downed trees.

And violently destroyed trees.

An interesting bulge in this tree.

Rain forest ferns are taller than Bob (6'+).

Where are the dinosaurs? Hey, it's not us!

We heard water and finally saw it.

Rain forest symbiosis.

We kept hearing more and more water. The first waterfall we came to confused us because we thought it was Sol Duc Falls. It didn't quite look like the photos we had seen, but none of us had been here before. Sol Duc Falls was the only waterfall mentioned in our walk directions, so the directions given after this waterfall didn't make sense. (Online research says the unofficial name of this waterfall is Lover's Lane Falls.) We kept going because there was only one trail and nowhere to get lost at this point. 

What parts of the trail look like.

In the photo below, we thought about having our photo taken in the hole in the tree, but there was a spider web at the top of the hole and neither Diane nor I wanted any part of a spider to drop on us.

Ooh, a hole in the tree.

No spider webs for me!
(Photo by Diane Evans.)

"Hairy" monster face!

Mystery waterfall -- Lover's Lane Falls.

The bridge over Canyon Creek by these falls.

We continued along the trail and came to yet another waterfall, apparently we were not yet at Sol Duc Falls. 

No clue on a name for this waterfall.

It wasn't long before we heard a lot more water. And then we came around a corner and saw the shelter that was mentioned in the directions as being on the other side of the river from Sol Duc Falls. Now we're getting somewhere!

In very short order it was apparent we were at Sol Duc Falls. The place was teeming with families out for a day trip. There was no mistaking this as Sol Duc Falls. There is a parking area about a mile from the falls and most people make their way to the falls from that lot.

Sol Duc Falls: Looking at it straight on, it's hard to see it all.

The bridge overlooking Sol Duc Falls
and the canyon.

Taking a break at Sol Duc.

People on the bridge
at Sol Duc Falls.

The full view of Sol Duc Falls from the bridge.

 

After a short rest, snack, sightseeing, and water break, we continued on our hike. The route back took us past the shelter and then along the trail to and through the campgrounds, by the amphitheater, and eventually back to the resort. The ending part of this walk seemed interminable. We all thought, surely this is longer than 10k!!

The shelter at Sol Duc Falls.

The trail goes along more downed trees.

Recent trees down.

Peek-a-boo from the trail gnome.
(Photo by Diane Evans.)

A lot of trees down, but
many more still standing!

We were in awe of these shredded trees.

After four hours of hiking, we finally saw this sign.

Yay! We made it. 

The river at Sol Duc Hot Springs smells
like, you guessed it, sulfur!

X marks the spot...the cabins at Sol Duc Resort.

Foxglove.

It took us four hours, but we made it back. Diane's FitBit gave us a distance longer than 6.2 miles. She said it's pretty accurate on most of her walks. Our walk instructions said it was 10k (6.2 miles). Let me tell you, it felt like eight miles.**

One awesome thing we noticed on this hike was there were very few bugs! I only saw a few mosquitoes in the more heavily-trafficked areas. Aaannd, it didn't rain on our parade! A rain forest with no rain today; that works for us.

This was definitely an adventure. If you do this walk, allow yourself plenty of time and find a park ranger to ask about trail conditions. There was a ranger station before the entrance to Sol Duc Resort, but we didn't stop there.

During the day, the fog and clouds burned off and we had a spectacular drive home along Lake Crescent. 

Lake Crescent on the way home.

Highway 101 by Lake Crescent.

Lake Crescent in the afternoon.

Bob drove home. We stopped at Black Bear Diner in Sequim at 4:00 p.m. for "linner." 

As we got close to the Hood Canal Bridge, the highway signs said to prepare for a bridge lift. That usually means a long delay. We lucked out, though, because when we got there the bridge had already been put back in place and all traffic had cleared. 

After we dropped Diane off at her car in Silverdale, we made a beeline for home and made it home exactly 12 hours after we left. We were able to give our cat Sunnie his every-12-hour insulin dose on time. Thank you to Bob for driving today. Just the drive was seven hours round trip.

It was quite a day: very fun, informative, and full of adventure. You should try it sometime if you haven't already. Just be prepared. 

**I looked up Lover's Lane Loop Hike online at hikingproject.com and it gives the distance of the exact loop we traveled as six miles. Still, it felt longer!