Thursday, September 29, 2005
Sol Man
Between 1979 and 1998, you could usually find us this time of the year camping in the Olympic National Park at either Sol Duc hot springs, Shi Shi beach, La Push, or Lake Ozette. For us, Indian summer on the Olympic Peninsula was unsurpassed: totally clear skies, complete silence, and autumn colors to surround our morning and evening campfires and afternoon hikes or swims.
For some reason, this morning I found myself recalling our camp at Lake Ozette, an 8x5 mile by 300 foot deep home to spawning sockeye salmon, a short three miles in from the sea between the Makah and Quileute Indian Reservations in the North Coastal Wilderness near Cape Alava. This most westerly point of the coterminous US was accessible by a cedar plank "boardwalk" consisting of split lengths of three-foot-long cedar bolts placed in a line on the mud and moss that meandered through bogs and meadows for three miles to the beach--an exhausting way to hike, or slip and stumble.
Still, the serenity among the coastal spruce and wild blueberries on the way to view the ancient petroglyphs and site of the old whaling village makes all the sweat and smears worthwhile. And in late September, other than rangers or wildlife, you're often alone.
The last time we were at Ozette, we listened to loons singing in the moonlit evenings and misty mornings, and watched the aerobatic maneuvers of a pair of Peregrine falcons that rested in the small alder tree next to our tent. Then on the way home we stopped to picnic by the Sol Duc River and watch silver salmon jumping the falls, before pausing to soak in the hot springs watching ravens playing games in the ancient fir pine valley surrounding the pools.
For some reason, this morning I found myself recalling our camp at Lake Ozette, an 8x5 mile by 300 foot deep home to spawning sockeye salmon, a short three miles in from the sea between the Makah and Quileute Indian Reservations in the North Coastal Wilderness near Cape Alava. This most westerly point of the coterminous US was accessible by a cedar plank "boardwalk" consisting of split lengths of three-foot-long cedar bolts placed in a line on the mud and moss that meandered through bogs and meadows for three miles to the beach--an exhausting way to hike, or slip and stumble.
Still, the serenity among the coastal spruce and wild blueberries on the way to view the ancient petroglyphs and site of the old whaling village makes all the sweat and smears worthwhile. And in late September, other than rangers or wildlife, you're often alone.
The last time we were at Ozette, we listened to loons singing in the moonlit evenings and misty mornings, and watched the aerobatic maneuvers of a pair of Peregrine falcons that rested in the small alder tree next to our tent. Then on the way home we stopped to picnic by the Sol Duc River and watch silver salmon jumping the falls, before pausing to soak in the hot springs watching ravens playing games in the ancient fir pine valley surrounding the pools.
