A weekend in the clouds

It's been too long since our last trip. So we decided to head to the mountains, our happy place... where we both feel at home. Olympic national park is a magnificent place. It is not possible to cover it entirely in one visit and you should not try to. This was our third trip to the park and this trip was everything I had hoped for and more.

Day 0: We got a late start on Friday and did not reach Port angeles until evening. We stayed near town and saw the 4th July fireworks at the harbor.

Day 1

We drove to Deer Park Campground in the Olympic National Park. Simply put, this is the best car campground in the country. It is a 16 mi drive from Hwy101, 8mi of which are on a dirt road but our Honda Accord did fine. The campground is at an elevation of 5,400' and has some of the most spectacular views I have ever seen.

Campsite with a million-dollar view

Very few people in the campground. However, there were plenty of deer. They visited us often.

Visitors at the campsite.

On second thought, better to pitch near the trees :)

View to the other side of campsite

Did I mention how incredible the view was?

Could not get enough of this view

In the afternoon we hiked the Deer Park trail. This trail is 7.5 mi and goes till Obstruction Point and can make a good overnighter.  We hiked in 4mi uptil Maiden Peak and turned around for a nice 8mi dayhike. As we started I could not believe this was our first hike of the year. Life just has this nasty habit of getting in the way. But better late than never :). The trail is beautiful and we saw plenty of wildflowers

Plenty of Indian Paint Brush

And Lupine meadows on the trail

Avalanche Lilies everywhere

Path to the Mountains - The trail above treeline

Panoramic Views all around

As we hiked back, the sun peaked out and we saw this incredible rainbow over the mountains.

This happens only on a cloudy day

I can see for miles  - all the way to Canada across the Strait of San Juan De Fuca

After the hike, we came back to camp. We setup a campfire as a fog rolled in. The weather up there was so amazing and fast-changing. We experienced complete fog, overcast skies, mountains emerging from misty skies, sunny skies, and rainbows, all in a matter of 2 days. It was truly magical and heavenly.

Day 2

The next day, we woke up to fairly sunny skies. It was a gorgeous morning and I decided to paint.  

An Artist's dream

Another curious visitor

After a few hours of painting, we drove upto Blue Mountain. It is 5 minute drive from the campground and has a short 0.5 mi RainShadow trail. By the time we reached here, a fog had rolled in. We caught glimpses of the mountains through the clouds. It was a refreshing walk/jog.

A Refreshing jog

After that, we drove back to Port Angeles. We were sad to leave this heavenly place. We were happy among the clouds, in the mountains and did not want to come back to reality. We decided that we must visit again. We felt better when we reached Port Angeles. It is a beautiful city. It has the strait of san juan de fuca with Canada across it on one side and Olympic range on the other side. We enjoyed the sunshine and dined in a lovely creperie with views of the harbor.

Beautiful Port Angeles

Boats in Port Angeles Harbor

Picturesque cafe serving delicious crepes

After spending a few hours in Port Angeles, we drove to Lake Crescent in the Olympic National Park. It is a beautiful lake around half hour away. We stopped by the Lake Crescent Lodge and walked along the Moments in time trail. There were many beautiful flowers along the lake shore and views were very inspiring. I got my paintbox out again as Reagan waded along the water. 

Lake crescent boaters

It was finally time to head home. We decided to drive along the coast for a change in scenery and make few quick stops to catch a foggy evening along the  coast.

A quick stop at foggy Ruby beach along the way

View from trail down to Ruby beach.

The drive back was beautiful. The entire roadway on 101S was lined with fireweed meadows. I was reminded of our trip to Alaska. Just as the sun was about to set, there was a break in the clouds and we were treated to this heavenly view. A picture perfect way to end a wonderful trip with wonderful memories.

Heavenly light on the way back. Fireweed meadows all along the roadway.