Olympic Light: Hiking Along the Quinault River

 

Date: July 19, 2021

Place: Olympic National Park, Washington

Coordinates: 47.572792, -123.569638

Length: 3 miles

Level: easy

 

 

 

When I decided to go to Washington State on a road trip with my chikas and their friends during the second summer of the pandemic I certainly had the Olympic National Park in mind. A combination of various constraints however, had resulted in a visit there that left much to be desired. As it turned out the plan of a three day visit to this magnificent National Park has shrunk to a single full day, and our plans for that day were also changed to two fairly short hikes - a beautiful and relaxing beach walk at the gorgeous Kalaloch Beach, and a sunny afternoon hike along the Quinault River. 

The road to the trailhead goes through the Quinault Reservation. Being careful about the pandemics, all businesses and facilities were closed. The trailhead was just outside the eastern boundary of the reservation. Little chickadees were active in the trees there, and that was the only bird that the elder chika photographed on that hike. 

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

 

The Quinault River Trail is long. It leads into the heart of Olympic National Park for people who do a multi-day outing. 

 

Our hike as captured by my GPS

We had no intentions to hike for days. We only had the afternoon of that day and we planned to walk as long as we felt like, then turn around and head back.  

Quinault River

Soon after we started our hike we crossed the south fork of the Quinault River, also called Graves Creek. We paused on the bridge and looked down at the sparkling light pattern in the water. It was almost hypnotizing. 

Past the bridge we continued walking on a clear forest path which was nearly flat. Now Away from the beach, the day was pretty hot so we welcomed the tree shade.   

Quinault River Trail

There were a few wildflowers blooming too. Not many, but enough to keep me happy. Naturally, I paused to look closer and to take photos while the youth moved ahead. 

Creeping Buttercup, Ranunculus repens

Shortly we came upon another creek, a tributary of the Quinault River. The bridge across this creek was a narrow, flattened log with a rail that didn't look very firm. 

The forest closed in on and above us. The air was silent, save for the buzzing of some insects. We didn't hear many birds and saw none. We didn't see any monsters either, but there were plenty of tine white foamflowers blooming below the trees. 

Threeleaf Foamflower, Tiarella trifoliata

The forest undergrowth had many of the little dwarf dogwood relatives called bunchberry. Most of these little plants were in their fruiting stage so it was clear how they got their name.

Western Bunchberry, Cornus unalaschkensis

In places were the trees were more apart and more sunshine came down through the canopies the understory vegetation was larger. Much of it were tall ferns. 

Quinault River Trail

The youth called me over - they nearly stepped on a banana slug that was crossing the path. The banana slugs of the northern Pacific Coast are just as big as their southern counterparts, but don't have the bright yellow 'banana' color. 

Pacific Banana Slug

The slug moved on and so did we. A hole at the base of one of the larger trees drew our attention. We looked inside the hole but didn't see anything of significance inside. 

What we did see a bit later, in a darker area of the forest was much more exciting - it was a small patch of ghost pipe flowers. We've seen these already a few days earlier along the path to Layser Cave, but since these are pretty rare to see as is, I was very glad to see them again. 

Ghost Pipe, Monotropa uniflora

We also came upon larger patches of foamflowers that looked like little clouds that descended to earth. These plants, I noticed, preferred the shadier spots. 

Coastal Brookfoam, Boykinia occidentalis

West Washington gets frequent rains year round. We were there during a sort of a drought. In California that time there was a drought but here we found still evidence of recent rains, even though we didn't experience any during our trip.  

Wing-leaf Monkeyflower, Erythranthe ptilota

Some of these evidence of recent abundance of moisture were the wildflowers that we were seeing. The monkeyflower and the bog orchid for sure - these plants grow in very moist places. 

Slender Bog Orchid, Platanthera stricta

For me and the chikas this was actually the second time to hike the Quinault River Trail. The previous time we were here was 12 years ago, and I remember not having hiked much distance at all - the berry bushes were laden with ripe berries and we passed the time feasting on them. I was hoping to see some berries on our current hike, but all the berry vines were still in bloom and there were no ripe berries to pick. 

Cutleaf Blackberry, Rubus laciniatus

We went on. At some point the youth started wondering aloud how much further we will continue. The sun was still pretty high and so I suggested making it to a mile and a half up the trail before turning back. The kids agreed. 

Quinault River Trail

One of the interesting things to see in old forests is how the dead and decomposing trees becomes a substrate, or sort of 'planter' for numerous other plants. 

Although mostly flat, the trail was going constantly uphill. It's just that the grade was so mild it was hardly noticeable. We did occasionally have a bit more of an uphill stretch. Nothing that caused us to break any extra sweat, though. 

Quinault River Trail

There were more forest undergrowth plants that were done with their blooming phase and were now bearing fruit. Some of these fruit looked no less pretty than the flowers. 

White Twisted Stalk, Streptopus amplexifolius

It wasn't mushroom season at the time of our visit, but we did see fungi on the hike. Mostly, they were the wood bract fungi, and of kinds I don't see much in the Bay Area, but I did see in the northern California Coast. 

Eventually we did find some thimbleberries that had a few berries that were ripe for the picking. Even these plants though, had more flowers than fruit. 

Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus

The taste of berries reminded the chikas that they were hungry so we stopped for a short snack break about 1.5 mile into the trail. The break gave me plenty of time to admire the nearby trees. 

After the break it was time to turn around and start walking back. Going by one of them planter trees again - those dead logs whose rotting bodies feed so many other plants I slowed down to admire this beautiful link in cycle of life of the forest. 

The close up look revealed that most of the area of the dead log was covered by moss. In between were bunchberries, grasses, ferns, and young blackberries. Quite a garden in one small patch of dead wood.

The way back was much quicker, naturally. The youth were hurrying out of the forest as if we were chased by a bear. In fact, I was the one that was trying to keep up. 

Quinault River Trail

I found one straggler bunchberry plant that was blooming. It is the flower that reveals the relations of this tiny plant to the large, majestic dogwood tree. 

Western Bunchberry, Cornus unalaschkensis

Since I already stopped for the bunchberry I took another moment to look at the lovely ferns that grew nearby. 

Deer Fern, Struthiopteris spicant

When we crossed the tributary creek I noticed that a fallen tree that span the creek wasn't dead. It's branches simply continued growing reoriented upward, like independent trees. 

The last stretch of the hike went quickly. We crossed the Quinault River and I stopped briefly to take a last photo. Where the sunshine played with the water earlier, now it was shaded. 

Quinault River

 

 We completed the hike and drove back through the Quinault Reservation and from there we continued south to where our lodge was. The hike at Quinault River was lovely but it wasn't the most impressive face of Olympic National Park. That we didn't get to see on our trip. 

 

 

 

 

It Suits the Gods: A Quiet Hike at Kalaloch Beach of Olympic National Park

Kalaloch Beach, view south

Date: July 18, 2021

Place: Kalaloch Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington

Coordinates: 47.651442, -124.387740

Length: 2 miles

Level: easy

Taking the time to catch up with past travels and hikes I am returning to the road trip I did with my chikas and their friend to Washington and Oregon back in the summer of 2021. On the first part of our trip we a long drive north along the Cascade Volcanoes, camping along the way. We visited four notable Cascade volcanoes and hiked near two of them: Mount Rainier and the notable Mount St. Helens. After a few consecutive nights of camping we were all yearning for a good shower, a real bed, a comfortable kitchen and a laundry facility. The next destination I wanted to go to was Olympic National park, a park I had visited with my family a few years earlier, and was thoroughly smitten by its beauty. As it turned out we could visit only a couple of places in that park and for a shorter time than I originally planned. The first of which was the famous Kalaloch Beach. 

Our hike as captured by my GPS

Kalaloch Beach has several entry points. We arrived at the middle-south access point, parked, and looked around. Just above the beach we had a lovely view both south and north. 

Kalaloch Beach, view south

Although most of the coastline seemed neat, there were some rock clusters that protruded into the sea. I don't recall if we were there during low tide, but some of those rocks provided some nice tide pool wildlife viewing. 

Kalaloch Beach, view north

Closer, just south of the view point, was a small waterfall that cut through a large mass of conglomerate rock. 

To get down to the beach we needed to take a short trail that cut through a thick coastline vegetation comprised of wide, shading broadleaf trees and tall bushes. 

West Washington is known for its frequent rains. When we were at Olympic National Park we actually had a lovely, sunny day. The vegetation along the beach access trail was thick, green and lush, as expected in a place where water isn't limited. 

Ferns

Eager to get to the beach, we didn't linger in the vegetation to look for wildlife, but I did note the beautiful spider webs that glistened in the sunlight. 

There were a few wildflowers too that were blooming along the path, but most of them were of species I was all too familiar with already. 

Common Yarrow, Achillea millefolium

There were also some representatives of the angelica family. White-blooming and delicate, but also pretty common. 

Water Parsley, Oenanthe sarmentosa

As soon as we descended to the beach I went to check out the little waterfall from up close. It really was a tiny creeek that cut its way down through the rock layers. 

From where we landed at the beach we could walk either north or south. The north side of the beach seemed a bit more rocky and rugged. 

Kalaloch Beach, view north

Since we were already leaning to the south to look at the small waterfall we simply continued walking southward along the beach. 

Kalaloch Beach, view south

From the beach below I had a nice view of the trees we just walked between. In past time these trees would have been part of a continues forest, the forest that cover much of the Olympic Peninsula. Nowadays, there is a road that separates the line of trees from the rest of the Olympic. Thankfully, that road wasn't visible from the beach. 

The sand of Kalaloch Beach is black - an erosion of the dark basalt which makes much of the Olympic Mountains. The mountains aren't volcanoes, but rose up from volcanic rock that was layered down below sea level eons ago. 

On top of the black sand were many rounded, smooth pebbles. Most of the pebbles were of the same black or gray color, but some were of very different color, and were standing out to the eyes. The elder chika found a lovely heart-shaped pebble of red stone. It would have been a perfect image for Valentine's Day, except I didn't finish this post on time. 

We strolled south at a leisurely pace, looking for all kinds of beach treasures. After some distance, the rocks became smaller and the pebbles more scarce. 

Kalaloch Beach, view south

Big ravens flew by every now and then and the elder chika, always looking out for the birds, took plenty photographs of the ravens. 

Common Raven

Meanwhile the younger chika found some evidence of other beach life form. In this case - the remains of a deceased crab. 

The human population on the beach wasn't very dense, there were only a few other people walking on the sandy strip. THere were however, plenty of other evidence of human activity on the beach. 

Cairn

Sea gulls were lined up along the strand line to me they all looked the same but the elder chika was already taking photographs. 

One of these gulls turned out to be an Olympic Gull - a hybrid of the western and glaucus-winged gull species that meet in this area and interbreed.  

Olympic Gull

Besides the gulls there were also terns about. The terns weren't standing on the beach but flying back and forth over the water. 

Caspisn Tern

Gulls and terns are the usual inhabitants of the waterfront. There were other birds there - American crows. The crows were not right by the water though, but were pecking at something on the sand, well away from the waves.  

American Crows

When we got near the place where the crows were they took flight and revealed what they were pecking at - a rotting piece of human-processed driftwood with barnacles attached to one of its ends. That piece of wood may have been part of a dock that detached and drifted to the shore where the dying barnacles became crow-chaw. 

Goose Barnacles

We continued south on the beach to where the cliff on the east was meeting the water in the form of separating rocks and boulders, some of which still topped with vegetation. The water invaded the rocks, creating an small area of tide pools. Naturally, we went over to explore. 

Kalaloch Beach, view south

Barnacles is a common name for a group of beings that attach themselves to a stable substrate and live by filtering plankton from the water. Those beings aren't necessarily related biologically. Some are crustaceans, some are mollusks. 

Barnacles

We took off our shoes, rolled up the trousers and wandered on and between the sleek, shiny rocks. The gentle waves filled the cracks between them and drained back to the ocean in a peaceful, relaxing rhythm. 

Still submerged under water were sea anemones, fully open and receptive to what the waves bring to them. There were many small and dark anemones and also groups of giant green anemones. 

Giant Green Anemone

The anemones, barnacles and mussels were the most visible beings in the tide pools. On a closer look we could also see some starfishes glued to the rocks. All and all, the tide pool life we saw there was pretty similar to what we commonly see on the Californian beaches. 

Starfish and Giant Green Anemone

We spent a long and lovely time at that part of the beach. To continue more south would necessitate bypassing other rocky areas and perhaps getting trapped by the rising tide. We decided at that place to turn around and start heading back north. 

Kalaloch Beach, view south

We started slowly walking back north. Going close to the coastal cliff I had a chance to take a closer look at the rocks. It was interesting to see the dark patina that covered the ight part of the cliff. 

Of shore on the northwest was a long and flat island. A tall pinnacle poked the sky on the left tip of the island. 

Destruction Island 

I called the elder chika over to take a photograph of the island with the powerful zoom of her birding lens. The pinnacle turned out to be a lighthouse. 

Destruction Island 

I returned my attention to the cliff rocks. One of the big rocks that was separated from the main cliff had an interesting pattern of eroded holes which ad smooth pebbles nestled inside them. I very much suspect that these pebbles weren't placed there by nature. 

One of the things I remembered from my first visit at Kalaloch Beach 12 years ago was the numerous gray driftwood logs that were strewn on the black sand. This time there were much fewer of these logs, but we did see some. They reminded me of whale bones. 

The group of gulls seemed to have grown larger whike we were at the tide pools. Most of them stood idle by the water line but some were in the shallows, poking the mud for edibles. 

Kalaloch Beach, view north

We paused for a little bit by the gulls so that the elder chika could take some close up photos of the birds. 

Western Gull

There in that group of gulls were both western gulls and the glaucus-winged gulls, the parental species of the Olympic gull hybrids. 

Glaucus-winged Gull

Meanwhile I found a cluster of small eggs on the sand. These were likely sea snail eggs, and having been swept on the shore, were likely dead. 

Sea Snail Eggs

The beach seemed to have emptied of even the few people it had before. We had this gorgeous beach almost all to ourselves now. 

Kalaloch Beach, view north

The elder chika exclaimed ad pointed at the waves - a single seal was bobbing up and down in he water. He seemed to be checking us out. 

Harbor Seal

On the wet mud area that was routinely washed by the waves were the shiny, transparent remains of a jellyfish. We didn't sea any others. 

Jellyfish remains

There were other dead things swept onto the shore. A small deceased fish among them. I thought it was interesting that the gulls didn't find it. Not yet, anyway. 

Pacific Tomcod

Other than the birds, the only other wildlife we saw on the beach were a few flies and a pretty ladybug that settled on one of the gray pebbles. 

Ladybug

Wildlife however, don't necessarily make the most interesting sights. On that beach were also wood pebbles - pieces of wood smoothened and polished by the waves. One of these pebbles was holed, by what force, I don't know. Inside the holes the inner wood was bright orange. 

We reached the place where we have descended to the beach. I proposed going north for a little bit but the youth expressed their hunger and so we said goodby to the beach and started ascending the trail back to the parking lot. 

Kalaloch Beach, view north

I took that opportunity to check out once more the vegetation along that trail from the beach to the parking area. 

Angelica, Angelica sp.

Apparently there were a few wildflowers blooming there, that I have missed going down the trail earlier. 

Creeping Buttercup, Ranunculus repens

Although the vegetation was nice and pretty on its own right, my remaining impression of Kalaloch Beach is of the great dark beauty of that gem of a coastline, almost empty of human presence. 

Red-berried Elder, Sambucus racemosa

We drove out of there to look for a place to eat, and for another hike at the Quinault River after lunch.