Pacific Northwest: Last Days (May 18-20)

Even though our trip was drawing to an end, we needed some downtime. I did sneak out for an hour or so to visit the Museum at the Carnegie on Saturday, the last day it would be open before we left. It is a small but very nicely done museum that offers some great information about Clallam County. I bought two raffle tickets for a silk painting of red tulips to benefit the museum and thoroughly enjoyed visiting with the docent volunteer who was born and raised in the area.

With so little time left, on Sunday we hit the road to take in as much as we could.



We wanted to do a hike at Lake Crescent, the beautiful lake we'd driven by so many times on our way to other places. So we hiked part of the Spruce Railroad Trail along the lake's shore, just to the Devil's Punchbowl, a beautiful spot with incredibly clear and impossibly blue water. It reminded us a lot of Lake Tahoe or Crater Lake.


Lake Crescent

Surprised to see touring type bikes instead of mountain bikes on the muddy trail


Mike at the bridge over Devil's Punchbowl

Susan above Devil's Punchbowl

Falling water, but hardly a waterfall :-)

After our 2.5 mile roundtrip hike, we decided to drive back to Port Townsend again, taking a most circuitous route to see more of the northeastern part of the Olympic Peninsula. We actually left the Olympic Peninsula and set foot on the Kitsap Peninsula briefly by crossing the Hood Canal Floating Bridge. The bridge is the third longest floating bridge in the world, and the longest in a saltwater tidal basin.


Driving across the Hood Canal Bridge

Then we drove up through Port Ludlow to bag Ludlow Falls as our 10th and final waterfall of the trip. The town seemed very tidy and we had read that the trail to the waterfall was meticulously maintained by volunteers, but still we did not expect see one of them sweeping the stairs and handrails along the trail!

Ludlow Falls

A very well-maintained trail to the falls by proud Ludlow locals

Ludlow Falls, near Port Ludlow

Heading north, Mike accommodated my desire to look around and we detoured across Indian Island all the way to Fort Flagler State Park at the tip of Marrowstone Island.


View from the northeast point of Marrowstone Island and Ft Flagler SP,
looking across Puget Sound to Whidbey Island

Finally we arrived in to Port Townsend, stopping again at Sirens Pub for our last dinner. On our way back to our car we observed two colorful young women at their steampunk tarot card reader booth. Unfortunately, we did not photograph them, but I doubt that the memory will fade any time soon.

Our last day was filled with packing and cleaning up, in preparation for a long day of travel Tuesday. It rained a lot which made it a little easier to say goodbye to this place that we called home for the past month.


The view from our "home" in Port Angeles

Next time we visit the Olympic Peninsula we hope to:
  • Hike to Shi Shi Beach
  • Stay at Lake Quinault Lodge & explore the surrounding area
  • Hike in the Olympics in summer
  • Kayak
  • Visit Protection Island
  • Visit Damon Point in winter to see Snowy Owls
And on the nearby mainland and islands:
  • Visit the Skagit Valley at tulip time
  • Drive the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler, BC
  • Visit North Cascades NP and Mt Ranier
  • Whale-watch and kayak around San Juan Islands
  • Return to Butchart Gardens in mid-summer, fall and tulip time
  • Explore more northerly parts of Vancouver Island
We travel to a lot of places, but this part of the country, with its mountains, lakes, rainforests, ocean, lighthouses, beaches, waterfalls and wild places, will definitely be one of our favorites. 

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful photographs I enjoyed every single one of them and that water looked to tempting especially with it being so hot right now and nice cool dip into a nice refreshing water like that would for sure cool me down.

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