Olympic National Park

Arthur noticed this Taylor’s Checkerspot (Euphydryas editha taylori), up on the Hurricane Hill Trail in the Olympic National Park. It is an endangered species, and we reported the sighting and uploaded some photographs to the State of Washington.

Arthur took this photograph of Sebastian, Jeri, and Eric on the Hurricane Hill Trail. Using a telephoto lens can make distant objects (the mountains) appear far closer than they are.

One of Arthur’s photographs of an Olympic Chipmunk (Tamias amoenus caurinus), a creature found only on the Olympic Peninsula.

A young buck of the mule deer (black-tailed deer) species (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) near the trail-head for the Hurricane Hill Trail.

A close-up view of the black-tailed deer buck.

This young black-tailed deer was keeping a close eye on a toddler who was trying to get to it. The little child probably only wanted to hug or pet the deer, but the deer, who was younger than the human child, was not going to take any chances.

This very young black-tailed deer (mule deer of the columbianus sub-species) fled a small human child and went onto a snow patch on Hurricane Ridge.

Arthur, Jeri, and Sebastian stand on a snow patch on Hurricane Ridge where the Big Meadow Loop and the High Ridge Trail intersect. The snow near the visitor center was still abundant in patches, but there was less snow (and, subsequently, more wildflowers) along the Hurricane Hill Trail.

Arthur holds a June snowball while Sebastian takes a photograph as they stand on a snow patch covering the High Ridge Trail on Hurricane Ridge.

I believe that is West Peak (highest point, on the left; 2,245 m / 7,365 ft). The day was exceptionally clear, and the distant mountains appear quite near when looking through the 300mm lens I was using.

This large rodent is an Olympic Marmot (Marmota olympus), a fairly rare relative of the common groundhog or woodchuck. This species is only found in the Olympic Peninsula, and due to coyote depredation fostered by a warming climate, their numbers are declining. Perhaps as few as 1,000 individuals remain.

The Olympic marmot looks cute when you see its tongue.

The Olympic marmots are social creatures. David Barash’s 1973 monograph The Social Biology of the Olympic Marmot is the standard authoritative text on them.

Marmots spend most of the time during the months from October through March in a state of torpor (hibernation), and spend much of their waking hours from May through September eating everything that grows in the alpine meadows where they live.

We saw this Olympic black bear (Ursus americanus altifrontalis, one of several sub-species of the black bear) up on a slope as we drove down from Hurricane Ridge.

The bear was well-aware that several cars had pulled over and people were viewing it, but it seemed unconcerned; it was about 80 meters away up a steep slope from the road.

American black bears are fairly closely related to Asian black bears.

The black bear is an omnivore, and so it can enjoy eating plants, which is what we saw this one doing.

Eric’s photograph of two black-tailed deer approaching Arthur, with a yearling buck getting some grass.

This is the photograph Arthur took of the previous scene, with the yearling buck nibbling grass as the two black-tailed deer approach Arthur.

Eric’s second photograph of the black-tailed deer approaching Arthur.

In this photograph the young buck is on the right, and the mother doe is on the left.

The doe and her buck walked within two or three meters of us, as we stood perfectly still. (photo by Arthur Hadley-Ives)

The black-tailed deer are quite tame on Hurricane Ridge. No hunting is allowed in the National Park.

An alert doe on Hurricane Ridge.

This black-tailed deer buck was calming browsing on the alpine meadow. Usually black-tailed bucks live about eight years in the wild, although with fantastic luck in the best conditions they may live over 15 years.

Alpine Lupine growing on Hurricane Ridge, about a mile down from the visitor center parking lot, at the Switchback Trail trail-head below Mount Angeles.

Pacific Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa) growing at the Switchback Trail trail-head. This type of flower is usually pink, but here it has a more purple hue.

More Pacific Bleeding Heart.

This is probably an Evergreen Violet (Viola sempervirens), but there are a couple other yellow violets growing in the Olympic Peninsula with similar leaves: the Smooth Yellow Violet (Viola glabella) and the Roundleaf Violet (Viola orbiculata), and this might well be one of those.

Although it is difficult to distinguish this flower from a pink Purslane (Claytonia sibirica), I think this is actually littleleaf miners’ lettuce (Montia parvifolia). The Claytonia and Montia plants are related in the Portulacaceae family, mainly found in western North America and northeastern Siberia.

This salal (Gaultheria shallon) is a very common flower, found along the coast, in forests, and at lower elevations in the mountains (this one was at Lookout Rock at 2,464 ft / 751 m).

This seems to be broad-leaved starflower (Trientalis borealis), although it could be northern starflower (Trientalis europaea subsp. arctica). This was seen at Lookout Rock on the road going to Hurricane Ridge.

Looking across the Puget Sound from Lookout Rock toward Mount Baker in the Northern Cascades.

The view toward the Olympic Mountains from Lookout Rock.

Clouds around a mountain peak in the Olympic Mountains.

The Olympic Mountains seen from Lookout Rock.

Some spreading stonecrop (Sedum divergens) and moss at Lookout Rock.

Crescent Lake; a deep lake carved by glaciers.

Crescent Lake and wildflowers.

View of Crescent Lake from one of several turn-outs along US-101.

Arthur tends the campfire at our site in Three Rivers Campground between Forks and Mora. Both nights on this trip we cooked (or just warmed) our dinners on campfires, and we also roasted corn in the fire on our morning at Three Rivers.

Sebastian and Jeri stand by our car and look at the fire that is burning brightly in the Three Rivers Campground.

Roasting corn for breakfast at the Three Rivers campground.

The Three Rivers Resort campground is just outside the Quileute Nation (where Mora Road branches off from La Push Road), and some local handicrafts were for sale in the store.

This doll made by someone in the Quileute Nation was offered for sale in the store at Three Rivers Resort.

Such drums as this one are often used as a symbol of the indigenous people and their culture in the Pacific Northwest; this one is marked with the name of La Push, Washington, the main town of the Quileute Nation. The James Islands are shown with a traditional Northwest Coast eye motif on the main island.

When trees fall over a trail in a National Park forest, National Park staff (or persons contracted by the National Park Service) usually cut away parts of the tree that block the trail. The same seems to happen at Rialto Beach, where driftwood that blocks this way from the parking lot to the beach has been cut away to make it possible to access the beach without climbing over driftwood logs.

Looking out at the ocean from Rialto Beach, we saw small dark objects sticking up from the water in the distance. Some looked like dorsal fins, and seemed to move, so we guessed they might be whales or other aquatic creatures, but there are many dangerous rocks just under the surface as well, and no doubt some (or maybe all) of the things we noticed were actually rocks.

A view of Rialto Beach from the parking area, with Dahdayla Island (really just some rocks) on the horizon on the left. Our family has history at Rialto Beach. My grandmother told me about summer outings when the Iffland family (she, her cousins, an aunt or uncle or two, and perhaps her grandmother) would drive from Port Townsend to La Push and spend a couple days at the coast (staying at a motel in La Push rather than camping on the beach). These trips would have taken place in perhaps 1919-1930, after my great-grandparents had relocated to the Seattle area (from the Yukon, where my grandmother was born).

Arthur, Sebastian, and 春枝 begin walking along Rialto Beach from the parking lot toward Hole-in-the-Wall.

Arthur, Jeri, and Sebastian along the beach. Rialto is not the only beach near La Push, but the other beaches were not open for visits, because the Quileute nation was closed to outsiders during the COVID-19 Pandemic, which was just winding down in June of 2021. By coincidence, a day or so after returning to Oregon, I was helping my mom clean out some old papers and found a stack of photographs from 1962, which included a good photo of the James Islands from La Push.

Arthur walks along Rialto Beach.

Sebastian, Jeri, and Arthur walking along Rialto Beach with Little James Island and James Island behind them to the right. A causeway connects James Island to La Push, but only members of the Quileute Nation are allowed to go to James Island.

Arthur standing by the base of a driftwood log. The size of the driftwood logs along Rialto Beach can inspire awe in visitors. I suspect some of these logs have been here for many decades, if not a century or two. When storms occur during high tide the logs may be moved along the shore and tumbled around on the weathered pebbles making up the beach.

Jeri stands by one of the many large driftwood logs, posing by the root wad of the old tree. Over the many years since this tree washed up on Rialto Beach, pebbles and larger stones have become embedded in the wood.

Sebastian and Arthur examine the roots of an old driftwood log. A terrible earthquake (approximately magnitude 9) struck the coast of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia on the night of January 26, 1700, and in some places (e.g. Neskowin, Oregon), old tree stumps of forest submerged to tidal levels remain as witness to this disaster. I wonder whether any of these old logs might have come from a tsunami or earthquake disaster.

This driftwood log seems to be a more recent arrival on Rialto Beach. You can see Dahdayla Island in the distance on the left.

Here is a lovely pink and yellow sheet of smooth seaweed that has washed up on the beach. I suspect this is Pacific Dulse (Palmaria mollis or Palmaria palmata).

The grooved fragment of seaweed on the left is giant kelp (Macrocystis integrifolia or Macrocystis pyrifera). The piece on the right might be from the same species, but it could be Southern Stiff-stiped Kelp (Laminaria setchellii). These are all algae, and not plants.

Some Turkish Towel (Chondracanthus exasperatus) seaweed.

As we drew closer to Hole-in-the-Wall, the twin sea stacks revealed their larger size, and more sea stacks appear off the coast.

On the far right in this image you can see the actual hole of Hole-in-the-Wall. The southern twin of the Twin Sea Stacks takes up most of the image.

Arthur, Jeri, Sebastian, stand with a background of the southern twin of Twin Sea Stacks and Hole-in-the-Wall.

Arthur, Eric, and Sebastian at Rialto Beach with the southern twin of the Twin Sea Stacks behind them.

Arthur, Sebastian, and Jeri stand in front of the gap between Twin Sea Stacks.

Cake Rock off the coast from Hole-in-the-Wall. The distance from the beach to Cake Rock would be about the same distance as the walk from the parking lot for Rialto Beach out to Hole-in-the-Wall.

Cake Rock on the left and Dahdayla Island in the center or right, tide pools at Hole-in-the-Wall in the foreground at the bottom of the image.

Looking north through the Hole-in-the-Wall.

Looking south through Hole-in-the-Wall, with Twin Sea Stacks prominent in view.

The Hadley-Ives family on June 19th of 2021 at Hole-in-the-Wall at Rialto Beach.

Eric, Sebastian, Jeri, and Arthur (艾瑞克，艾世群，彭春枝，和艾德禮).

Tide pools and the Twin Sea Stack seen from Hole-in-the-Wall.

Tide pools and sea stacks; these are some of the attractions of the Pacific Coast of North America in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.

Sebastian and Jeri near Hole-in-the-Wall with Twin Sea Stacks behind them.

A closer view of Sebastian and Jeri.

Arthur near the Twin Sea Stacks on Rialto Beach.

A giant green sea anemone with some eel grass (Zostera marina).

Pigeon Guillemots in the sea as seen from the gap between the twin sea stacks on Rialto Beach.

The Pigeon Guillemots (Cepphus columba) are fairly common and widespread along rocky coasts, where they often nest in cliffs.

Looking up from the gap between the twin sea stacks at Rialto Beach near Hole-in-the-Wall.

Jeri stands at Hole-in-the-Wall with the Twin Sea stacks of Rialto Beach behind her.

Jeri demonstrating how two pieces of driftwood she found resemble the wooden mallet and block used in Buddhist temples back in Taiwan.

Sebastian and Arthur walking along Rialto Beach.

Eric approaching Hole-in-the-Wall (photograph by Arthur Hadley-Ives).

The forest comes right up to the beach at Rialto Beach. Arthur and Sebastian can be seen.

Eric waded and walked along the beach in the wet areas where the water was flowing over sand and pebbles, while Jeri, Arthur, and Sebastian kept their feet dry (even when crossing Ellen Creek) and mostly remained higher up on the beach.

We decided not to have our picnic lunch at Rialto Beach, because so many people were desperate to find parking spots. Instead, we drove to the Mora Campground and found some picnic tables near the Mora Ranger Station. From our picnic table, we could see an impressive forest, and also a fire hydrant, some distance from the campground and the ranger station.

The area near the Mora Campground where we had our picnic lunch had many tiny flowers of Siberian Miners’ Lettuce (Claytonia sibirica).

The edge of the forest where we enjoyed our lunch also had many of these flowers, which I suppose could be English Daisies.

As we drove south toward the Quinault Rainforest and Lake Quinault, we planned to stop at Ruby Beach, and we arrived there just as low tide was reaching a very low ebb. but the parking lot was full and cars seemed to be parked on every possible spot along US-101 for quite a distance from the parking lot, so we skipped the crowds (and missed the wonderful tide pools) to head down to Beach 2 closer to Kalaloch. This is the trail marker showing the way to Beach 2 from Highway 101.

Looking south on Beach 2 near Kalaloch.

Looking north at Beach 2 near Kalaloch. Low tide. If you want an uncrowded beach at low tide on a Saturday afternoon in June, this might be the right beach for you.

We did not spent much time at Beach 2 (no tide pools were evident). We amused ourselves briefly by stacking stones on driftwood.

Arthur and Sebastian on Beach 2 about ten minutes after a very low ebb tide.

The trail from the parking pull-out on Highway 101 to Beach 2 looks like this.

Sebastian stands on the Maple Glade trail. After our brief stop at Beach 2, our next destination was the rainforest around Lake Quinault, and specifically the ranger station and visitor center just northeast from Quinault Lake. Here we walked on the rainforest nature trail (the Maple Glade Rainforest Trail).

Berry blossom. I am pretty confident this is a thimbleberry or salmonberry (Rubus parviflorus) blossom).

Two salmonberries in the Quinault Rainforest. Salmonberries can be ripe and have this color, but far more often they become a deep ruby red when they ripen.

The salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis). Unripe and sour, but lovely.

The salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), nearly ripe. I have found ripe salmonberries in Oregon to be delightful, but the ranger on duty at the Quinault visitor center described them as too sour (requiring heaps of extra sugar to make decent jam), so maybe on the Olympic Peninsula they are not as sweet.

This is a common plant in the Willamette Valley and up and down the Pacific Northwest coast and coastal range, and it grows also in the Quinault Rainforest, where I photographed this specimen of Mexican Hedge Nettle (Stachys mexicana).

A stream with exceptionally clear water and much aquatic plant life seen from the Maple Glade Rainforest Trail.

It looks like Siberian Miner’s Lettuce (also known as candy flower or pink Purslane, Claytonia sibirica), but I rather think this could be the closely related miner’s lettuce (Montia parviflora also known as Claytonia perfoliata). Either way, it would be edible and, usually, in my opinion, tasty and tart.

The very clear well-filtered water of the forest stream in the Quinault rainforest along the Maple Glade Rainforest Trail.

A close-up view of some aquatic plants growing in the stream.

A lovely old tree in the Quinault rainforest.

Looking down the stream in the Quinault Rainforest.

Moss growing on a log lying in the Quinault rainforest.

Western skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) in the Quinault rainforest.

Bracket fungus (I cannot identify many bracket fungi; there are so many and they mostly look very similar to me).

The July Creek Picnic Area on the North Shore Road along Lake Quinault. There seems to have been a family using the lake shore across July Creek.

This picnic site near July Creek and Lake Quinault puts people close to some mighty trees.

This tree is the world’s largest spruce.

Here is Jeri at the base of the world’s largest spruce tree. The larger image is extremely large.

Eric climbed around the world’s largest spruce, and took this selfie while doing so.

Along the south shore of Lake Quinault.

A view of the scenery as we drove south on Wynooche Valley Road on our way back to I-5 while returning to Oregon.

Trees planted in a row along Wynooche Valley Road.

Woodcarving of Bigfoot in Oakville, Washington, a sort of gateway town as travelers approach or depart the Olympic Peninsula (especially if using I-5 and coming from Oregon).