2008 June 15 - Olympic National Park, WA

This is an impact photo. What you see in the foreground is accessible to humans, the area directly behind in the background is not (at least not easily). Notice the difference? (Yes, Dad, we do affect our environment.)

My observations from:
06/15/2008
- 5:17 am 15th morning, visit the recommended tide pools
- onto to 4th beach for some tide pool action, lowest tide of our visit, get up at 4:45 am ... be ready to walk a long ways, the rock formations close to the beach entrance have NO wildlife nearby ... unless you count Homo sapiens
- big difference between where people walk and where they usually can't get wildlife wise
- we love seeing the starfish, sea anemones, and shellfish/clams/bivalves/polyp animals

- From the lookout at 4th Beach, we could see a pair of seals popping their heads up between waves and a porpoise breaching himself for air

- How many days of sunshine do they get?

- How many foggy days do they get?

- This trip has re-enforced our low opinion of Dodge, our Avenger sucks: it is very squeaky, it doesn't handle at all well - rather than hugging and embracing the road it repels it, NOT recommended for the windy, twisty road out here in Olympic National Forest

- Heading up to the NW tip, Cape Flattery, the Makah Museum is nice to walk through, but their US and Canadian made goods are a little pricey ... come to think of it, their Chinese made goods are a little pricey too
- the roadway is very windy, and can be headache inducing ... especially with a poorly handling vehicle
- the Cape Flattery walk is moderately stressful and the end of the trip is a real let down, but the lookout points set up before the tip are much more interesting
- I am really tired of PWT tossing their trash wherever, even in pristine wilderness I couldn't get away from cigarette butts, banana peels, and gobs of trash, doesn't anybody else like the wild to look wild? It would take hours to clean up each trail, but only seconds for a single person to keep their trash to themselves until a trashcan is available ... grr!

- drive back, stop in Forks for pizza and salad, run by hardware store (where horrible country music on the speakers made my ears burn)
- we have some incredibly noisy elephants (uh, neighbors), their footfalls are the loudest ever, and someone across the way keeps honking their horn at midnight
- get tomorrow's stuff together and prep for an early departure