It's About the (RV) Journey....: Olympic National Park- Waterfalls, Lowland Forests, Lakes and Rivers.............

We continued our exploration of Olympic National Park (ONP) by searching out waterfalls. Sol Duc Falls, a 1.6 mile RT hike through lowland forest was first on our list. It has been described as a signature waterfall in ONP, and we were looking forward to hiking a bit.

Sol Duc Falls

very nice trail through lowland forest

still lots of moss everywhere

the trees are really tall here too

see the tree fungus Susie?

not the rainforest, but still quite wet here

nice peaceful waterfall

isn't that peaceful? Wish you could here the sound too....and smell the pine

enjoying the trail to the waterfall

what is that?

waaaay up there?

the structure ahead is a shelter the rangers were working on. We saw them getting ready to hike in with the building supplies carried in packs by horses!

almost there

nice that not too many people were here yet

here are the three main falls...so peaceful with just a couple of us here

very nice

hard to photograph

nice view from the bridge

isn't this nice?

so tranquil here

one last view from the bridge heading back

Sul Duc Falls was easy to find, with great signage along the way so we did not get lost (a frequent occurrence since we've been in the Pacific Northwest)! It was fairly early in the morning, so the hike and the view at the falls was not crowded at all. Very nice to have semi-private viewing of a waterfall in a national park during the 4th of July weekend!

other side of the bridge

slowly meandering down

VERY tall trees!

well isn't this just the cutest little bench!

We also stopped along the way at the Salmon Cascade, but the river was so low, there was no way salmon were swimming upstream! We looked anyway though.

seems like not enough water for the salmon to run up river

just beautiful though....a nice green river with a few "Swimming hole" areas

The other waterfall we planned on visiting was Marymere Falls, which was in the Lake Crescent area. We were so intent on waterfalls, we didn't even look at the lake information until we passed one of the most beautiful lakes I've seen in the United States-Lake Crescent! In fact, one of the trails off the Marymere Falls trail went to Lake Crescent Lodge. This hike was about the same distance, but was a much different hike. It was a beautiful hike through the forest, of course, but at the end of the hike is a loop to view the waterfall and it was pretty steep. No problem for most people, there are steeply graded steps the whole way up, and railings too....but it just was a bit high for me. No photos as I was having issues on the this part of the trail. Poor Tom...he is my hero! Going down is so much worse than going up. For once, I wasn't the only one with issues. Tom noticed two young guys that were so afraid, they had to go down the way we came up because the other way following the loop was just too much. Don't I know it!

heading to Lake Crescent area

wow oh wow

starting the trail to the waterfall

oh good, we are going right past part of the lake

aahhhhh.....just gorgeous

special features in this lowland forest as well

cool!

can't get over the size of the trees here

great trail so far...very nicely maintained

you can see not much water.....very dry here

closer to the falls!

oh man....look at all those stairs way up there, and that's only the "lower" part...it gets way worse!

pretty view from the bridge

the beginning isn't bad at all...its a few flights when it gets "scary"

lots more stairs to go!

are we there yet?

is that Marymere Falls?

there it is!!!

The falls were awesome! Well worth the height at the end for such a great view of spectacular falls in the middle of a pristine forest. Very nice!! The trail and the viewpoint were fairly crowded, since it was late morning already on the holiday weekend. Great to see so many people enjoying the national park!

really nice!

so picturesque

what a beautiful waterfall

the walk "DOWN" was not too much fun and I was happy to see the bridge again (whew)!

there's my hero now!

OMG....I am still recovering from that frightful walk at the very top- going down is the worst!

Once back down from the falls area, the hike was really easy and enjoyable. It was getting hot (either that or I was overheated from sweating through the height issue), and we had our lunch in a nice shady picnic area near the parking lot.

Recovering!!! Its water....honest!!!

my hero.....

On our way back, we just had to stop at the beautiful Crescent Lake. The water was gorgeous...blue, turquoise, green....and the lake was surrounded by forested mountains. Heaven on earth if you ask me. I was having visions of floating on a tube in the lake-I think because I was so hot. Hahah. Anyway, it was a gorgeous place. I found a wonderful home for us too, just in case we hit the bazillion dollar lottery!!