We had a very early wake up this morning (for vacation standards), as we needed to make the 7:50 ferry to cross the Sound. There was a ton of traffic, which always freaks Scott out. We made the ferry, named Walla Walla. This was a massive ferry which allowed a ton of cars on it to cross to Sound. We got out of the truck and wandered around a little. It felt really weird walking and looking out the window seeing the water move in the opposite direction. It was cool to cross such a huge body of water on a ferry!

 

After the ferry, we entered Olympic National Park. We stopped at the visitor center, got our backcountry camping permit, and then headed into the park. Olympic National Park is quite massive, as it takes up most of the Olympic Peninsula. Parts of the peninsula are Olympic National Forest, so we saw a lot of logging areas which was kind of sad.

We drove up to Hurricane Ridge, somewhere Scott had been wanting to see. He has been to Olympic National Park a few times, but never visited this area. When we got to the top, there was a visitor center that sold food and gifts. There was also the most amazing view of the Olympic Mountains. We were able to see Mount Olympus, the highest peak in that mountain range. On the top of Mount Olympus, there is the Blue Glacier. Scott and his friend Pete have hiked to the bottom of this glacier before, so it was neat to see the upper part of it to see where he had been. We did a little hike around Hurricane Ridge, where we crossed some snow, had views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Mount Baker far in the distance (it was a pretty clear day!). There were signs everywhere warning us about aggressive mountain goats, and a trail closed because of them!

 

On our way to our next stop, I did some reading about these mountain goats. Apparently, some years ago hunters released 20 or so mountain goats into the region so they could hunt them. They were not able to get them all, and the goats began reproducing. Mountain Goats are not native to this area, and began doing a lot of damage to the landscape. In addition, they became aggressive toward humans, as they are very interested in the salt that comes from urine and sweat. They have also become accustomed to humans feeding them, and have been known to attack humans. One man was gored to death by a mountain goat. Last fall, the park began a trap and release program for these mountain goats. They are trying to get all of them out of the Olympic National Park, and relocate them to the Cascades where they belong. You should read about it, it’s pretty interesting!

We drove through Forks, WA (shout out to the Twilight fans out there!), and got to the southwestern part of the park where the Hoh Rainforest is. We parked, and started our hike. We did a quick 1-mile trip through the Hall of Mosses, then continued on the Hoh River Trail to our final destination for our campsite at 5-mile Island. Along the way, we saw the Donkey Brigade coming back from the ranger station 10 miles ahead. We set up camp on the river bank, which was both an amazing experience, and a freezing experience!

Check out these pictures of our campsite! So cool!