The Olympic Mountains

The Olympic Peninsula is home to the last old-growth temperate rainforest in N. America. It is also dominated by the Olympic Mountains, a wilderness area only accessible on foot for the most part. However, the north side, facing Juan de Fuca Strait and Canada, is only a few miles from US 101 and Port Angeles; and less than three-hours from Tacoma.

It’s late September and the tourist season is about to end in Olympic National Park, so we fit in a weekend visit to the Log Cabin Resort on Lake Crescent.

The highest peak in the Olympic Mountains is Mount Olympia, standing at 7980 feet, and there are many peaks over 6000 feet. None of them are volcanoes, however; they were formed by collision of N. America with the tectonic plate underlying the Pacific Ocean. I’ll discuss that in another post.

Lake Crescent was created when a landslide blocked the outlet of a valley cut by alpine glaciers over the last couple million years. Its maximum depth is 600 feet, and it contains exceptionally clear water because of a low nitrogen content (no pollution) and thus no algal growth. It is twelve miles long and thus popular with sport boaters. I didn’t see anyone fishing, so maybe no algae means no fish.

We followed the Spruce Railroad Trail 1.7 miles to this tunnel, which is huge when you pass the smaller entrance; however, it is only a couple hundred yards long. Nevertheless, as the sign says, it is very dark inside, especially later in the day. It leads to a favorite site for visitors.

The Spruce Railroad Trail circumnavigates Lake Crescent (about 11 miles), but we didn’t go that far. Devils Punch Bowl is a deep hole with steep cliffs and a walkway. Adventurous young people were leaping into the cold water and sunning on the nearby rocks, but I didn’t see anyone jumping from the top of the cliff more than 60 feet above us.

This is the view from our back yard. I took some photos of the half-moon when it was still light, but this is my favorite because of the moon’s reflection on the still water of Lake Crescent.

We spent a very quiet night in our log cabin, which had a modern heating system and was very cozy, then drove to the Hurricane Ridge trail head. The trail was asphalt paved and climbed about 1000 feet in (supposedly) 1.8 miles. It was steep near the top but wide enough for wheelchairs to use easily. This is the view from the top, which was at an elevation of about 5500 feet; that’s Mount Olympia across a deep valley.

This is the view looking north. That’s Vancouver Island, British Columbia, across the cloud-covered Juan de Fuca Strait. The brighter area above the two peaks is Victoria. We were there last month.

This photo shows the trail we followed along a ridge like those seen in the background. The many sharp peaks are reminiscent of the Cascades Mountains, but these were formed by alpine glaciers in combination with a high uplift rate, rather than volcanic processes.

Final Thoughts

The weather in the Olympic Mountains was exceptionally nice this weekend. The drive was easy and traffic low because it was the last day of the season. Overall, I can’t think of a better place to spend a couple of days.

Try to make it if you’re ever in the Pacific Northwest…between April and September.