A Month in Sequim, WA; It's Been Three Weeks Already?

When planning our summer in Western Washington we anticipated temperatures in the 60's and 70's, good temps for our favorite activity: hiking. We've actually had a bit of a heat wave (desert lovers will roll their eyes over this) with temps in the 80's. Fortunately there are plenty of forested trails within an hours drive of Sequim.

One of those forested trails is the Humes Ranch Loop along the Elwha River. The Elwha River had been dammed for 100 years and efforts have been underway to remove the two dams since 2011, with complete removal anticipated in September 2014. This is the largest dam removal project in recorded history and a goal of the project is to enable all five species of Pacific salmon and four species of trout to return in the numbers seen before damming (400,000 salmon per year as opposed to 4,000).

About 95% of the trail is in the forest with a short section along the river and also passes by a couple of historic cabins dating to the late 1800's. It's best to hike the loop counter clockwise so you take the steepest part downhill.

The Elwha River is a lovely shade of blue and has a wide floodplain.

At Goblin's Gate the river makes an abrupt turn...

...and the water is funneled into a narrow rocky channel.

Further upriver we could see how incredibly clear the water is.
The river is at least 10 feet deep in this pocket.

Historic Humes Ranch.

Historic Michael's Cabin.

One morning we headed into the mountains anticipating a 6 mile hike in the forest when our way was blocked by this downed tree.

Closer inspection revealed it had been cut halfway through allowing it to fall across the road. We learned later that local logging supporters use vandalism such as this to protest attempts to expand the Olympic wilderness area.

We attempted to move the tree but too many other trees were in the way.

We ended up doing a short local hike at Robin Hill Farm where we suprised this cutie in the forest:

During one of our Sequim countryside drives we discovered a place to access the coast at Marlyn Nelson County Park. This park sits at the convergence of Sequim Bay and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. One morning with a very low tide we took a walk on the beach, heading South towards the spit that encloses Sequim Bay. It's about 1.5 miles to the spit and starts out with a bluff on the land side that gives way to an open wetlands and then a lagoon so you get to experience a variety of habitats.

At low tide there is plenty of rocky beach to walk on but very little of it was hard packed,
so even three miles RT is a workout.

Here the bluff side becomes wetlands.
Lots of driftwood along the beach.

The Olympic Mountains provide a stunning backdrop to this driftwood tipi.

This week has also included some social time. We finally got to meet Jim and Gayle of Life's Little Advenutres! They are avid hikers and bikers too so we've long wanted to meet up with them but our paths have always been just a little off. And while we did not have an opportunity this time to hit the trail together, we did have a great dinner with lots of spirited conversation and I am sure our paths will cross again somewhere, sometime.

We also met up with Jim and Gayle and the crew they camp with as well as former San Diegans Angela and Debbie at a Farm Store Stomp at Nash's Organic Farm in Sequim. Fun, casual, homey atmosphere at the barn!

Barn Dance at Nash's Organic Farm.

As mentioned above, long ago San Diego friend Angela and her cousin Debbie joined us at our campsite for a few nights. They pitched a tent on our site and we shared dinners and a hike on the Dungeness Spit. We had an excellent sunny, minus tide day on the Spit and chose to hike about half of the 5.5 mile spit. Here, the sand was firm and easier to walk on than the beach we'd hiked earlier in the week. Though it's a relatively flat beach walk, there is plenty to see along the way.

Colorful container ship.

 

Tons of driftwood to capture your imagination.

Hermann's gulls with their bright red beaks.

Hans, Angela and Debbie enjoying the sun and sweet breeze as the Spit stretches out in front of us.

Shimmering in the distance across the tidal flats lies the New Dungeness Lighthouse.
It would be an 11 mile round trip hike, had we chosen to go all the way out there.

Mt Baker is a specter across the Strait.

A truly fabulous dinner of fresh ravioli and grilled veggies with good friends!

Super moon rise over Sequim Bay.

A larger view of this lovely Bay.