A Walk on Kalaloch Beach

August 28, 2015 7 Comments read Pacific, The Great Outdoors, Travel, USA, Washington, West

To get to Kalaloch’s Beach 2 on the Olympic Peninsula, you first need to take a short (very short!) hike through massively burled woods. From there, push on through the enormous berry bushes and rampant weeds that are threatening to overrun the trail, and trust that the little wooden drawbridge over a fairly deep gully will bear your weight. Then it’s just a short scramble over some driftwood and stones and you’re there–a wide sandy beach great for walks and tidepool viewing. And even on a summer Sunday, it was relatively deserted: I saw more bald eagles than I did other people.

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Hiking the Hoh: The Hall of Mosses

August 26, 2015 2 Comments read Attractions, Pacific, The Great Outdoors, Travel, USA, Washington, West

Keep running…forever?

As I’ve talked about before, the Pacific Northwest is home to the largest temperate rainforest zone in the world, stretching from Northern California into Alaska. Located in the Olympic National Park, the trees of the Hoh Rainforest are protected from commercial logging, which means that the unique mosses and lichens that can only survive in old growth forests thrive here. Though there were a number of other hikers present on the day I visited, it wasn’t far from the ranger station that I ceased to hear the sounds of human activity. It was so peaceful. Birds called and chattered. I looked up and saw a hawk gliding through the trees. Dappled sunlight filtered through the canopy, and everywhere was this lush, verdant green. It seemed hard to believe that a wildfire had been burning in the forest since May, a fire in this rainforest for the first time in living memory. It’s just another reminder of just how dry this year has been everywhere, that a fire could rage out of control for months in a rainforest, this particular area one of the wettest in the entire United States! It wasn’t bad when I visited, no smoke or anything on the tiny portion of the trails I hiked, but it’s still deeply disturbing to think that this treasure could be in danger–not just from fires, but also from invasive species.

Yesterday marked the 99th anniversary of the national park service, and I’d like to thank them for all the hard work they do to protect and preserve these important, beautiful sites. Not just for our enjoyment or the enjoyment of future generations, but for all of the flora and fauna that can only thrive in wild spaces and can’t protect themselves from encroachment. And I’d like to encourage all of you to get out there and find your park!

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A Haven for Trolls in Sequim, WA

August 24, 2015 1 Comment read Pacific, Travel, USA, Washington, West

Some settings make the mythological seem more plausible. I found myself in Sequim on a misty morning, fog curling around the trees, and it made sense to me that trolls would congregate at Bandy’s Troll Haven, a place where the sun would never turn them to stone, a place that lives up to their legendary reputation of overruning farms and estates. Gary Bandy, the creator of Troll Haven, was deeply interested in Tolkein’s Middle Earth stories and was wealthy enough (from his invention of a special door hinge) to decorate his properties in truly eccentric fashion, scattering trolls, wizards, and dragons around his castle and surrounding orchards and farmland. Better yet, some of the properties of Troll Haven are available to rent–I’m already pondering ideas for epic parties. I hope they have a recommended vendor for insurance in case of party-crashing trolls.