Sword Fern is prolific along the west side of the Olympics, becoming the major ground cover in some areas. It is also prolific in my yard … I’ve got several that provide year round beauty.
Sword Fern
Kestner Homestead Nature Walk
The Kestner Homestead is near the Quinault National Park Ranger Station. Depending on your choice of route (there are several loops), the distance is a couple miles. It is a beautiful spot to appreciate the lush growth of this temperate rainforest.
N Fork Quinault Trailhead
The building above is used to store food for pack animals used by trail crews. The North Fork trail is one of the heavier used … it’s often the trail of choice for Scouts getting a 50 mile hike in for a merit badge. The Scouts typical route starts up the Elwha and crosses Low Divide and then down the North Fork. The 44.3 miles (shown on the sign below) to Whiskey Bend is misleading, since for the last number of years the road has been washed out and it’s a 5 mile hike to get there from the Elwha Road.
Quinault River Views
I have published shots from this spot before, but I was there last week again and took these from the middle of the bridge that connects the North Shore Road and the South Shore Road. While the river looks well behaved here, it recently washed out the South Shore Rd. That means a longer drive on a road that has foot deep potholes in places to get to the East Fork Quinault Trail. It is also a special treat to visit one of the major temperate rain forest valleys with such wonderful sunny weather.
Quinault River, Upstream and Downstream II
These two images are taken from the same location as my last post … different days, different years, different cameras. These are taken with my first digital camera (an Olympus E10). The images are much softer … a lot less detail. I like the softness that gives the images, even though it does create limits to your editing (such as the strange edges on the clouds on the image above).
Again, these are taken from the bridge over the Quinault River just outside the Olympic National Park boundary.
