Trail Benches

Trail Benches

The trail up Mt Ellinor in the SE corner of the Olympic Mountains (outside of the National Park) is one of the most heavily used in the Olympics. It’s a reasonable hike up to a spectacular view. There are three trailheads … One at the bottom at Big Creek Campground (a 6 mile hike with lots of additional elevation gain), one at the “mid-point” (a 3.1 mile hike) and the upper trailhead (a 1.6 mile hike) — all mileages one way. Those choosing the upper trailhead to shorten the hike miss some wonderful forest, including this bench-rock location. The boulder covered with lichen and moss is worth spending time with … and the matching benches are a nice feature … although when you’re hiking by yourself, they seem excessive.

Ocean Spray Breaking Over Trail

Ocean Spray Breaking Over Trail

I thought it looked like waves of ocean spray were breaking over this trail. Ocean Spray is also called “ironwood” because the wood is so hard. NW native peoples used the wood for such things as arrows and harpoon shafts. It was also used as nails in carpentry before iron was available. It is common from sea level to mid elevations in the Pacific Northwest.

Trail Views — Rocky Mountains vs Olympics

Trail View 1

My last post showed some Rocky Mountain views and I mentioned how I prefer the mossy/ferny Olympic Mountains. Here are some trail shots from the Rockies. Nice country. The last image, however, is from the Olympic National Park and shows a typical trail. Much different.

Trail View 2
Trail View 3
Trail View — Olympic National Park

Autumn Trails

Autumn Trails 1

I know … it’s the wrong time of year for autumn shots. Oh well. I was going through some older shots and saw these two trails. They were both in Montana, near Whitefish. It was middle of September, but you can see a slight dusting of snow just left of center, along the ridge line. We got into snow before we got to the top … and we were cold and tired. Fortunately, we found a ski area at the top and rode the chair lift down to where our car was parked.

Autumn Trails 2

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