Day 16 of Lupe’s 2012 Dingo Vacation to the West Coast.
After Lupe’s first day at the Pacific Ocean on the Washington coast, when she had visited both Rialto Beach and Beach 4; Lupe, Lanis and SPHP had ended up camping near the end of the day at Lake Quinault. Lake Quinault is a fairly large lake some distance inland from the ocean. The lake is partly sandwiched between the Quinault Indian Reservation, and the south border of Olympic National Park.
The SE side of Lake Quinault is in the Olympic National Forest. Lupe had spent the night with Lanis and SPHP in her tiny house at the Falls Creek campground. In the morning, Lupe and SPHP were up before Lanis. Lupe and SPHP started out the day sharing the remaining corned beef hash left over from the previous evening. SPHP then did some camp chores. Lanis still wasn’t up by the time they were done, so Lupe and SPHP used the opportunity to do a bit of exploring.
Naturally, the first thing to go look at was Lake Quinault itself. Lupe and SPHP followed a trail through the heavily forested campground down to the lake. Soon Lupe arrived near a beach where people could rent kayaks or canoes.
From the beach, a broad park-like lawn led up a hill to the Lake Quinault Lodge. Near the lodge were bushes featuring striking large flower clusters. The flower clusters came in either light blue or lavender. Lupe and SPHP had never seen flowers like these before. SPHP had no idea what kind of flowers these were, but they were really pretty.
Across the main road going by the Lake Quinault Lodge, Lupe and SPHP found a trail. There was a great deal of heavy undergrowth on both sides of the first part of the trail, almost as if it was lined by hedges. To Lupe, the trail was kind of like a path in a maze. The undergrowth was so dense, she couldn’t leave the trail, and so tall, she couldn’t see over it.
At first, the trail switch-backed repeatedly up a hillside. Farther on, the trail leveled out. Lupe passed a couple of small waterfalls. The trail then entered what signs said was a cedar bog. The bog wasn’t very wet, due to drought and the late August season, but it was full of moss and ferns. Tall cedar trees shaded most of the area.
Lupe came to a point where there was a sign that indicated she had come 1.7 miles from the road. The trail went on, and Lupe and SPHP would have liked to explore further, but it was probably time to be getting back to see if Lanis was up.
When Lupe reached the road again, instead of going past Lake Quinault Lodge, she took a different trail through Falls Creek campground back to her tiny house. On the way, Lupe and SPHP saw some pretty neat campsites. The best one was close to a beautiful pool of water at the base of a small waterfall. Other campsites were near a creek. There were some interesting footbridges crossing the creek, too.
Lanis was up, when Lupe and SPHP returned. He was ready to continue his duties as Lupe’s chauffeur! SPHP was glad that Lupe had gotten to see Lake Quinault and go to the cedar bog. It wouldn’t have been right to leave this pretty place without having a look around. As it was, though, more adventures were awaiting Lupe elsewhere. SPHP planned to take Lupe to see Mt. Rainier next!
As soon as everything was packed back up in the Honda Element; Lupe, Lanis and SPHP headed out. Lupe went S to Hoquiam, and then turned E. By the time she reached Olympia, the capitol of Washington state, she had almost completely circumnavigated the Olympic Peninsula since leaving Tacoma just 2 days before.
While Lupe was traveling from Seattle on the way to Tacoma a few days ago, SPHP had spotted Mt. Rainier in the distance. The snow-capped peak had looked huge and most impressive. SPHP wanted Lupe to get to see it. From Olympia; Lupe, Lanis and SPHP headed ESE on a series of small highways all the way to Elbe.
Lupe didn’t get to see Mt. Rainier. A big cloud bank hung over the area where Mt. Rainier was supposed to be. It was disappointing, to say the least. The small town of Elbe was as close to Mt. Rainier as Lupe got. SPHP had Lanis just turn S at Elbe, instead of continuing on to Mt. Rainier National Park. Since Lupe wasn’t going to get to see Mt. Rainier, SPHP at least had another destination in mind.
By the time Lupe, Lanis and SPHP reached the Iron Creek campground S of Randle, Lanis had done a lot of chauffeuring. It was getting late in the day, and time to stop. The campground was large and had a lot of loops. There were quite a few open campsites. Lanis and SPHP were able to find an open site well away from other campers.
Lupe’s tiny house was soon set up in a forest different from any others she had visited so far. Iron Creek campground is situated in a forest of Douglas firs. A few of the trees were ancient and gigantic. In some places, huge ferns grew on the forest floor. Moss was everywhere, and clung to everything. In the fading light; Lupe, Lanis and SPHP explored around a little bit near Lupe’s tiny house. This place was going to be worth seeing more of in the morning!
It was Lanis that suggested making a campfire. In all the camping Lupe had done, SPHP had rarely, if ever, made a campfire for her. Tonight it happened.
After dinner, Lupe lay beneath the picnic table watching the flickering flames light up the deep darkening forest. Lanis and SPHP chatted, and played cards. Who knows what thoughts went through the American Dingo’s mind, as darkness closed in on the dying embers in that primeval place?
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