Our day started with a trip to the visitor information centre where we equipped ourselves with hiking maps, national park passes and of course some local knowledge. Our first stop was Elwha where we did a few warm up hikes before heading to Lake Crescent to climb to the peak of mount storm king. The drive through to lake was pretty impressive with the surrounding mountains reflecting off the glassy water, but the hike was definitely the highlight of the day. The trail was well marked (thank god) and pretty steep, with an elevation of around 3000ft! Te marked trail didnt quite take us up to the summit though and at the end there was a sign, a pretty sketchy trail and a rope. We passed a couple who told us they weren't quite adventurous to take on the rope which I guess we kind of took as a challenge!! That and we really wanted to see the view from the top! We pulled ourselves up the rope (just) trying to keep our footing as the loose gravel was slipping under our feet and there was sheer drop offs either side! We did eventually make it to the top and it was well worth every swear word I think that left my mouth on the way up as I was kinda freaking out by the drop offs either side of the path and how high we actually were!
As usual, the descent was much worse than the climb up as it was no longer a cardio work out to get up the steps but a real quad burner to maintain stability and get down the hill!
Marymere falls was next and then we tested out our new frisby in the sun on a grassy knoll. Lets just say without knowing it, I've become a pro overnight!
We stayed in a campground in the national park that night (free camping as there was no facilities or water - another night without showers!!) and had some friendly deer to share our evening with!
The beaches along the coast were very unimaginatively name beach 1, beach 2, beach 3 and so on.. We stopped off at beach 4 to have a look on our way to the campground. The water was very flat, the sand was black and scattered with drift wood and skipping stones! Not like the beaches were used to back home that's for sure but a very welcomed change of scenery.
The Kalaloch beach campsite that we stayed at was awesome; beach front camping with a view! We wandered the beach for a while, practiced our frisby skills and then retired to the campsite with a cider to watch the sun set! Perfect afternoon really :)
The next morning the weather had turned on us and it started to rain a little after we'd returned from our morning run! We'd made the decision though that today we would try and 'shower' or at least wash in some way and I really needed to wash my hair!! My hair was 'washed' under the outside tap and Rhys helped wash the freezing cold water through my hair.. I don't think I've ever had a brain freeze from the outside.. New experience to say the least!
Feeling clean (or at least cleaner) we hit the road and made our way toward Portland, sad to be leaving the solitude of the national park. I was in the drivers seat which took a little while for both of us to get used to! W drove through Forks, which is one of the places in twilight and they have certainly made the most of that with almost every store in the small town advertising the fact!!
We took the scenic route to Portland, down along the waterfront but the weather was very overcast so we didn't get to see a whole lot!
Once in Portland our first stop was to find a pod for the top of the car.. We'd put some of our stuff on the roof the night before and the space it created when we slept was amazing.,we couldn't go bak to sleeping with all our stuff crammed into the bak again!!
With a new pod and some new boxes to organise all our stuff, we treated ourselves to a meal out and slept like kings with a whole lot more space at Walmart!
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