Louis seems to like to bring in these tiny little birds lately.  They are not much bigger than a golf ball.

Dosewallips State Park

Our last stop ended up being Dosewallips State Park.

We thought about going into the Dosewallips area of Olympic National Park. But there was a sign at the highway saying it was closed.
We took this to mean It was time to go home.

We slept near the Puget Sound side of the park.  During the night we could hear the tide coming and going.  At one point around midnight the birds all started making a racket, moments later the wind started up and it sounded like hail, we figure it was small pine cones pelting the camper...

The cats, Natasha and Louis were real troopers with the whole camping thing, but I think they were getting cabin fever and were ready for a run.

This video dipicts what Louis cat thought of the idea of going home..

Dungeness Spit Rec Area

Looking at the Olympic Mountains the clouds were really socked in, but looking out towards Sequim it was sunny.  They do say that Sequim is the sunniest place in western WA. 

So we decided to go to the Dungeness Rec area.  There is a trail to the beach, but again no dogs.  They do however allow dogs on the bluff trail.

You cannot see it here, but looking East there is a lighthouse out on a spit.

We left as the sun was setting over Port Angeles, WA

Just outside the park boundry a herd of deer crossed the road at the crest of the hill.

 

Elwa River, Whiskey Bend Road

Madison Falls was near the Elwa campground. 

In the morning we decided to drive up the canyon for a look at the Elwa River.

The main road was closed.  We don't know if this was because they close alot of places on October 1st for the season, or if it because there are 2 hydro Dams that are being removed, causing alot of areas around the Olympics to be closed.
  But we saw a road called Whiskey Bend Road, and decided to take it.

Here is a video of part of the drive we took...

Got a peek-a-boo look at one of the dams being removed.

There were some areas where you could see where the water level had gone down, leaving a rocky / muddy bare area.  But there were no views for photo's unless you wanted to take a long dogless walk...  

We did enjoy the drive though. 

Lake Crescent WA

Lake Crescent is facinating.  It is over 8 miles long and it's depth is still unknown, but it is over 1000ft deep.  They think it was created centuries ago from an earthquake causing mass landslides in the area.  Creating Lake Cresent and Lake Sutherland.   Lake Cresent has land locked Trout.  We were taken aback by the beautiful blues and greens of the lake upon seeing it in the sunlight for the first time.  Evidently it is due to the lack of nitrogen in the water making it hard for algae to grow here, and it is formed from glacial water.

We spotted a day use area along the lake and pulled in. 

We found a great site to stop for lunch. 

We stayed so long the clouds rolled in and it started misting... 

This is what I am used to seeing the lake look like... gray like the skies.

Bailey (lower right corner) enjoyed her dip in the lake.

Here is a video of Bailey's swim:

We were planning on going to Hurricaine ridge next, but since the clouds rollled in and seemed low, we decided it would not be a good time to thake photo's of the mountains.  Where the Wind Takes Us...

Sol Duc, Salmon Cascades

We continued our journey north on hwy 101.  We stopped in Forks, WA.

We were told it was only about a half hour to Fairholm campground on the North side of the Olympics at Crescent Lake.

The campground was partially open, but right on hwy 101.

We looked at the map and decided to head up Sol Duc River to a campground there that was further off the highway.

We had to stop at a National Parks booth, and the ranger got a kick out of Natasha. 

Natasha has her little hole she likes to ride in when not on Suzi's lap.  When she pops her head up she reminds us of a prairie dog popping out of its hole.  We have a plastic bin that she made a nest in.

That is Gator in the photo with her.

At Sol Duc campground we found the perfect site for a truck camper. 

Those are some huge logs up the hill behind the site.

We backed the camper up to the log and it was perfect height to get into the camper. 

Not enough room for a tent or anything though.

Just down the road from the camp was Salmon Cascades.  

It was a rare site, a short trail down to the cascades with no signs regarding dogs...  So we took them with us.

You can see where the tree broke.  I wonder how much sound and vibration that one made. 

I don't think Gator and Bailey were impressed with stopping for a photo opp.

This pool of water was just below the Salmon Cascades.

This little tree was nursing off of the larger tree. 

The Sol Duc River downstream from the cascades.

Ruby Beach Overlook

We worked our way north along Hwy 101.

We could not help ourselves, we had to stop at the Ruby Beach Overlook.

In the photo below if you see the island in the distance:

There is a lighthouse there.

Normally when we come out this way we cannot resist the Pacific Ocean, and end up spending the rest of the trip on the beach, but that is not what this trip was about... We wanted to spend time in the Olympic National Park, so we just made it a quick stop.

We then drove down the Hoh rain rain forest road.  We checked out the campground, but decided it was too early to stop, so we moved on.

We did not realize until later that we did not take a single photo while in the Hoh Rain Forest.  It seemed very manicured, and we were not as in awe of it as we were other areas.   

The Giant Spruce tree was neat, but, we had been there before.

We probably would have thought about getting out of the truck, to get a better feel for the area, but there were a lot of 'no dogs' signs, which is typical of national parks, so it was not a surprise.

By the way, some areas in the Olympic Rain Forest get 14 feet, yes feet of rain a year!

N. Fork Campground, Quinault River Olympic National Park, WA

We decided our first stop would be the Quinault area.  After talking to a ranger we decided to head out to the North Fork Campground along the Quinault River.  The road is a loop with the camp near the bridge. 

 The North side of the river is a single lane road with turn outs. 

Around every corner we were introduced to a new sight.

When we got to camp it had 9 sites, honey buckets, no trash/water or anything else.  We had 3 tent neighbors.

This log was next to the picnic table.

When you look down the log it is super long with so much growing around it, it looks like a trail here, but it really is the log.

On the other side of the log there was a trail, so we followed it and found the Quinault River.  Bailey was so excited to find water, she was really cute, but we were party poopers and would not let her get wet. 

On our way back out we drove the South side of the river.  It widened to a paved 2 lane road in no time.

There were numerous small water falls along the way. 

Since the water levels are at their lowest now,

we wondered how much water there would have been in the spring.

Millersylvania State Park WA

Suzi had some time off, so we decided to go to the Olympic National Park and be tourists. 

We started at Millersylvania State Park just south of Olympia,WA

Seemed like a great spot to start.

We got all the city traffic out of the way in one afternoon. 

Upon arriving at the park and choosing a site, we decided on a pull thru with no hookups. 

Out of no where a rock appeared (in my blind spot)

I hit it with the front passenger side camper jack...oops

 It sounded like a large branch breaking. 

The rock rolled and leaned against the tire of the truck.

Suzi and I pulled the rock back

 and Suzi held it while I got the second jack past the rock... 

Looking closely at the jack some puddy is squished out of the bracket the jack is mounted to, and the Jack is very slightly bent.

I will look more closely at it later.  But I will not take the camper off without making sure it is safe!

At least it was nothing to postpone the trip. :)

We had a nice campsite with evening sun trickling thru the trees.

We decided to bring the kitties with us on the trip.  They enjoyed watching all the people walking around the campground.  We happened to choose a day that was having a walk-a-thon.

They also had a pet squirrel to entertain both the cats and dogs.  The little one seemed to know exactly how much leash the dogs had.

Dana's home Made Smoker

I gave Dana the rusty box in this photo. Using the existing holes, he turned it into a smoker.

Yes, that is an old propane bbq on the top.

The metal box already had the hinges on the top.

This is where he loads the wood.

Note the hole in the lid, that is where the smoke goes up like a chimny.

He matched the hole from the lid and put one in the bbq right above the lid hole

At the bottom of the metal box he added a door to an existing hole where he lights the wood.

Tada one home made smoker...  Works great! 

All my little helpers

Bailey has been especially brave lately. 

It used to be she would hide in the back room when ever I started working on a project. 

Then after she got the thundershirt I would see her peeking around the corner at me.

Today I caught her standing in the driveway looking up at the roof checking out what I was doing... 

with NO thundershirt on to boot!

What a brave girl she is turning into! 

Gator on the other hand is always close by.

She got a bit dirty helping Natasha dig up a mole.

Natasha better be careful she is about to be pounced on! 

Doesn't Louis appreciate the fact that Natasha needs to supervise the opperation!