Olympic Coast

In Seattle, very few people have air conditioning in their houses. There are maybe only a couple days per year when you really would need it. Saturday was one of those days. As a way to deal with the 90+ degree heat (very hot for Seattle) and to enjoy the crystal-clear skies, Anya and I went to the beach.

There are, of course, beaches in the city (both on Puget Sound and Lake Washington), but we wanted to go somewhere a little more rugged and remote: the Pacific Coast. Even though Seattle is technically a coastal city (it's on salt water), it takes almost 3 hours to drive to where North America ends and the ocean begins.

We took a car ferry across the Sound to the Olympic Peninsula, drove around the northern end of the peninsula - taking in great views of the mountains, the Sound, lakes, etc. From the northern edge of the peninsula you can easily see to Canada (Vancouver Island, to be specific) across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

A big chunk of the Pacific Coast is protected from development as part of Olympic National Park. This means pristine beaches that are nearly deserted. We took a small spur road off U.S. 101 (the only way into the region), parked at a trailhead, and hiked through lush temperate rainforest to a place called Second Beach. It's not a very creative name (although it is located between First Beach and Third Beach), but it makes up for it by being one of the most spectacularly beautiful - and humbling - places you will ever visit.

At this point I'll let the pictures speak for themselves even though they don't begin to do it justice. There are quite a few pics, but I think these are definitely worth flipping though.