Olympic National Park

Soleduck heaven!
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Whilst staying in Bainbridge Island we took a day trip in a car to Olympic National Park, which lies on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, west of Seattle.

With only one day our experience was limited, both by time and the fact that roads only slightly penetrate its perimeter. This was disappointing as having seen a National Geographic special on the park a few years earlier I had been dreaming of a slightly more prolonged experience. We drove through majestic mountain ranges, past massive lakes, marvelled at the glaciated peaks of the Olympic range and stopped at Soleduck where we went on a short walk though lush rainforest filled with, what I learned later was, Sitka spruce, western hemlock and Douglas-fir (their trunks and branches covered in rich green mosses) ferns and other forest foliage. After passing an Idyllic wooden cabin we arrived at the exquisite Soleduck falls.

After passing an Idyllic wooden cabin we arrived at the exquisite Soleduck falls.

nature exhibits perspective experiments with the straight line verticle climb
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The fall penetrates a deep narrow gorge. It can be experienced from wooden viewing decks or a bridge spanning the divide, both of which are spayed with thick mist rebounding from the bottom with the powerful force of the waterfall. Our return trip to the car afforded an opportunity to appreciate cute wooden bridges over idyllic forest streams (water trickling through moss covered rocks and under equally covered fallen trees), the biggest mushrooms I have ever seen and a strange green algae (its consistency was like slightly melted then dried plastic) which was covered in bright red balls the size of ball-bearings.