Last year around Christmas, we decided to go explore the Olympic Peninsula, which is the North West portion of Washington State, surrounded by water on three sides, between the pacific Ocean, the Juan de Fuca Straight and the Puget Sound.

The previous year we had done a road trip from Vancouver to Olympia through Seattle, then had driven North then West on the 101, to catch the ferry from Post Angeles to Victoria. On our way, we had stopped for a couple of days in Shelton (about 1h20m drive North of Olympia on the 101) and had stayed at Rob and Andrea’s Airbnb house.

Located in the middle of the countryside, their large log house is incredibly cosy and warm. The main living area includes an open concept kitchen, a large living room with several comfortable couches, a wood burning stove and large bay windows opening up into the countryside, and a view of Lake Isabella in the distance. In other words, the perfect place to spend a few winter evenings drinking wine and reading by the fireplace, after a days spent hiking in the snowy forest. 

The place had made quite an impression on us (in case it wasn’t clear) so early in December, in an attempt to fight off the winter blues, we decided to head back to Shelton for a week-end gateway.

 We drove out of Vancouver on Friday night – our first official “road trip” since we acquired our little jeep in the spring! With American Thanksgiving just behind us, I figured traffic at the border would be pretty decent, and I wasn’t wrong. We only waited about 10mins on the way down (not bad for a 5pm crossing on a Friday night!), and possibly even less time on the way back (around the same time on the Monday night)

 

The Olympic National Park & Forest extends over more than 2500 km², and its highest peak (Mount Olympus) reaches 2428 meters, surrounded by glaciers. It’s a pretty incredible place to explore, from rain forest to sub-alpine.

Last year we had hiked along the Upper Lena Lake trail, but were forced to head back before reaching the end, due to the amount of snow on trails This year we explored the Mount Ellinor trail on the first day, then the  Mildred Lakes trail on the second day. Once again the trails were covered in snow, to the point here they eventually disappeared before we reached the ends, but we still enjoyed the hikes tremendously.

On the Mont Ellinor trail, the path was clearly visible, but shortly after passing the “summer trail”, sign, it became impossible to follow. We did try the other direction (presumably the winter trail), but it was equally impossible to make out any sort of pathway to follow.

On the Mildred Lakes trail, we pretty much guessed the direction the whole way through, based on where the ground seemed most clear and following the rare markers.

Again, with a thick layer of snow covering the ground and most of everything else, our only somewhat reliable way to find our way back to the car was to follow our own foot steps back to the trail head.

Regardless of navigation uncertainties, we really enjoyed the hikes on both days.

 

After experiencing the Olympic national Park in the snow two years in a row, we really want to come back in the summer, to take advantage of more daylight to do some longer hikes and camp.