Spruce Railroad Trail

For our last day we headed out again early, this time our missions was the Spruce RR Trail.  The sign
at the park on the way in, said it was closed, but we continued any way just to see what was up.  A good portion of the trail was still open, so we headed out to do it.

It was a great hike and all the way along we followed Crescent Lake as we worked our way around.  We were to slow with the camera, but as we were walking along an Eagle came swooping down and grabbed a fish out of the lake and then flew off with it.   It was pretty cool to see.

We hiked for about 3.5/miles.  We came across an old tunnel from in the day, when the railroad was operating and hauling logs out of the forest.  Shortly afterwards we found a nice spot over looking the lake and stopped and had our lunch.  We finished up and then started making our way back.

When we got back to the trail head we headed down to the lake as the there was an open dock, with no one around.   We took off our shoes and socks and soaked our feet in the cool lake water.  We laid around for a while and soaked in some rays before heading back.

We were back at the house around 3:30PM and we started getting ready to cook dinner.  Being our last night we were going to grill steaks and asparagus.   We had a few beers and kicked back by the river and then started cooking. 

We had a great time, I was ready to hang out for a few more days.   Oh well.  We packed up so we would be ready to boogie out in the morning to get back to Seattle and catch our flight home.

More Hiking

We slept in a little today, I think we left the house at 8:30AM and headed down to the Hungry Bear restaurant for breakfast.  I say run down, but it was about a 15 mile drive.  Breakfast was great and one of the few times we actually ate out.  Every day we have been taking our lunch and when we find a nice place on our hike, we stop and eat.

After breakfast we drove about 20 minutes to the Marymere Falls trail head.   We parked at Bovee’s meadow.  We made the hike up to the falls and glad that we did.  It was a great trail and we only came across a few

people.  On our way back we actually did several other small trails in the area.  

We got 5 miles in pretty easy that morning.   When we got back to the meadow, we grabbed the cooler and found a picnic table and setup camp.   We ate our sandwiches and I tried my hand at some fishing, while Candy worked on her embroidery.

After we finished up around 3PM, we drove about 20 minutes to the Sol Duc Hot Springs.  We had brought our bathing gear with the plan of going.  It was pretty nice and not overly packed.  They had three pools.  One was 78, one was 105 and the other was supposed to be 115, but it didn’t feel that hot.

Oh boy, you betcha, yay

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

I spent this week up in Toronto. Had to expedite my passport renewal in order to be able to make the trip.   Other than going through customs I really didn't notice a difference other than everything was in English and French, metric system in use and the currency.  I Rented a car from Avis, came out of the airport and drove past a Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Starbucks and stayed at a Hilton.

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

Had good meetings and got to meet some very nice people.  The travel did get into my walking schedule and for the days I was gone I didn't get as many steps in as I should have.  Back home for a bit, so hopefully I will catch up.

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

We did a nice hike this morning.   We drove down to Penrose and hiked in the Beaver Creek Wilderness area.   We were the only car in the parking lot, and had the place to ourselves.  This area doesn't get much use that I can tell.  It is tricky to get to.  It was a beautiful day and we had Pebbles with us.   We hiked about 4 miles and I am ready to go back. Afterwards we stopped in Penrose and got a smoothie and shared a sandwich. 

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

I have our summer vacation all planned out.  Already got the airline tickets and house rented.   Pretty excited as we are going to be spending a week hiking up in Olympic National Park. I can hardly wait.

Vacation House

I went on to VRBO and rented a house on the Sol Duc River between Fork and Port Angeles.   This should be a great base camp for all the beach and forest activities we have planned.   One maybe two day's we will make a run over to Victoria, BC.   From my research, it looks awesome and has some great hiking and lots of waterfalls.

We have been watching Mick Dodge on NatGeo.  Mick hangs in the Hoh forest in Olympic National Park.  Yes I have also read up on the truth about Mick Dodge.  Either way, he most likely know's all the good spots, that most people don't get to and that's what I am looking for.  So to you NatGeo, if you are looking for a show, let me know.

Here is my walking chart for the last 28 days.   I need to step it up since I am home next week.   For the month of January, I am currently ranked #14 in the Colorado Springs fitbit group, and ranked #85 in the state fitbit groups that I belong to.