Olympic NP-Sol Duc

So, after a great nights sleep and some coffee from my hosts (Go Hawks!)  I headed back into Olympic NP to the Sol Duc canyon area.  Very pretty area with a lot of nice, big trees.  I got a campsite around 11:30 and relaxed for a bit.  There are "hot springs" in that area, so I picked a loop hike that started at the resort, went up one side of the river, crossed over a  bridge by the falls and then returned down the other side thru the campground loops. 

The way up was a lot less traveled and there were lots of downed trees and some pretty impressive fern "fields" where most of the plants were taller than me.  Felt very Jurassic Park, and had this weird feeling of being watched...

There were a couple of good smaller waterfalls I enjoyed along the 6 mile hike.  The large falls were very cool.  Only problem was a couple hiked off trail, down right to the edge of the falls and hovered there taking selfies.   Everyone was really annoyed with them.  They were completely oblivious to the fact that they were ruining other peoples vacation pictures.  Ugh. 

Oh! I did get to see a banana slug.  Gross and completely fascinating at the same time.  I also came through a really serene stand of cedars and firs with very little gound cover.  Soaring, silent sentinels. 💜

The hot springs turned out to be two concrete pools, so for the price I decided to skip them.  I was relaxing back at my site, when I noticed two gals walking through the loops in the tent sites.  I knew the sites had all been full since nearly two in the afternoon, so I struck up a conversation with them and offered to share my camp site.  Turns out there was six people in their group, and after an inquiry with my neighbor, we were able to find places for all the hammocks and tent.  The group was from the Tacoma area and they were doing some back county hiking over then next couple of days.  Super jealous, and I really wanted to invite myself along.  They were a great group and I enjoyed their company a lot.  Made me realize how much I would love to live in an area close to the mountains and have friends to share in adventures with.

So, good karma for me to help give them a place to stay for the night.  I think it was a good way to pass on the karma from Chris and Sarah taking me in the previous night.  Paying it forward.