Madison Creek Falls

WE drove to the current end of Olympic Hot Springs Road in Olympic National Park to walk to Madison Creek Falls (0.2 miles round trip), while we were there we also walked down the closed road for abou 0.4 miles to view the Elwha River further upstream.

Views of the Elwah River from the parking area

Elwha River further upstream

Flowers seen along the trail

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

We stopped at the Visitor Center at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument this afternoon and walked around the loop behind the Visitor Center, about 0.2 miles, These are some of the cacti, an ocotillo in bloom and views of the mountains to the east.

Tree of Life/Kalaloch Beach

From Beach 4, I drove down to the day use area in the Campground at Kalalock in Olympic National Park, to see the "Tree of Life" . The ground beneath the tree has been eroding away and the tree clings to the beach cliffs on either side

Views underneath the tree

View across Kalaloch Beach to the Pacific Ocean at low tide

 

Madison Falls

I stopped to see 4 waterfalls in the north Olympic Peninsula this afternoon, the first was to Madison Creek Falls in the Elwha River Valley. This was about 0.25 miles round trip, depending on where you park. The trail is paved and through the woods.

Madison Creek falls is 75 ft

Views of the Elwha River across the road from the parking area

There were a few wildflowers in bloom today:

 

 

Beaver Falls

On my drive home from the Makah Reservation today, I stopped at Beaver Falls, about 2 miles north of Highway 101 on Highway 113. It is about 0.1 mile down to see the waterfall. View from along the trail

View of Beaver Falls as seen along Beaver Creek

 

Christine and Narada Falls

On a cool foggy day, we decided to do some very short hikes at Mt Rainier National Park. First, we did a roadside stop to view Christine Falls, and did the short 0.2 mile round trip hike to Narada Falls.

View of Upper Christine Falls

Lower Christine Falls

View of the Paradise River on our way to the Narada Falls trailhead

Narada Falls

 

First Beach

We stayed in a cabin for 3 nights in the Quileute Indian Reservation on First Beach. It was easy to walk from our cabin to the beach. To the south is Quateata (never safe to try to walk around on the shore side) and James Island to the north.

We had some nice sunsets

and a pretty dawn after a night of hail and rain.













Lots of seagulls

Beaver Falls

On our drive back from the Ozette Triangle we stopped to see Beaver Falls. They are located right off of Hwy 113, 2 miles north of Sappho.
The trail down to the falls is only 0.1 mile. The last bit is steep and slippery.

The falls have a 25 foot drop.

















A nice view of the falls can be seen a short ways down the trail without going down the steep slippery part.

Coldwater Lake Boardwalk

Before our hike today, we stopped at Coldwater Lake in Mt St Helens NM to enjoy the views and walk out to the boardwalk a short ways from the picnic area and back. This is probably 0.2 miles or so.
Our first view of Coldwater Lake

 a little further down the path

 looking back along the shore

 beautiful reflections in the lake this morning

Pano from along the boardwalk: Coldwater Observatory, Coldwater Peak, and the sunrising near Mt St Helens

 Coldwater Observatory up on the ridge

 some ice near the shore

 beautiful snowy boardwalk

 more views

 snowy cattails

 Winter solstice sunrise near the top of Mt St Helens













Gorgeous beginning to this year's Winter Solstice