Thursday, July 21, 2011

July 21 - Hiking Gratton Creek Falls

It had rained most of the night and the forecast is 16 C with a 50% chance of more showers. The rest of the week is supposed to be mostly sunny so we thought we would just do a short hike while the rain had stopped. At a fork in the trail the weather was still OK so we added a longer segment until we completed a longer loop for a total of about 4 miles that went by the rustic resort lodge where we had lunch at a picnic table with a view of the lake around 1:20 pm.

The trails here are great. At each junction or T there is a board with a map and a “You are Here” marker. Most other places you might get an arrow or marker every once in a while. A lot of times we had to guess. Not here.

First we went to the world’s largest Sitka Spruce. 1000 years old, 191 feet tall and 59 feet in circumference at the bottom. Note Jennie in blue at the bottom.

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The trail went up beside a cascading creek in a previously logged out area.

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It was kind of overgrown in some places.

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Lots of mossy tall tree (and bugs) and wet ferns.

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A 2 inch banana slug on the trail.

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The berry bushes were plentiful; some of which were ripe.  Stuart tried a few, the Salmonberry and Thimbleberry which he said were not very tasty (guess that is why the bushes are still ladened). 

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A very civilized place to have lunch on the lawn of the Lake Quinault Lodge and then a walk along the road back to the RV.

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It even got sunny. This is the view from our RV windshield as the tour boat from the lodge goes by.

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