I went camping at Second Beach on the Olympic Peninsula with my sister, Rachel, and her daughters, Lily and Olivia. Second Beach is beautiful, but overrun with people. The ranger said that there were 175 people camping there on Saturday (and that’s just those who registered.) Fortunately, we went Sunday through Tuesday so there were less people, but there’s no place not overrun.
Start of the hike.Olivia on the beachLily learned how to make fires in camp, so she was in charge.Reading stories around the campfire (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Modern touch: on a Kindle.)
The next morning we went to look at tide pools at low tide (while Rachel went back to the car and picked up chairs and more firewood.)
Lily and the rockI brought my scope, just in case there was something to seeLater in the day, the sun came out, and we all hid from the heat. Olivia and Lily dug in the shade.
Linda and I had a great time hiking the Enchantment Lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness (just outside of Leavenworth) – the weather was (almost) perfect, the scenery was spectacular, and the bugs were minimal.
Originally we were going to do a tough hike on the first day (6 miles/3,000’ elevation gain) to Lake Caroline, and stay there two days, then hike down to Eightmile Lake the last day. We had been warned about the mosquitoes (WTA: “mosquitoes are Alaskan-grade”; ranger station report: “bugs are as bad as they ever get.” Guy in a camping store: “You’re going to Lake Caroline? You really need to buy this mosquito netting hat”)
When we met the ranger on the trail, and she mentioned that another ranger had left the lake because of the bugs, we decided we would be foolish to ignore all these warnings. So, we stayed at the lower, closer, (and more popular) Eightmile Lake for all three nights.
Linda is ready to go
The trail was pretty open, a couple of trees, and lots of flowers
So our first day turned from a long challenging uphill walk to a shorter 3.3 mile hike. We reached our destination earlier than we expected.
We eventually found a campsite (there weren’t very many left on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, we shared the site with a third tent, but they were quiet people, fortunately) — it had a nice view, but was a steep walk to the water.
Next day, we hiked up to Lake Caroline.
Looking back at Eightmile lake
A shy mountain goat
The next day, our main activity was moving our campsite down the trail to a nice waterfront property.
Views from our new site
The rest of the day was spent reading, relaxing, napping, and other important activities.
I guess it was really hot in the lower elevation, but we were fine in the shade. (We were camping at 4,600′) However, we both managed to do a little swimming in the very cold water.
We had a good division of labor — I cooked…
and Linda mixed the drinks. (She does live in New Orleans, after all.)
Wow – what a difference a day makes! Cloudy and overcast when we woke up.
By the time we starting to hike out, it was raining. Fortunately, we had rain gear. Of a sort.
Fortunately, it only sprinkled a little, and then cleared up.
