Washington State trip

I have driven some of scenic drives in Montana till i merged to i90 West. first 2 hours i just drove along a creek from hills. From Browning, i drove through East Glacier and west Glacier cities, Then drove on US-2, 35, 82W, MT28, MT 200 and 135 before merged on I90. I90 is really beautiful drive, miles after miles. My timing was little bad, this year Montana, Idaho and washington facing lot of wild fires, they really became nasty. Somehow, Glacier NP fires are off But not North Cascade NP fires. I could not even had a glimpse of North cascade region. I drove on i90 west all the way to Seattle. i think i have reached Seattle around 3PM. From Seattle to Kalaloach Beach it took me more than 5 hours, more than 2 hours i struck on I5 in traffic. After that, Enjoyed driving on 101 along small beach cities. 

Washington State tour should have started with North Cascades NP from east entrance(would have come straight from Glacier NP), Due heavy fires at north Cascade park, Whole park and connecting why 20 is closed for more than a month of travel dates.


 I need to modify my travel plans, accordingly on the fly, I stayed at Glacier NP for 3 days instead of 1 and 1/2 days.
I started from Glacier NP early in the morning by 7AM. previous night by 12, i packed everything in the car. Morning before sunrise, i got up and took nice hot showers and hot breakfast. by the the time i am out of hotel lobby, nice sun rise welcomed me.



AM i am on road. i need to drive a long hours all the way to beachside in Washington state. i have campground reservation at Kalaloach campground(adjacent to Pacific Ocean) in Olympic NP.




By the time i reached Kalaloach beach campground within Olympic NP there is little bit of light left, most of people enjoying the pleasant sun set on the beach. I went to my campground site, pitched a tent. This is the first time, in my trips i camped adjacent to ocean(after one night Pismo beach, CA camping couple years back). Kalaloach camp ground is on land bit higher to ocean floor.  After pitching tent, I had dinner ready in 10 mins. it was really quick, it used to take more than 1 hour initially. with instant dinners, i was able to make meals in less than 15 mins. While eating dinner, i studied the Olympic NP map, what would like to see for next day. i marked few places within Olympic NP to see .



I woke up the morning, it was raining, so I slept again till full sun comes out. I had breakfast and coffee. Then started having map on hand.  I stopped at Big Cedar Tree first.  It was vert nice to see big trees after seeing deserts, mountains and grasslands for over a week. I also took a picture of me with tree trunk to see how big the tree is. i walked in and around of few more cedar trees there.

After the seeing cedar tree, i went to Ruby beach straight. fog was slowly forming at the beach in the morning. it is also famous for rocks. There are smooth rocks full of beach. it is typical pacific beach ambiance, with morning fog covered with full beach with visibility of 10-15 feets. After spending some time at beach, next went to Hoh Rain forest.

I spent lot of time in Rain forest. i picked on trail for 2 hour walk, i walked on trail looking how Hoh rain forest formed. how how it looks like. After that i drove Sol-Duc hot springs. I spent rest of the day till sun set at hot springs. i small hike at Sol-Duc falls. After i am done with hike i went to hot spring and i soaked in hot spring for an hour before i returned to camp ground.  I came to camp ground, prepared dinner and went to beach to enjoy sun set. unfortunately, sun set is not clear like one day before. But it was very nice breeze.

There was big rain next day morning. i waited for an hour to two before i came out of tent. still its raining But reduce little bit, i got up and came out. packed my  sleeping bag , wet tent separately. Then i started to drive Mt Rainier National Park. I drove on some scenic byways, Mount rainier, mount adams and chinook scenic ways.

I enjoyed driving,  i stooped at many places to enjoy the scenarios. I reached Mt rainier NP by early evening. I straight went to campground. my site was moved different site because of some safety issues. I went to new site, i wanted to pitch the tent. it was very wet from last night heavy rain. I dried fully with dry clothes and lot of paper napkins.  i ensured inside the tent is dry enough to sleep. then i started to drive to Paradise point to have a look of Mount rainier.

I stopped in the middle to hike Christine Falls. it was very easy short distance less than a mile round trip. But i was little hesitant because of the timing and i could not find many cars at parking lot, except 3 cars. Anyhow i started to hike to at least Christine Falls. But i hiked all the way to Cement Falls around trip 3.6 miles I met only total 6 people on the hike, one couple at the begnining of the hike. two couples on the middle of the hike, thats it. Rest i was alone on the hike.

I hiked whole trail with hesitant. I felt my efforts was really worth after seeing till cement falls. I really enjoyed the solo hike. It was higher falls inside the Mt Rainier NP thats what motivated me to hike all the way to falls. if time permitted i would have hiked all the way to mildred point. Next time, i would like to definitely want to hike to mildred Point.

It took me just less than 2 hours to complete whole hike. I would have spent some time if i have more light. Then i drove to Narada Falls to have peek. Finally i drove to Paradise point. The Mount Rainier  Views not that good,

But with clouds on top of Rainier it looked great. I was able to see couple of glaciers very clearly. I could not able to see any thing when  came here last time( i came here in late spring Total paradise is covered with lot of snow).



I spent time till  there is a light I did not hike any trails at Paradise, i thought doing it next day.   It was very nice view from bottom of Paradise parking lot. I spent lot of time to capture glaciers in zoom. After spending time in Paradise, i went to campground i was preparing to complete dinner.




I met one old american couple, i had a chat for few minutes with them. they were going to evening Park Ranger program, they asked me to come as it sort of celebration of 100 years of National Park Service. 

As 99 years completed since starting NPS  organization.

 It was very informative about why NPS is started in the first place, what was its goals and responsibilities, How National parks came into picture, how National parks got recognized, then how National monuments are identified, How NPS service got evolved to many services, apart of National park and national monuments.


I really enjoyed evening Ranger program it more than an hour program. I have a small video clips of Mount rainier NP landscape since it was established. I have video clips of Mount rainier how it looks like 99 years back. it was really shocking to see how much Glaciers on Mount Rainier has reduced.