West Road Trip - Post 2

- Day 8: I drove over to another part of Glacier National Park (Many Glacier) and hiked to Grennell Lake and Grennell Glacier. Both were fantastic views. They estimate that by 2020 all of the glaciers in Glacier NP will be gone. So, it was good that I could see one of the more expansive ones now. I saw 6 grizzlies while hiking. 3 were a bit away and we could see them running among the bushes at the top of a ledge. The other 3 were a bit closer. I was hiking down the trail when I saw a ranger with a big group of hikers on the side of the trail. I figured she was giving a talk. As I went to go by though she told me it was a road block and I had to wait. There was a mama grizzly with two cubs just up the trail so we were going to wait to see what they did. Eventually they moved past us (about 50 hikers at this point) between the trail and the lake, no more than 100 feet from us. Black bears would have never gotten that close with cubs. After the hike I drove back and drove along the Going-to-the-Sun Road where I saw a big horn sheep and a mountain goat with a baby goat. I camped at the campground on the West side of the park.

- Day 9: I drove across Montana, Idaho, and Washington to get to Yakima, WA. It was 33 degrees in the morning when I woke up; it was 78 degrees in the afternoon. I saw a few tiny twisters in the fields of Washington. I was going to just drive over to see Mt. Rainier and then return so I could head South the following day. However, when I reached Mt. Rainier the summit was completely clouded over. The rest of the park was great though and I saw a black fox and some black tailed deer. I returned to Yakima where I was spending the night at a hotel, but decided to alter my plans.

- Day 10: I returned to Mt. Rainier National Park and this time it was a perfectly clear day. I am glad I returned; the mountain was impressive. I then continued West to Olympic National Park (I wasn't originally planning on visiting Olympic). I grabbed a site at the campground and then started to drive up Hurricane Ridge. It was foggy though, so I bailed on that and decided to come back in the morning.

- Day 11: I got up, drove to the top of Hurricane Ridge and then dropped my car and biked down to the bottom of the road. That is the way to bike :) I didn't have to pedal much at all. Then, I ditched my bike in the woods and hiked on a trail back up the mountain to my car. I then drove down, picked up my bike, and drove over to Second Beach. The trail there winded through a rainforest before emerging at a beach. There was tons of driftwood and the logs are enormous. The park map says: "Sudden high waves can pick up beach logs and turn them into weapons; they kill." It was foggy on the beach despite being completely clear not too far inland. I then proceeded to Hoh, passing a humongous Spruce tree along the way (over 12 foot diameter). The Hoh area is a rain forest. I grabbed a campsite and then hiked through the forest a little. Everything is very, very green. There is moss on everything, the trees are huge, and plants are growing everywhere. I saw black-tailed deer, giant slugs (8 inches long), a marmot (at least I think so...now how do they make my sleeping bag and rain coat out of these critters?), and a few rabbits.

On queue:
-Crater Lake National Park
-Redwood National Park
-Yosemite National Park