Day 111 - Olympic Lakes and Beaches

Day 2 in Olympic started out with a drive to the Elwha valley to see the remains of a dam removed last year in order to restore the Elwha River and its Salmon run. A recent movie Damnation highlighted this dam removal as a start to a larger trend in waterway restoration. Bill and Roman encouraged me to consider dam removal as a potential career option:) Here's a pic of the remaining spillway and dam removed to the left.

Out next stop was an overlook of the deep and clear Lake Crescent. This peaceful lake is over 350 feet deep in parts.

The Marymere Falls hike at Lake Crescent climbed gently through a dense forest and ended at a tranquil falls. The symmetry of this falls was especially impressive.

We continued west toward tonight's lodging near the Quilliyute River and the city of Forks, a town made famous as the setting for the Twilight series. A drive to the Pacific Coast made us understand why this area was chosen. Smooth rocks lined the misty seashore, along with stark white tree trunks crystallized by the salt water, along with small islands topped with plants and trees out in the ocean. Rialto Beach was our first stop.

Followed by First Beach near the also-famous Twilight town of La Push.

After the new and lucid visuals of the beach, we settled in back at our riverfront lodging for a calm evening.

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Day 51 - Canyonlands Needles Pt 3

A deep connection to the nature surrounding you comes from the solitude of solo travel, but sometimes it is nice to have a companion! I ran into David, a retired telecom exec from Canada a few days ago on the Syncline Loop trail at Canyonlands Island in the Sky. Then I ran into him again halfway through my Chesler Park hike two days ago, then again later in the hike, finishing the last two miles together. David hiked his favorite trail, the Peekaboo trail yesterday, and said I could join him, but my heart was set on confluence trail, so we hiked separately. We did share a campsite though and exchanged travel stories. David was 55 and had retired at 50 from a high-level international job with Nortel and was now traveling full-time. We instantly bonded over our solo travel style. He outclassed me by leagues. He had trekked one month in Nepal, then another month in India, then some months in Asia. He had hiked and skied and adventured all over the western U.S. and Canada....

Day 40 Escalante Hole-in-the-Rock Road

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Days 89 and 90 - Waterton

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