mike, courtney and i just arrived back in portland after two days of hiking and camping. we left the city late thursday night, arrived at a campsite around 2 am, and hastily pitched the tent before falling asleep fast and hard.
the next morning we packed up the car and drove several hours to the sol duc hot springs. we found an amazing campsite surrounded by majestic trees dripping moss.
we were excited by the prospect of relaxing in the hot springs, but we soon learned that what qualified as 'hot springs' were actually man-made pools filled with water piped to the resort from the source, and we weren't interested in buying in to that racket.
most of the evening was spent making dinner, eating, drinking beer, and talking, talking, talking. courtney explained the whole plot of twilight and i read flannery o'connor's 'a good man is hard to find' aloud while mike and courtney reclined on the picnic benches. we couldn't stay awake past 10 pm.
this morning we woke up late, around 9:30, and readied ourselves for the drive to the hoh rain forest, located on the west side of the national forest.
the rain forest, which runs alongside the hoh river, was even more beautiful than the sol duc region. enormous firs, dramatically curving branches, lush moss, pale blue glacier water running along rocky gray beaches. the air was pure and delicate. we hiked along the spruce trail and made plans to return to the forest for an 18 mile hiking and camping trip sometime in the near future. besides the hoards of tourists and shrieking kids, it was one of the most peaceful places i have ever been.
on our way back south to portland we stopped at ruby beach on the pacific coast. it was both mike's and courtney's first time seeing the pacific.
it was cold and windy; the water was white and foaming and infinite. we climbed over massive fallen trees to reach the shoreline and once there, made our way over large, round and flat black rocks to separate chosen perches: courtney climbed up to a large rock surface fifteen feet in the air, i sat underneath a simple, lovely log ceiling some other beach wanderer had constructed, and mike rambled on down the beach until we called him back.
a deeply satisfying, calming experience, through and through.
(my camera was out of commission, as was courtney's, but i pulled this photograph from the internet so you'll have some idea of how stunning this beach was.)
and here is a photograph ( another i cannot take credit for) of the hoh rain forest:
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