Spring Break Olympic Peninsula Trip

Over break I headed out to the Olympic Peninsula with some friends to do some adventuring and hanging out a cabin in Sequim. We started out the first day with a short and mellow hike at Fallsview Canyon and hiked a 1.5 mile loop along the Big Quilcene River before venturing further North to do a longer and higher elevation hike.

A small stream feeds into the Big Quilcene River.

Hiking on the Fallsview Canyon loop in the Olympic National Forest.

The Big Quilcene River, seen from the Fallsview Canyon loop.

Next we hiked up Mt. Zion which was much more tiring than the quick hike to start the day and covered a lot more elevation. Due to the elevation, we hiked through increasing amounts of snow at the summit and ended with a great lookout toward snowy mountains and tons of fast moving clouds, which made for a perfect opportunity to timelapse. 

After returning to the car earlier in the day than expected, it was time to head toward the cabin in Sequim to relax and eat food after hiking. With more light left in the day, we headed out toward the Dungeness Spit to catch sunset by the water.

Walking along Dungeness Spit for a nice, cloudy sunset. 

Trying out some large aperture wide-angle shots with my Fuji X-t1 and 16mm 1.4.

Looking out at the long and curving Dungeness Spit. We hiked the 11 miles round trip last time we came out to Sequim.

The large windows of the circular log cabin let in tons of light to its open floor plan.

Day two started relatively late for us, but it was great to try to get some more sleep to prepare for the day's hiking. After a breakfast of scrambled eggs and getting together sandwiches, we headed toward out first hike of the day. I knew that it was not going to be like the easy hike the day before. We were starting with Pyramid Peak by Lake Crescent; a 7 mile and 2,400 feet of elevation hike to a lookout with views of the lake and surrounding mountains. Again, at high elevation just before the summit, we hit some snow. The view from the top wasn't great due to the weather but from what I could see, it would be worth going back on a clear day.

Hiking in the snow just before reaching the Pyramid Peak lookout.

The Pyramid Peak lookout wasn't the same as a lot of fire lookouts I've been to but it was great to have some shelter to eat and stay out of the snow at the top.

Eating lunch and taking in the view from the top of the peak. 

Looking out into the clouds and the snow.

The view from the top right before more clouds rolled in and it started snowing.

When we reached the car after descending from the peak, we headed out toward the coast to check out the beaches. The plan was to go out to Rialto beach but the road to the beach ended up being closed so instead of adding an extra 3 of 4 miles onto an already 4 mile round trip hike, we moved on and went to La Push to see both First and Third beaches. While at First, we encountered some waves crashing onto the beach and splashing into some logs and splashing a bit higher than expected. Then, onto Third beach it was great to walk on a nice sandy beach and hear the waves crash.

Walking along Third beach on the Washington coast.

While at First beach, the clouds were very dramatic which lead to the variation from dark to light in the sky.

In the splash zone.

When two photographers try to get shots of a wave hit a log... and then having to run back to avoid getting soaked.

That ends my first real blog post about recent adventures. Check back soon for more photojournalistic and adventure work. I'll be trying to update the blog frequently with new work, now that the new school quarter has started.