Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention…never put absolute faith in your GPS unit.

As far as I remember, we did not take the Prius off-road, much less into the lake. See that blue stripe? Y’know, the road? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that we managed to keep it between the lines there…

Thus, another example of why I’ll put my good ol’ map and compass up against your fancy-schmancy GPS any day of the week…

Spent a lovely Girl’s Weekend in Ocean Shores with My Kirsten…we made a day of it and headed to the Lake Quinault area.

Some rainforest facts:
Located in the largest true wilderness area in the contiguous United States, the Olympic rainforest is one of the world’s very few temperate rainforests. (Other temperate rainforests may be found in Chile and New Zealand.)
Some of the largest trees here measure 300 feet tall and over 60 feet around.
In the Olympic rainforest, rainfall averages over 100 inches/year.
Temperatures in the Olympic rainforest rarely exceed 80 degrees.

Take note of that average rainfall figure…I’m reasonably certain that at least 20 of those inches fell while we were hiking Saturday afternoon. Can you say “bedraggled rat?” Kirsten had her proper gear, of course. Me, I secretly like getting soaked now and then! (I did have a few of the 10 essentials with me.)

The Quinault Valley that creates Lake Quinault and the Quinault Rainforest is known as the “Valley of the Giants.” The largest Sitka Spruce tree in the world lives here, along with other nationally recognized giants of Hemlock, Douglas Fir and the mighty Western Red Cedar.

Kirsten at the base of the largest Sitka. It has a 58’11” circumference, is 191′ tall, and about 1000 years old. Quite impressive…

The Captain and I found this one down near Ballard as well. It’s evidently a former Coast Guard cutter which has now been for sale for quite some time.