Everyone has their own unique vision of paradise. To some, paradise is a tropical beach with white sand, a hammock between palm trees, and a fruity drink in each hand. To others, it's red rock canyons and blue sage brush as far as the eye can see. I've always envisioned paradise as an ancient forest with immense trees and wide rivers, snow capped peaks on every side, and inhabited by wild and dangerous creatures.

Though I didn't know it, I had never fully realized paradise in any of my travels. Despite having spent considerable time in some of the most spectacular forests on the planet (namely The Redwoods and Sequioa National Parks), I had never experienced anything like what I recently discovered on the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington State. There lie forests like no other remaining on earth, where Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar grow to epic proportions and battle one another for woodland supremacy. Where rainfall is measuerd in feet instead of inches, and the whole world, it seems, is draped in moss or covered by giant ferns. Where glacier tipped mountains rise from the ocean like emerald titans and break themselves against the sky. Paradise, indeed.

Shauna and I had been talking about a trip to the pacific northwest for quite some time. We decided that following the 101 around the Olympic Peninsula then down the Washington and Oregon coast would be a good way to sample what the region had to offer. Then, if we had time, we thought we might make our way across the Wilamette Valley, and into the cascades. This was our proposed route.



We flew into Portland, picked up a rental (a surprisingly capable Ford Escape with 4 wheel drive), and headed north along I-5. A few hours later we joined the 101 in Olympia, and continued north to Shelton where we met my sister, Heather, her husband, Jeffery, and their three little dogs. We decided we would all pile in the Escape, make our way towards Lake Cushman and the Skokomish River and see what we could see. I had read about some cool day hikes in the area and I had hoped we could find some of the trailheads in preparation for the following day.

Lake Cushman is beautiful, huge (by Utah standards), and surrounded by big timber and green mountains. The sky was mostly clear ( apparently very rare for early april), and the air was crisp. . . perfect.


A view from the north shore of Lake Cushman.

We drove along the North Shore of Lake Cushman, crossing the bridge where the Skokomish River enters the lake.


This was taken from the bridge over the Skokomish River. The boundary of Olympic National Park is clear where the smaller, lighter green trees in the forground meet the darker, older timber.

We kept driving until we reached the shady lane trailhead. We dedcided we didn't have enough daylight to attempt the hike, so we saved it for the next day and started back to Shelton along the North shore of Lake Cushman. From the road we spotted a little waterfall and snapped a few photos of it. A couple of them turned out alright...





From the falls we headed back to Shelton, and spent the night there.

More to come...