From the Sol Duc we switched into full wander mode. We cruised down the 101 to Sapho, where we strayed onto the 113, North through clear-cut country. A sobering tour, indeed.

I'm not a rabid environmentalist, but, I like trees...especially the big ones. And as a geologist I'm not a big fan of clear-cutting (erosion and stream sedimentation are huge problems wherever clear-cutting is practiced). I squirmed every time we passed a bare hillside, and I cringed at the number of gigantic stumps (some better that 15 feet across) that we saw along this short stretch of highway alone. These were once among the largest, oldest trees on the continent (only the Redwoods and Sequoias are bigger), and they are all gone. No living Specimen of Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, or Western Red Cedar compare to the ones harvested by the logging companies during the early part of the 20th century. Today's trees are mere table scraps left by the lumber industry as it feasted on the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

To protest too much, though, would make me a hypocrite. I live in a house made of wood likely harvested from this region. Most of us in the western U.S. do.

Anyway, I'll hop off my soapbox now...

From the 113 we rambled onto the 112, towards Clallam Bay and Sekiu. In short, this stretch of coast is what we had expected the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge to be like...critters everywhere! From the road we watched bald eagles cruise the shallows for fish. It was low tide, so we hopped out of the car west of Sekiu and explored tide pools the likes of which I have never seen. There was more life packed into these little pools than, well...silly metaphors will almost certainly fail me here, so have a look for yourselves.


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How many things can attatch themselves to the bottom of a rock? 4 starfish, a sea urchin,
a couple gastropds, and somehing I'd never even seen before in the upper left hand corner...


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A couple Hermit Crabs...

Eventually, we hopped back onto the 112 and made for Cape Flattery, the Northwestern most piece of real estate in the Continental United States. We passed through the Makah Indian Reservation, and along a crappy dirt road to a lookout point. In the end the cape was nice...we forgot to take any photos, but, it was cool enough. Nice views of the coast to the South.

In truth, we were still buzzing about the tide pools. Neither of us remembers too much about the cape, it seemed like a bit of a let down after such a punishing drive to get there.

From the Cape we retraced our route back down the 112 through Sekiu, and the 113 to Sapho. In Sapho we hopped on the 101 for Forks, and the west side of the peninsula.