For more on the Spruce Railroad Trail, see our Spruce Railroad Trail web page.
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04/15/09 - First Flowering at Lake Crescent

If we seemed fixated on blossoms this season, blame it on the long winter and slow spring we've been having. The good news from the Spruce Railroad Trail along Lake Crescent is that the flowering currant is flowering, and the first paintbrush flowers are coming out in that sunny area near the footbridge.

Flowering currant, actually flowering

The first paintbrush of the season

Lake Crescent, as ever

Keywords: flowers, lake crescent, spring, spruce railroad

03/26/09 - Another Sign of Spring, We Hope

We'll admit it. We're getting pretty hard up for signs of spring around here, so this salamander picture taken on the Spruce Railroad Trail is going to have to do. Yes, we know that we post an awful lot of pictures of these little fellows, but they are only found on the Olympic Peninsula and they are pretty neat. Watch out, we might get a salamander-cam and offer live coverage. Or, better yet, spring might come.

Keywords: salamander, spring, spruce railroad

03/11/09 - Late Winter On The Spruce Railroad Trail

It was wintry this morning on the Spruce Railroad Trail along the north shore of Lake Crescent. On the way out, the trail was crunchy and covered with ice crystals, but otherwise quite passable. There was some melting in the heat of the day, such as it was. The trail was a bit muddy on the way back.

Even better, there were some great icicles as you can see in two of these pictures. There was an amazing set dangling from a tree branch down towards the lake and another set on one of the logs over a stream. The trail might have been cold, but again, it did not disappoint.

Icicles down by the lake

Icicles over a stream

Not much snow on the trail

Keywords: lake crescent, spruce railroad, winter

03/03/09 - First Salamander of the Season

Salamander season has officially stared out at Lake Crescent. We stepped over this little fellow towards the east end of the Spruce Railroad Trail.

Keywords: lake crescent, spruce railroad, animals, salamander

01/20/09 - Spruce Railroad Trail Update

We should mention that the Spruce Railroad Trail along the north side of Lake Crescent is in great shape. Aside from a downed tree here and there, the trail was easily passable, and the scenery was as wonderful as ever.

Keywords: lake crescent, spruce railroad

01/17/09 - A Report on the Spruce Railroad Trail

The snows have melted at Lake Crescent, and the Spruce Railroad Trail is in pretty good shape. There are a few trees down and the usual seasonal mud, but even the bicyclists seemed to be getting through quite nicely. After the snows of December, we are ready to enjoy the January thaw.

The water was definitely a bit high. This is usually a little gravel beach west of the Devil's punchbowl.

You can see just a touch of snow on Storm King.

The trail is in good shape, but there are a few trees down.

Keywords: lake crescent, spruce railroad, storm king

12/02/08 - Magnificent Madrona Berries

This year is a bumper year for the madrona berries. The madrona may look like a magnolia, but it is a western tree with a richly colored bark, and, in season, it may have a few red berries. This year the madronas are thick with berries. These are a few of the madronas near the Devil's Punch Bowl on the Spruce Railroad Trail.


Keywords: spruce railroad, autumn


We seem to post a picture of this tree every year. It's at the Devil's Punchbowl, a popular swimming spot.

11/04/08 - Lake Crescent

The Spruce Railroad Trail along the north shore of Lake Crescent is a gentle place. The hike is always calming. Lately we've been watching for signs of autumn, and for a while the changes have been subtle. This last hike, though, fall is breaking out in earnest. We don't get the fiery colors of a New England fall, but we do get some great golden maples.

Some autumn color

One of the things we like about the northwest is that things are always growing out of other things.

Keywords: autumn, lake crescent, spruce railroad

06/13/08 - Flowers At Lake Crescent

Winter lingered a lot longer than we had hoped this year, so we've been desperately looking for signs of spring. Well, we've found some. For example, we have several nearly ripe strawberries in our yard. If anything, they're a bit early. On the Spruce Railroad Trail today, the roses were out along with a few other flowers that we should recognize by name, but didn't. For your enjoyment, here are a few pictures.



Keywords: flowers, spring, spruce railroad, lake crescent

04/25/08 - Triliums

Each time we have visited the Spruce Railroad Trail at Lake Crescent we have kept our eyes open for signs of spring. Spring has been late in coming. The skunk cabbage didn't even appear until April, but then we saw the first Indian paintbrush and the first few salamanders. This time the trilliums were out. There aren't many leaves on the alders, but we are finally seeing some signs of spring.



Keywords: lake crescent, salamander, spring, spruce railroad, trillium


No scent yet

04/01/08 - The Skunk Cabbage Cometh, Finally

As part of The Kaleberg Signs of Spring, Finally, series, we offer our picture of the first skunk cabbage in the bogs at the eastern end of the Spruce Railroad trail at Lake Crescent. This is definitely skunk cabbage, so something is brewing, but spring is definitely behind schedule.

Keywords: lake crescent, spring, spruce railroad, kale

11/19/07 - A Visit to the Spruce Railroad Trail

There was a big windstorm last week. We were lucky and got by with a fifteen minute power outage followed by a six hour DSL outage. West of Port Angeles power was out for days, and even some people in town had to wait days for the lights to come back on. The PUD, and the town electrical people, were running ragged. Trees were down all over the place, and the roads were a mess.

Even now, the park is still digging out. Hurricane Ridge Road is still closed, largely due to downed trees. We decided to take one of the more accessible trails at Lake Crescent, so we set out for the Spruce Railroad Trail along the north side of the lake. We didn't get far before our first obstacle. There was a big tree with lots of branches down across the trail (see the photo below). This did not bode well. We figured that we'd be clambering under and over tree trunks the entire walk, but we figured wrong. We actually made it three miles down the trail, to the "point", as we call it, and there were four, maybe five, trees down across the trail in all.

For our efforts, we were rewarded with the silvery lake, and some fantastic views of the mountains to the south. You can see the river clouds hanging over the Barnes Creek Valley in the photo to the right. There was a touch of snow on Storm King, but no solid snow line. There were lots of downed branches, and that gave us a wonderful opportunity. Rain forest trees, especially the big old maples, are covered with lichens, moss, Spanish moss, little ferns and the like, but these can be hard to see except rather low on the tree. There's just an overall impression of life and green-ness. With all the branches down, we got a better view. Below and to the right, there's a photo of a rather common lichen. It looks like a bunch of leaves, but the back is white. The algae get the sunny side and the funghi get the shady side, and they do very nicely together.

Clouds over the valley

This is the worst of the four or five trees across the trail

It looks like leaves, but it's windfall lichen

Keywords: lake crescent, spruce railroad, storm king, trails, barnes creek

10/25/07 - Lake Crescent Mist

There is nothing like the morning mist on a mountain lake. The winds were calm, and Lake Crescent was placid. We were on the Spruce Railroad Trail, and this mist emphasized the quiet of the day. As we walked west the mist thickened and rose. Less than an hour later, near the end of our trail, the mist had evanesced.

Keywords: lake crescent, spruce railroad, atmosphere


A late season salamander

08/14/07 - Late Season Salamanders

We often see Olympic torrent salamanders on the Spruce Railroad Trail on Lake Crescent, but we usually see them in the spring. Here's proof that we are having a wetter summer than usual. We saw a late season salamander out on the trail just the other day.

Keywords: lake crescent, salamander, spring, spruce railroad, kale

07/26/07 - Driving Time and Distance Map of the North Olympic Peninsula

We get a number of questions from people trying to plan trips to the North Olympic Peninsula and not sure of how far it is from one attraction to another. Olympic National Park is a big park comprising the central part of the peninsula and much of the Pacific Coast. There are no roads through the middle of the park, and there is no long coastal road to follow. This makes planning a trip a bit tricky. Even getting from La Push to Rialto Beach, a distance of perhaps a mile or two along the coast requires driving inland to the bridge at Mora, so the total drive is perhaps 11 miles and takes about 25 minutes. Hurricane Ridge is not very far from the Hoh Ranger Station as the raven flies, but it is several hours drive.

To help the many visitors to the park and surrounding areas, we offer this Kaleberg Driving Time and Distance Map of the North Olympic Peninsula. It is based on the distances as computed by Google Maps, but we have used our own estimated driving times rather than the Google estimates. Google has some peculiar ideas on how fast one can drive on various park roads, and they still have the Hurricane Hill Trail from Whiskey Bend to Hurricane Hill as an automobile road! We're sure that was a trail, even before Google was founded. We've also taken some liberties in defining certain intermediate locations which do not appear on any map. In general, things like Elwha Turnoff and Hoh River Crossing are not marked as such on any other map you might find, but are useful junction points linking roads and turnoffs, just what you want for planning your drive.

Driving Distance Time Map for the North Olympic Peninsula

Keywords: maps, science, port angeles, hurricane ridge, hurricane hill, hoh rain forest, elwha, la push, lake crescent, obstruction point, rialto beach, la push, spruce railroad, kale

05/11/07 - Great Year For Triliums at Lake Crescent

Last year there seemed to be an awful lot of trilliums along the Lake Angeles trail. This year, there seem to be an awful lot of triliums along the Spruce Railroad trail at Lake Crescent. Keep your eyes open. A lot of them are along the slow ascent at the eastern end of the trail, and it is easy to miss them with all the ferns and shrubs. Also, keep your eyes open for salamanders. They are out there, especially on wetter days.


Keywords: flowers, spruce railroad, lake angeles, lake crescent, salamander, trillium, kale

03/22/07 - Currants and Curtains of Drips

If you are out at Lake Crescent this week, keep your eyes open for currant blossoms. There were a few just a bit west of the Devil's Punchbowl, and there were lots more buds getting ready to open.

Also, keep your eye out for curtains of drips. There is a lot of water in the earth this spring, and the mosses are loving it. If you look closely, the rock walls are garden nurseries, and some of the flowers are in bloom.

Keywords: spruce railroad, spring, flowers, lake crescent

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