04/01/25 - Elwha to Altair

Now that spring is here, we've been hiking from Madison Falls up along the Elwha to the Altair Bridge. Most of the route follows Olympic Hot Springs Road, but the road is cut off by the river not far from the trailhead, so we take the detour through the hills around the old, now flooded, campground.

We were well rewarded. Our goal was skunk cabbage, and there was lots of skunk cabbage, especially past the ranger station as we approached the bridge. It grows in the drainage ditches and flooded areas of forest.

We also saw the fawn lilies. The first few are out with their delicate stalks and lovely hanging flowers. There were also a few trilliums, not many, but enough to convince us that spring has come.


A fawn lily

Our first trillium of the season






Skunk cabbage

The old work area across from the ranger station

Skunk cabbage in the forest


The view from the bridge



The road is getting tired.


A fiddlehead




The mules are back in town.

Keywords: elwha, flowers, spring, trilliums

06/24/24 - Little River Trail

We didn't get very far on the Little River Trail, just to the "healing pools", a section of the trail where it is easy to get down to the river and wade. The cold water does wonders for one's feet. Along the way, the spring flowers had given way to the summer flowers. There were trilliums with their pods but no flowers, but the blood root and Pacific dogwood were in bloom.

A bit of the trail

Bloodroot

Can you spot the trilliums without their flowers?

Another bit of trail with a nurse log

More of the trail

Pacific dogwood

More dogwood

Even more dogwood

Down by the Little River

Another bit of the river

A huge trillium

A bit of a robin's egg

One of the "canyons"

Keywords: flowers, little river, spring, summer, trilliums

05/18/24 - Lake Angeles With Frogs

We've been trying to get back into climbing shape in hopes of being able to climb in the high country. We made it a little past the log bridge on the Lake Angeles Trail that starts near Lake Dawn. The spring flowers are about, but the special treat was, once again, frogs. There were the usual trilliums and violets and orchids, but also tiny little frogs perhaps the size of a fifty cent piece and large frogs over an inch log. They are very well camouflaged, but once you've spotted the first it is easier spotting the second, third and so on.

The log bridge

Water streaming

Water from the far side of the bridge

A trillium

A tiny little frog

Another tiny little frog

A blurry little frog - Autofocus can't do everything.

Yet another frog - the fourth plague

There may be a frog in there.

Or perhaps one here.

Aha! one of the more cooperative larger frogs

Mushrooms

Another mushroom

The forest

A cooperative squirrel

A fawn lily

A violet

More flowers

More Trilliums

Another trillium

Another violet

Keywords: flowers, high country, lake angeles, spring, trilliums

05/10/24 - Elwha to Altair

We made our way from Madison Falls to the Altair Bridge. The river had been active this winter, so a great log had blocked part of the detour. We had to scramble a bit on our previous hike, but this time it seems the park service had done an admirable job dealing with an immense log.

Still trilliums

The park service cut through this immense log.

The hike was much easier this time.

Along the Elwha

Tiarella

The Elwha from the Altair Bridge

A snake on the trail

Mountains and greenery

More green by the trail

The forest

A toad lily

More forest

The Elwha from the parking lot

Some ground

Larkspur

Keywords: elwha, trilliums