Seattle, WA

After the peninsula, we were off to the city! We parked our car outside of the city at a park and ride and took the bus into downtown for one afternoon and evening. This was super easy for us to figure out, it was really cheap ($2.50/pp round-trip) and it saved us the worry of parking the 4runner! Some of the highlights included seeing the hustle and bustle of the Pike’s Place Market, walking along the piers, and looking at sculptures around the city. We mostly just walked around and didn’t do too much touristy stuff, but the bustling city life was exciting. You could tell we were tourists in the city, because our necks were sore from looking up at all the sky scrapers!

Olympic Peninsula, WA: the mountains

To finish off our journey of the Olympic Peninsula, we drove up to Hurricane Ridge, which is a great viewpoint of the Olympic Mountains. Although it was very warm, we were still able to get some backcountry skiing in. We were able to ski and see the ocean, which was a first for both of us! Seeing where the mountains and sea meet was a great note to end on for our journey of the Olympic Peninsula.

Olympic Peninsula, WA: the coast

Getting to the beach has been filled with an abundance of life from birds, to black-tailed deer, to starfish. We rode a ferry from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend, which is located on the Eastern side of the Olympic Peninsula. We did the Cape Alava Loop Trail, which was 3 miles to the ocean, 3 miles along the coast, and 3 miles back to the trailhead. The first and last three miles were through a thick coastal forest. This was the first time Bradley and I ever visited the ocean together! As we walked along the beach, we explored tidal pools, saw some deer in the ocean, and watched 6 eagles surround a dead seal that washed up on the beach. It was a very entertaining afternoon.

We backpacked one night into the National Park to Third Beach. It was only 1.5 miles from the car, so relatively easy for us. We didn’t sleep very well with the waves crashing near us, but watching the tides change and the sunset on the beach made it worth it!

Olympic Peninsula, WA: the rainforest

One of the most amazing parts of the Olympic Peninsula is the biodiversity within such close proximity. After visiting the beach, our next stop was the rainforest. We explored the Hoh Rainforest and were able to camp for free just outside of the National Park on State Forest Land. This helped us get to the trailhead early and start hiking before the crowds came. After spending so much time in the snow, seeing all of the shades of green was amazing. Plants and mosses were growing on every available surface and huge Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlocks formed the canopy. We got to see multiple waterfalls and mountain views along the Hoh River. The highlight of the hike was a cedar grove of about 10 massive trees!

Olympic Peninsula, WA: Roosevelt Elk

While at the visitors center in Port Angeles, we visited with a park ranger about Roosevelt Elk and where to find them. Roosevelt Elk, also known as Olympic Elk, are larger bodied and darker than the Rocky Mountain Elk. These elk can be found along the Western Cascades from California to British Colombia. The herd on the Olympic Peninsula is the largest herd at more than 10,000 elk! After learning this, we embarked on our journey to find them. Luck would have it, we spotted two separate herds of more than thirty and a large, lone bull.

Our first sighting was about 20 minutes after sunrise near a farm in Mora. We drove upon a herd of thirty cows grazing in a pasture. Naturally, they seemed undisturbed by us. The following day a similar sighting happened near Forks, WA, while we were entering the national park near the Hoh Rainforest. Twenty cows and two stag bulls were feeding along the road. This herd, unlike the first, was quick to move. They did not appreciate our car stumbling upon their road crossing. We would later see these same elk that night about 2 miles further up the road. Finally, we witnessed a lone bull grazing in a bog; it was clear he had just shed his antlers. After seeing several cows, his size was remarkable. It was fun to see a different species of elk. After hunting Rocky Mountain Elk for most of my life (Bradley), these elk seemed different and yet still very much the same.

Life In The Car

We meet a lot of people that get drawn in by our “kichen” set-up and ask us all about our travels. Here is an inside look of my side of the 4Runner (Lydia). We have one food box that gets moved to the front seat each night, but besides that, we have spots for most of our things! We have two clothes lines that we can hang up to dry our clothes on if it rains or snows. It will be interesting as it turns into spring as bear season will begin to dictate how our food is organized and stored. Snow melt will undoubtedly bring change to our daily routine.

Leavenworth, WA

We traveled from Montana through Idaho and into Washington! On the way, we stopped in Sand Point, ID which is about 60 miles south of the Canadian border. While there, we camped in Kaniksu National Forest. Spring temperatures brought rain to low elevations and snow to the higher elevations! This created an ideal spring powder day at local hill Schweitzer Ski Resort, about 9 miles from town. Sand Point sits on Lake Pend Oreille, which was beautiful to walk along.

After a few days in Idaho, we drove towards Stevens’ Pass, Washington, passing through Spokane, the surprisingly dry plains of Eastern WA. One of the highlights along the way was Leavenworth, WA. The entire town center is modeled from typical Bavarian villages. We enjoyed a Bavarian dinner that night, complete with sauerkraut and schnitzel! An hour west was Steven’s Pass, which was a ski resort that we enjoyed for a few days. Now, we are headed towards the beach!

Beehive Basin in Big Sky, MT

We made it to Bozeman, MT and were able to meet up with some of our friends and ski Bridger Bowl (1 day) and Big Sky Resort (4 days, so far). After three days of on and off snowing, we decided to take advantage of a beautiful sunny day and hike to Beehive Basin. The Beehive Basin Trailhead is about four miles from the base at Big Sky Resort and is easy to access in the winter. The actual basin is about three miles from the trail head, but the hike was stunning the whole way. This is one of the most popular places to backcountry ski in Big Sky because of the varying terrain. We were amazed with the vastness of this basin and would highly recommend the hike in both winter and summer!

Cauldron Linn and Shoshone Falls, ID

We were trying to head towards Big Sky ski resort in Montana, but with some road closures from the storm and frigid temperatures, we ended up exploring eastern Idaho! After spending an afternoon in Idaho Falls, we headed towards Cauldron Linn, which was a waterfall in the Snake River. When we got to the area it was dark, snowing, and the road was very muddy, but still passable. We woke up to the sun shining, next to the beautiful Snake river. We took advantage of the warmer temperatures and dried out our stuff and made some repairs to the car. This was a great break from winter weather for us, and we felt quite rejuvenated after hanging out in the sunshine! This spot was a quiet place to camp and spend the day. The area was a Wildlife Refuge, so we saw tons of different types of birds nesting among the rocks and flying over the river.

Next, we drove through Twin Falls, ID and stopped at Shoshone Falls, which is a 212 foot tall waterfall; they are actually taller than Niagara Falls. These waterfalls were an amazing stop that was right off the highway. From Twin Falls, we went to ski at Sun Valley in Ketchum, Idaho. To catch the sunrise, we skinned up the resort, which was 3,400 vertical feet! It kicked our butts and made us appreciate the ski lifts the rest of the day. We enjoyed a morning cup of coffee once we made it to the top!

Moving towards MT

Our last days near Salt Lake City were spent skiing Deer Valley, Park City, Brighton, and Solitude. We enjoyed exploring the Salt Lake area and were impressed with the quantity of different ski resorts and the terrain within the area; all of which is easily accessible from the city. It would be a great future vacation location!

We left Salt Lake City area to catch the middle and end of a storm at Jackson Hole. It didn't stop snowing for the three days we were there! This made for some really great skiing and we saw lots of wildlife when we were hiking. The highlight was spotting a resting cow moose (female) from the trail. She had been there so long, the snow began piling on her!