SCRAPS AND SCRIBBLES
Viewing entries in
nature
Sometimes I need to be dragged on a hiking excursion, and sometimes I do the dragging. A few weekends ago, Nathan and I went up Little Si on a whim and timed the summit accidentally and precisely with the first minutes of golden hour. At one point, a passing cloud cast a shadow over nearby Mount Si and created a sunbelt effect across a narrow swath of forest. Incredible payoff for a relatively chill trail.
Somewhere between Seattle and the Mount St. Helens area stretches the sprawling, crisp Swift Reservoir. We stopped just as pinprick rain began to fall, and were greeted by misty hilltops and a family of ducks eager to see if we’d brought food.
During the last full day of any given Olympic Peninsula visit, I tend to get a bad case of end-of-trip blues. I start panic-searching for the best sunset views nearby to make the best of a last evening, but to my frustration, the beaches around Port Angeles were tough to navigate during our most recent trip. They tend to lie at the end of dark, winding, and often unmarked gravel roads, and often there is no indication that a beach is not public use until you’re pulling up to its trailhead. Originally I had a different beach in mind for my peninsula sendoff, but one such “no public access” sign forced us to turn away.
My angel of a boyfriend took it upon himself to try out a difficult switchback-heavy road a mile away and make sure I got my sunset views in for the day. We ended up at Murdoch Beach in Clallam County - a modest, hidden spot just beyond a lush stretch of greenery.
