Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Sol Duc Falls Hike

Time is running out as we plan to leave here the day after Labor Day. There's still a few sights we wanted to see. One of them is the Sol Duc falls. Sol Duc is the name of the river that starts in the Olympic mountains and runs into the Straits of Juan du Fuca. It's a premier salmon & steelhead stream. The river forms a canyon that runs up to the mountains. The road follows the river up the canyon, past the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort, and ends at the trailhead for the falls hike.

The Sol Duc Resort includes cabins, an RV park, and a swimming pool and the hot springs. It's very popular, and the campground is often full.

The trail is a pretty level run up to the falls area, about a .8 mile one way. It wanders through old growth Douglas Fir. The falls themselves are different in that they flow sideways into the canyon.


You can hike above the falls to get closer to the river. Here's a picture of John sitting on the rocks enjoying the sights & sounds.

Here's a shot back down the river showing the water shooting across the canyon. We visited the falls in August, so you can imagine the volume of water in the spring when the snow starts melting.

If you would like to look at other photos, click on the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/SolDucFallsHike#

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