Olympic National Park - Days 3 & 4

On Saturday, we backpacked along the coast to Toleak Point and set up camp. The trail is about 7 miles, some of which is on the beach and some through the forest. It was like nothing we had ever done before. There are ropes and ladders to climb, mud everywhere on the trails and amazing views in every direction. Because the hike is on the beach, we had to plan our hiking times around the tides, which was definitely a new concept for us.

Various rock formations scatter the coast in this area

At the start of the trail before we knew what lie ahead

It was pretty difficult to get lost along the trail. We just followed the footprints.

This mud was thick and covered the trails we walked on. At first, we tried to avoid the mud, but soon realized this was impossible.

After hiking in Saturday morning, we set up camp and then explored the area further down the trail. These falls were a short hike away. We spent a while here taking pictures and soaking our feet in the cool water.

Along certain portions of the trail, we left the beach in order to hike around impassible bluffs. Once going up to the top, we had amazing views looking out into the ocean.

This spot was right in front of where we camped. We watched the sunset from here.

Brooks had fun playing with the panoramic setting on the camera.

These rocks were the view from the beach where we camped. When the tide was low, we were able to walk across some of the rocks and see starfish and sea cucumbers in the tide pools. Sunday morning had the lowest tides of the year and all the rangers kept telling us how amazing it would be.

Saturday was a nice sunny day and these harbor seals came to lay out in the sun on the rocks close to our campground. When the tide was low, we were able to walk across some of the tide pools and observe them from a distance. My favorite was watching the baby seals with their moms.

There were bald eagles everywhere! We enjoyed watching them soar over the beach and land in the trees right on the coast.

This was taken on the hike out Sunday morning. We both look dirty and tired.