Walking in Olympic Park

I decided to take advantage of the extra time and go for a short hike in Olympic National Park at Hurricane Ridge. Supposedly there are varied thrushes here plus a few other interesting upland birds, so I decide to give it a go.

View towards Mount Olympus

I leave Port Angeles in rain and fog and ascend by car until I emerge from the gloom into clear blue skies and bright sunshine above the cloud layer. The walk is good with great scenery. I realise that all that cycling I've been doing means I can walk up some steep slopes with a pack on my back and little effort. I see more American pipits and a golden eagle sweeps by at eye level just 50m away, then it circles for another look - truly spectacular. Eagles that try that kind of stunt in north-east Scotland generally don't last very long. I also get a good look at an American kestrel.



American kestrel and cute chipmunk chewing on a seed pod

I still can't get out of my head how I messed up the pelagic date and how my usual checking system didn't spot the problem. What did I do wrong? I put it down to me being punished for not putting enough money in the envelope for a hiking permit at the reserve at Dungeness, and not being honest at the Mexican restaurant to point out that they forgot to charge me for my beer. That's utter nonsense of course.

I go to another forest reserve at Crescent Lake beside Barnes River. One of the rangers at Hurricane Ridge suggested this as a site for varied thrush. It looks very promising with lots of mature wet conifer forest. I walk for two hours through fantastic habitat, past a spectacular waterfall, but still no luck. I'm going to crack this motha f***a if it kills me!

Spectacular waterfall near Lake Crescent

I make the long drive to Westport and go to one of the fish restaurants after checking into my motel. It's packed and I look at people and wonder if any of them were on the pelagic. I wonder what they saw today?