Month: January 2015
Olympic National Park, NW USA
Olympic National Park is mainly the inner Olympic Mountains of the Olympic Peninsula, a far northwest promontory of Washington State, at the far northwest corner of the United States. The old-fashioned US Highway 101 enters the Peninsula at its base, and circumnavigates the Park, mostly staying outside it. ‘The Loop’ is a big part of the popularity of Olympic, and a big defining element of its character and the Peninsula that hosts it. Although it can be driven in one long day, the Loop-tour around the Peninsula is a quick weekend-sized outing. … cont’d >
Olympic Mountains, NW USA an outlying buckle in the subduction zone
Olympic Mountains & Pacific Nortwest
Olympic Mountains is a small (50-75 mi), cleanly-defined, roughly circular and radial, even slightly spiraled local range (barely) on the far northwest coast of the USA. It dominates the interior of Olympic Peninsula. The Olympics are noted for their high degree of ruggedness, and for their high visibility from nearby urban and conurbated populations. Many Seattlites take the Olympics as their private yard-art, and as provocation & personal challenge to get off the sidewalk and engage with Nature. … cont’d >
Cat Creek, Elwha River, Olympic Nat’l Park Elwha river tributary, Olympic Park
Cat Creek delta and lower canyon, from Upper Lake Mills Trail
Cat Creek is a left-bank, western tributary of the middle Elwha River, a drainage of the Bailey Range of the Olympic Mountains in the Olympic National Park. There are no trails (or roads) into this watershed. Partial views into Cat-terrain can be had from the subalpine Hurricane Ridge Recreation Area. Good glimpses of the lower & middle reaches of its cleft into the Baileys massif are easily obtained via the 0.4 mile Upper Lake Mills Trail, which ends directly across the river from the Cat junction. … cont’d >