My standing with the tree slugs has increased by one point.

And now, it's time for another "Good Idea/Bad Idea."

Good idea: Hiking in Olympic National Park.

Bad idea: Hiking 5.5 miles in the mountains in 90% humidity when you're horribly out of shape.

Today we headed to the Elwha area to do some more hiking. We started with a short (.2 mile) walk up to a scenic waterfall (at left) on the way into the park, then checked out the hiking trails posted at the ranger station. Our ultimate goal was the Olympic Hot Springs (we didn't make it there, alas!), but before we hiked out to soak in the hot and smelly, we thought we'd do a few miles through the woods. We had gotten a local's recommendation to take a particular trail at Elwha; it was listed as "moderate" and ran about 2.7 miles each way, so we planned to do that trail and then hike up to the hot springs and soak for a bit.

This was a perfectly decent plan. However, it did not take into consideration the fact that I live in Indiana, at near-zero elevation (I think my area is officially 12 feet above sea level). I'm also completely out of shape, due to a respiratory infection that took me out of commission for several weeks earlier this year, so the five-plus miles of trail -- largely climbing up and down hills, which I am also unused to -- pretty much wiped me out. By the time we finished the first trail, my clothes were soaked through with sweat and my feet were starting to swell. Still hopeful, we checked the trail guide to see if the trail to the Olympic Hot Springs was any easier -- but learned that not only was it the same length as the one we'd just finished, but also had an even higher elevation increase. We decided to call it a day.

Still, we did get some pretty good hiking in with the first 5.5 miles. Apparently it is banana slug migration season here in Olympic, by which I mean every slug on one side of the trail has decided that it wants to be on the other side of the trail. I lost count of how many giant slugs I stepped over, guided Mark around, or scooped gently onto a leaf or piece of bark to get them out of the walking path, but it was at least a couple of dozen. There was also a cute little snake (at right) who tried to play dead across a sidewalk and almost got stepped on; I shooed him off into the grass.

As expected, there was also some nice scenery on our hike. The areas we hiked through alternated between Douglas fir and maple forest, and the undergrowth was mostly huge ferns. Very green, and very pretty! There weren't many spruce trees -- which was frustrating for me because before we started the hike, Mark pointed out a notice explaining the legal quantity of edible plants that hikers could collect from the park, and I really wanted to eat some spruce tips. Fortunately, I did find a single spruce tree later in the hike, so I got to munch a handful of tree bits. (They tasted better in Alaska, though... these were a little bitter.)

We also had to cross several streams and rivulets on the hike. Some had bridges, and some were fordable, but there was one crossing that did not instill me with confidence. It was the same type of bridge we'd crossed the day before, a cut log with a railing attached... except that in this case, one railing was missing, and right beside it was the old bridge -- identical in design, but broken in two (!) and lying partially in the river. Fortunately, the one-railed log (at left) held up just fine, and we crossed it twice without falling in.

There was only one real casualty from our hike, apart from the sore muscles I'm going to have for the next couple of days. While walking through the tall plants lining the trail, I managed to brush against a nasty weed with tiny little thorns that have some kind of burning toxin in them. Even now -- four hours later, and after a bath and a shower -- I still have stinging welts across the backs of my hands. Ouch.

After leaving the park, we drove back to Sequim and stopped at the local Pizza Factory for a very late lunch (it was around 4:00 by the time we ate, and we'd had breakfast at 9:00). While we waited on our pizza, both of us had fun playing the Star Trek pinball machine (at right) that was in the restaurant's little arcade area. I've never really played pinball, but Mark tells me I did pretty well. I ended up with around 7,500,000 points, whatever that means... I don't understand pinball scoring. Anyway, the game design was fun, with lots of character quotes and images from the original series (complete with Uhura and Chapel in skimpy '60s outfits).


And, finally... I've been driving past this place on highway 101 for three days now, and today I had Mark snap a photo of it. I loved the sign, although I confess I don't know what a "dolphin room" is for...