Olympic National Park/Peninsula

[mike_kowal]

Hi all,

 

Just decided to head to ONP and the surrounding area in mid-July. I read a few prior posts and yet have a few questions. Specifically, will be there from 17th-23rd, and am going to try and begin up near Hurricane Ridge, moving to SolDuc, then on down into the Forks area, working both in the rain forests and along the coast. I'm kinda hoping to pack light and take the new 100-400 IS instead of big glass, so I'm curious as to whether I can get away with shootin' at 5.6 and if a 400 won't kill me for distance...I know it's hard to say positively, but, for wildlife, I don't want to get there and wish I would've brought a 600. Any good spots to look for wildflowers? Is the 'Hoh' the better of the rain forests??? Is there anyplace better than another to shoot along the coast? (heard that LaPush and that general area is good...any truth to that???) ...never been to the PNW! Two other things...any good spots for Roosevelt Elk and lastly, any good spots for sea stacks on the coast? THANX ALL!!!

[don_baccus]

The coast strip within the park has sea stacks, etc to photograph. You'll have to hike, of course, and pay attention to tides.

 

From SolDuc, if you want to take a really nice but lengthy gonzo day hike head up to High Divide. Do you like bears? You'll see them up there. Just black bears, no griz.

 

I'm not sure where the elk hang out in July, as I've always been up there in winter or fall.

[mark_windom]

Wildflowers: tough call this year with the amount of snow that fell in the mtns but Hurricane Ridge is probably your best bet. Timing for peak bloom is anyone's guess.

 

Roosevelt Elk: Quinalt Rain Forest is where I have seen them in the Spring.

 

Rain Forests: the Hoh is the most popular and relatively easy to photograph, the Quinalt is considered by many to be the most photogenic (not sure I agree with this) and the Queets is the least frequently visited which may be a consideration at this time of year (I have never been in the Queets so can't advise you here one way or the other).

 

Sea stacks: Rialto Beach (about a mile north of LaPush) and Second

Beach (just south of LaPush) are the best within the Park. Ruby Beach is not as impressive but if you have the time it is worth visiting.

 

I'm not a wildlife photographer so can't advise you re: the 600 but I usually find that the lenses I leave behind are the ones I wish I had with me when I'm at my destination. If you're interested in deer you will see plenty on Hurricane Ridge and they are so acclimated to tourists that you could get by with a wide angle if necessary.

 

Olympic National Park is a very diverse area with more to photograph than you will ever have time for. Hope for a mix of sunny days for the coast and Hurricane Ridge and overcast for Sol Duc and the Rain forests. Mid-to-late July is generally very nice in the PNW but the way things have been going this year I wouldn't bet on it.

[massimiliano_poletto]

Elk: in August two years ago we saw a large herd in White Creek Meadow, in the upper Enchanted Valley, along the trail that goes from Anderson Glacier to O'Neill Pass. During the summer the elk move up to higher elevations, so you have a better chance of seeing them up in places like that than down in the rainforest. Unfortunately, I cannot imagine hiking up to the headwaters of the Duckabush or the Quinault with a 600mm lens in my pack (on top of sleeping bag, tent, etc.). I would suggest taking the 100-400 and enjoying the hike, and not worrying about maybe being 200mm short.

[bruce]

Mike,

I just returned from the Olympic Peninsula this week. I can give you a brief description of our trip and some background about our (my wife & I are partners) gear.

 

We began in Kalaloch on the coast and photographed tide pools. Give yourself at least 2 days to photograph the pools just in case the weather is bad on one day (it will be). This will also give you time to scout for landscapes. We did most of the tide pool work on 4th beach... hope for an early low tide so as to avoid crowds. Two beaches down is a great sea-stack beach... if you hit it at low tide and fjord a short river, you will have a private black sand beach to work on. For us, low tide was in the evening so we had great op's w/sunset photos. We stayed at the Kalaloch lodge (2 nights @ $125/night). During the days, we hiked a nearby trail which was mostly coastal rainforests.

 

Days 3,4, & 5 were at the Quinault rainforest. There is a great lodge on lake Quinault... but it was a little ritzy for us. Anyway, there are some great trails across and around this lodge and the rainforest is beautiful. If you go to quinault make sure you drive the North & South loop. This is a total of 40 miles and begins around the lodge in the National forest. The loop then moves into the National Park and becomes very rough road. We drove this 4 times... beginning at 4:00 a.m. in the mornings and 4:00 p.m. in the evevings. If you are vigilent, you will see Elk and Deer in these places.... photography is tough, bring a fast lens! I was shooting 1/45 to 1/60 @ f2.8! At the end of the loop is a ranger station. This station has a small 1/2 mile trail that hardly anyone visits... it is as nice as the HOH!

 

Our last 4 days were spent in Sol-Duc. On our way to Sol-Duc we stopped at the Hoh and hiked the HOH -river trail. This is the backpackers trail & gets much less traffic than the trails near the ranger station. Plan at least one whole day here. We hike 5 miles in and back... it took us 15 hours because we would stop every 50 meters to take pictures. We had the experience of the trip on the Hoh. We happened to come across a heard of at least 15 elk trying to cross the river. Well... 7 calves were stranded and wouldn't cross... needless to say, 5 rolls of film later, they made it. In addition to returning to the HOH (again) from Sol Duc for a 2nd day, we hike around the Sol Duc valley though most of it was still snowed in. There is great Old-Growth here. The Sol Duc lodge was the bargain @ 100/night with kitchen... make sure you visit the waterfall... while the fall is beautiful, the cascades there were as nice as I've seen anywhere!

 

Finally, give yourself some time at Port Angeles as there is a great Coastal Wildlife Refuge... unfortunately, we were unaware of this spot until we had to fly home.

 

Gear: Rain Protection!.. my bag 1 Medium Format Camera for waterfalls. 2 35mm bodies, 28mm, 80-200 2.8, 300 2.8, matched 1.4x, 2-element dioptor for zoom, flash... I found the extra speed helpful. Tamy's bag: 1 35mm body, 35mm, 50mm, 75-300, 300 4.0, 2 element dioptor for zoom, flash. Everything was used heavily (bring a back-up body if you have one). All of my gear fits into a Tamrac 787 backpack which fits the airline spec perfectly, while Tamy's was in a Domke daypack... total rolls shot exceeded 50.

 

Hope I helped, if you have questions, please e-mail me @ bt_photo@sprynet.com.

 

regards, bruce

[paul_di_biase]

As of today, there are few wild flowers at Hurricane Ridge due to the large amount of snow still present. A mid July trip should provide some flower opportunities provided the weather warms up enough to melt most of the snow in the next week to ten days. It was in the 40's at Hurricane Ridge today. However, we did manage to see deer and even a few fawns at the lower elevations.

 

You might find more information on the Olympic Peninsula via the Pacific Northwest Photography e-mail group which I sponsor. You can get to it via www.onelist.com. Once you signin to OneList search for the pnwphoto list and follow the instructions to join.

[garren_larue]

Hi. I have lived in Port Angeles all my life. If you have any more questions please ask, I probably have an answer. I you want to see elk in July the best place to go is down around the Hood Canal. Go past Quilcene ( I hope I spelled that right) and continue down the Hood canal. I have seen them several times right off the coast in some of the flat boglike areas. Another good spot is alsong the Elwah river. There is a trails that start a the dam were I have seen elk several times. They can also be found near Sequim. If you go to Sequim then take some of the back road into the mountains you should find some, I would try Hood canal first though.

My favorite plave in the entire park, as well as the best place to photograph wildflowers, bear, elk, marmits,ect is a place called Marmits pass. It is a 6 mile hike but well worth it. You need to go up Palo Alto road right before sequim. Stop by a ranger station and ask for a map first though. There are also 2 mines, and old minning camp, a crashed b-17, several lakes, rivers, and beutiful medows. Few people come here so there are nit the huge crouds of Hurricane ridge. I hope some of this helps, and have a nice trip.

[the lone ranger]

driving up to the Hoh in june/july of 2001, we saw a herd of elk grazing in the brush in this one small meadow visible from the road. they ran back into the trees not long after we spotted them cuz other people saw us there and started making noise.