Hiking The Beautiful PNW!

Franklin Falls with Riley

Originally planning to hike Franklin Falls with my mom on Friday but we had to cancel due to a foot of unexpected snow fall.

With big intentions Riley and I set out for a hike! We headed up to do a quickie at Franklin Falls. An easy two miles with a large roaring falls thanks to heavy rain and snowfall recently. It was beautiful!

We intended to do another hike that afternoon but kind of struck out because the trail had recently washed out. So instead we ended up heading hime much earlier than planned but refreshed none the less.

Discovery Park with Kevin

My whole life I have lived in WA and never ventured out to Discovery Park. A popular tourist destination. After recently my cousin from Texas visited and proposed to his girl friend at the park I was wanting to check it out!

It as a rare and beautiful Sunday afternoon and Kevin and I decided to explore. It is a giant park with trails throughout we walked and wandered for a couple of hours while soaking up the sun and the fresh ocean air.

Lake Serene and Bridal Veil Falls with Riley

Lake Serene

8.2 miles 2000 feet elevation gain

The day had finally come. To challenge and redeem myself. Two years ago upon return from living abroad I hiked to Bridal Veil Falls with my friend Crissy. I was so out of shape I wanted to die. I have always heard such beautiful things about Lake Serene but feared that I could never climb that far. I was in such bad shape physically. It has been daunting me ever since.

We pulled in at 8 am the only car at the trail head. Today Riley and I climbed to Lake Serene in no time at all. I had to prove to myself how far I had come. We climbed with relative ease and strength. Step after steep step we climbed and the sites were well worth it. Passing multiple falls as great and grand as Bridal Veil. Each were roaring larger than I have seen before due to all of the recent rain fall. I was so rewarded and accomplished. We were pleasantly pleased to find snow on the peaks. Ate a quick lunch and enjoyed before beginning the decent.

Elwha Hot Springs on the Olympic Peninsula

A quick weekend get away with Kevin! Saturday morning after his crossfit training we headed out to the Olympic Peninsula to camp for the night and explore the hotsprings!!

We didn't let the asshole park ranger rattle us too much and were hassled for not filling out the campsite paper work correctly.. it is a good thing Kevin is so calm and honest because I just wanted to say stfu. Again he hassled us about having the correct permits to enter national forrest (which we had) and argued with Kevin about NOAA corp not being "military" even though he gets full medical benefits.

We stopped for fire wood on the way in and didn't have the proper change but Kevin generously paid with a 20$ bill and left the change. All in all it was a great time. We enjoyed campfire food and my first camping trip of the new year! Not long after setting up camp a woman drove up to our site and had recognized Kevin's jeep, asked us if we had purchased fire wood? and exclaimed you left $20!! Here is your change. All faith in humanity restored. It was unbelievable that she drove down to the campsite out of her way to give him change. We totally lucked out with the weather.

Hot Springs might be the coolest thing I have ever experienced! A quick and easy hike out to a beautiful serene and secluded location. Everything was lush and green. The parking lot was packed and we ran into few people on the trail but we managed to easily find out own hot spring to bathe in and relaxed for a couple of hours while drinking some beer, clothing optional! As we approached you could smell the scent of sulfur in the air and we knew we were close.

While walking back to the car I saw that my rings were completely tarnished!! Who know! I had to google online and was glad to find out I could reverse it by polishing my silver with toothpaste. haha for future expeditions I will be sure to remove all silver.