To celebrate an occasion my husband and I traveled past Port Townsend to Lake Crescent and set up camp. The campground itself is a lot of fun and comes with running water, bathrooms, established fire pits, dogs allowed, and an area to get your kayak in the water! We absolutely loved camping here. Lake Crescent is beautifully opaque at both sunrise and sunset with vivid colors throughout the day.
We took the quick drive up to see Sol Duc and hiked the short trail leading directly to the falls. The Sol Duc Falls are absolutely stunning! There were several people there, and a couple even decided to skip onto the middle rock to get pictures. Please don’t do that. A week later someone fell from there, went over two falls, and had to be rescued at the bottom of a cliff by search and rescue. The falls were constantly changing in the light because of all the tree coverage and the spray made it somewhat difficult to get a decent shot without getting my camera wet as well. I also wish my tripod was about six inches taller! But I would love to come back to these falls, considering they were so easy to get to and deliver many photographic opportunities.
On the way home we stopped at Marymere Falls. Storm King Ranger Station is on the bank of Lake Crescent and the trail to Marymere Falls begins there. A flat hike, we made good time and made the short incline to the falls. They don’t impress as much as Sol Duc, but the hike is serene and gentle and would make for a good stroll and picnic at the falls. There is a higher vantage point but of the two the lower is more conducive to a good waterfall shot.
I highly recommend a trip with these destinations. If we had more time we could have easily gone to the coast, Neah Bay and Rialto Beach. Next trip up there I want to spend some time at Hurricane Ridge!
