Log Cabin Resort (Olympic National Park)
So I’m skipping ahead a few weeks. Figured I’d go with what’s freshest in my mind and backtrack on a later day. Today Ryan, Duke and I find ourselves at the Log Cabin Resort in Olympic National Park. We have a wonderful site overlooking the stunning Lake Crescent. Emphasis on the stunning!
Our friends Liz and Brett had the amazing opportunity to work at the Lake Crescent Lodge last year for 6 months. Liz took the time to share with us all the best places to check out. We had a tasty lunch at the lodge they worked at and took a stroll around the grounds there. It was beautiful. Sadly they don’t have a campground and the rooms cost a whopping $240!!! Maybe someday we’ll have the cash money to splurge on that! On our stroll we found a great place to hangout and throw a stick for Duke.
Hanging out down the beach from us was a big group of people. All of the sudden the group broke out in song…Ryan and I looked at each other and said “Is that the MSU fight song they’re singing!?”. Sure enough it was. How crazy to be so far from home and hear people singing the MSU song. One of the guys walked past us and we stopped him to ask about the singing. Turns out they were all there for a wedding and the groom is from Kalamazoo! The groom went to MSU and so a bunch of the groomsmen and friends are from Michigan. The bride is from Seattle and they met in the U.P. during their masters program. Such an amazing place to get married!
Brad, the gentleman we stopped to chat with, told us about a lodge on the other side of the lake that he was pretty certain also had a campground. We had fallen for the view of Lake Crescent so we jumped on the idea of being able to camp right on it! Sure enough, just a 10 or so minute drive around the lake we found Log Cabin Resort. The sites are pricey…$46/night but they are full hookup (water, electric and sewage). So we splurged and stayed here 2 nights!
We mowed some onion rings the first night while sitting by the lake. Had a lovely fire last night while we watched the fog roll in and the moonlight glowing on the water. This place is magical, just like Liz told us! We definitely wanted to get on the water, so we planned to rent a canoe or a couple kayaks from the lodge. After checking out their floating devices we came across something neither of us had ever seen….Hydro Bikes!!! Um, yes please. So we rented the Hydro Bikes last night for an hour. The boat man was super kind and just told us to have them back by 8, which gave us more like an hour and 40 minutes. (Tip: when rentals are run hourly, rent them for an hour with a little less than 2 hours left of the rental day and Voila! you’ll pay for 1 hour but get closer to 2!)
Surprisingly these rigs were pretty quick in the water if you kept a steady pace of pedaling. Ryan and I want to build a couple for Murray Lake (his parent’s house). How neat would that be!?
Oh yeah, we also hiked the Spruce Railroad Trail before renting the Hydro Bikes. It was super easy to get to and the trailhead was only a mile from our campsite. We thought about mountain biking it, but decided we should double check the terrain first. I think we’re finally catching on from our past experiences!!!
Sadly, like every place we’ve been so far, it came time to pack up and move on. I was especially sad to be leaving Lake Crescent. In many ways it reminded me of our lakes back in Michigan (aside from the large mountain hills surrounding it of course). I can’t wait to visit again someday. If you ever have the opportunity to stop here, do so, it will be well worth it!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot! We went into Port Angeles to buy some much needed groceries (as much as I would have loved to keep eating onion rings, they were $7 an order and weren’t filling enough ;) ) Any who, in the check out line we were making small talk with the cashier woman and somehow triggered conversation with the woman behind us as well. Turns out her husband graduated from Aquinas and she graduated from Western!!! Small world, yeah? I just thought that was so cool to meet someone married to an AQ grad so far from Michigan!
S’more Count: IIIII IIIII IIIII
