Olympic National Park, Day 3 08/11/2014 Photo Album

When I returned to the parking lot from fishing, Jane wasn’t visible, so I walked to the Bovee’s Meadow “beach” and found her sitting on a drift log. The number of swimmers, dogs, kayakers and picnickers had multiplied greatly over the previous hour so we were happy to say farewell.

I removed my waders and stashed my fishing gear, and we made the drive on highway 101 to the Lake Crescent marina at the western end of the lake. Jane was excited to rent a one person kayak; however, the marina only offered three two person kayaks and a canoe. We overestimated our stamina and paid to rent a red two person kayak for two hours. The young ginger in the store led us to the shed where we selected life jackets and adjusted them, and then Jane and I dragged the long kayak into the lake. We stabilized ourselves in the seats with low backs and grabbed our paddles and splashed out of the bay.

Jane in Front of Two Person Kayak

It was a warm day, so the occasional wayward splash from the paddles felt refreshing. We began by following the north shore for what seemed like three miles, but in reality it was probably only 1-1.5 miles. We were both concerned about straining arm and back muscles by paddling too fast and too long. Paddling was not an activity that we were accustomed to doing, so this was a legitimate and serious concern. We passed numerous private cabins and boathouses along the north shore, and I was actually surprised at how many were occupied on a weekday.

We tried to pace ourselves and rest occasionally, but our strong work ethics governed our approach, and we maintained a fairly rigorous pace. After 45 minutes of relatively aggressive paddling we decided to cross the lake and begin our return trip. During the first half of our water trip we battled intermittent headwinds, so we looked forward to a favorable tailwind on the way back. Unfortunately the wind essentially died as the hour passed, and we had to supply muscle power to cut through the lake on the homeward leg.

At 3PM some clouds blocked the sun, and I noticed a large quantity of small blue winged olives skidding across the surface of the lake. It didn’t take long before the swarm of hatching mayflies induced quite a few rings from rising trout. It was torture to be in this situation with no fly rod or flies, but I was careful to note the time of day in case I could arrange a return to Lake Crescent on a future day trip. The strong hatch lasted for nearly an hour and pods of rising fish appeared in several coves as we paddled our way back to the marina. We arrived at the beach by the marina at 4PM and decided to forego the last 30 minutes of our rental time to avoid overextending our weary muscles.

Jane at Fairholme Marina

In lieu of kayak paddling we purchased two cans of Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout and found a picnic table in the neighboring campground where we sipped the ice cold suds and watched the swimmers in the small beach area between the marina and campground. After relaxing for a bit, we departed Lake Crescent in a mellow state and made the half hour drive back to Forks. Day three was a fun day of water activities, and we looked forward to new adventures on day four in Olympic National Park.

Barney Flats Oatmeal Stouts Ice Cold and Ready to Consume by Lake Crescent