Last night we had arrived at the top of Washington state, completing our goal with very few issues and delays.
The log cabin was certainly rustic. Our bed was in a small half loft area so a little on the cozy side. The back doors of the cabin opened out onto a grassy area just a short distance from the lake, with a handy picnic bench for admiring the view.
Today was most definitely about chilling. Our first order of business was to find supplies. The small shop at the booking office sold basics - nothing fresh of course. We managed to cobble together some breakfast and sandwiches and booked a couple of kayaks for the afternoon.
Kayaking around the lake was a fantastic experience. We could only cover a small portion of the lake itself even over a few hours. The wind creates some fairly substantial waves and so, while it's hard work paddling, it's also a lot of fun. We found a small beach to pull up on for lunch and then explored a different part of the lake where there were more privately owned cabins and jetties.
It was a nice warm day. One of the things we did not account for was the effect of being out in the Sun, on the water for a number of hours with no top up of suntan lotion. On any other occasion it probably would have been fine but on top of the exposure we had with the top down in the Mustang, it was enough to burn my arms, exposed parts of my back and even my legs. I'm actually writing this blog 5 months after the trip and I still have tan lines from that day. I didn't realize at the time. When we got back from kayaking we were fairly wet anyway and decided to go for a swim in the marked off swimming area in front of the cabins. The water was cold but fairly refreshing to me and I got straight in and started swimming, laughing at Christian for being a wimp and standing in the shallows complaining of the cold. Probably this prevented the sun burn being even worse than it was.
After showing off the lake water we went for a nearby hour long hike to a waterfall. We had planned to spend a little more time here and go for a number of long hikes through the Olympic National Park but after all the exhaustion of the trip it was better to keep it simpler. I would definitely like to come back and spend some more time around the park. I'd originally wanted to go to Sol Duc hot springs but this seems to book up quite far in advance. Next time.
To end the night, we built a very impressive fire in a proper firepit, made bacon and hotdog rolls and drank beer! We did try our hand at smores, having never had them before. We were not very successful at this, either managing to pack too many in and drop them all when we tried to pick it up on the rack or burn them. There's something very special about being around a proper fire though. It was a wonderful end to our time there.
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