Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-12

We were close enough and we had so much fun yesterday at La Poel, Eden talked me into heading back for another dip to start the morning. It turned out to be a good idea, because it put her in a phenomenal mood all morning! Even when a deer decided she didn't want to live any more and practically dove into our car, missing it by perhaps inches, it didn't shake the elation that she'd found.

Today's scheduled exploration was the Hoh forest. We didn't get a chance to stop last year, but this year the pass we'd already bought for camping covered the entrance fees, so we couldn't skip what was supposed to be an amazing sight. I do have to say, the trees were very impressive, but the whole experience did feel a bit cheap and commercial. Even with the entrance fee, it was crowded as heck, and just not as fun as we'd hoped. I guess we tend to get spoiled in the Northwest, expecting our national parks to be relatively deserted so that we can enjoy them in peace. This felt a bit more like Disneyland without the rides, I'm afraid.

We passed through Forks in the afternoon, and I'm pleased to report that the Twilight sensation that seemed to dominate the town to the point of drowning seems to have died down considerably. Instead of every corner being dominated by sparkly vampire kitch, only two or three "twilight" businesses remained. I'm afraid that "twilight firewood" was one of them. Really, people. Really?

Our evening camping at Kalaloch was a bit different than expected, as well. The campsite that had enthralled us last year with it's remarkable isolation and thoroughly impressive driftwood beaches was completely gone. And I mean that literally. The driftwood was a solid layer at least 20 to 30 feet across last year as far as the eye could see. This year, that driftwood is very nearly completely gone, save for shards of a few inches and huge logs that would take an entire family to move (and were being moved by families, as I watched). The campsite itself was swarming with people, hundreds of them. And unfortunately, the wonderfully clear skies we were looking forward to for the meteor shower never showed. Instead we had a tremendously deep fog bank swallowing the sky for miles around.

Ah well, despite missing the meteor shower entirely, it was a good night, if a bit chilly. We had visitors at the campsite, in the form of a very brave and pregnant squirrel, and a small flock of scrub jays, both of whom gave me a number of great shots. I'll admit, I did bribe the models a bit with some peanuts I'd brought for a snack, but I have the feeling that's going to end up being a more common habit for me in the photography world anyway, in the coming years.