Olympic National Park - the lakes and falls

Beautiful Crescent Lake

We seem to have started a new tradition, which is to visit an American national park once a year for a hiking holiday. It was the Grand Canyon in 2014, we are doing the Great Smokies in 2016, and in 2015 we did Olympic and Glacier national parks (and got to visit 2 more US states). The reason we visited these two parks, is that on the revelation that was the grand canyon we asked our guide what his favourite national parks were, and these were the two that he said. And they were pretty damn special. Both quite different from each other. Olympic is meant to be much wetter, it has rainforests, and Glacier is all about big mountains.

Storm Mountain ranger station

Marymere Falls

We first spent a week in Olympic national park, this is in Washington state, it's basically the Washington peninsula which is just west of Seattle. At the time I didn't realise that this is where Twilight was set. It was only when I started researching hotels that I realised where we were going. I always find the US a bit strange, you have this amazing national park, about 3 hours drive from Seattle, and yet when you arrive in the area the only touristy things you can do are related to Twilight. There is nothing to do with the amazing scenery that is all around them. They have such amazing back country and yet the vast majority don't even seem to realise.

We spent a couple of nights in Port Angeles, which also features in Twilight, and a few nights in Forks. Now Forks was Twilight central, since this is the actual town where they all live. And the way they go on in the book, you think the town is going to be quaint and pretty, little log cabins nestled in trees. Nope, really depressing, worse than country towns in Australia. Gross diners are the only places to eat, really sad run down shops everywhere. But the worst thing is anything touristy you want to do has to be related to Twilight, even though they are the closest town to the largest temperate rainforest in the US!

I really don't know what they did before Twilight, there was nothing else in this town, they must really love these books, I think they are the only thing keeping half of them employed. And the even funnier thing is that the author never even visited Forks before writing the book. Though I'm guessing if she had visited, it would probably be set in a different town.  Port Angeles was a bit better, it seemed to be less of a total hole, and had a more outdoorsy vibe to it. And less of a desperate Twilight theme.

Great forests

The Olympic national park is massive, you have temperate rainforest, coastal areas and mountains covered in glaciers all in the same park, pretty impressive. The first day we were there we were taking it pretty easy, so it was a bit of driving and sight-seeing. This was probably how most people visit the park, and it is still quite accessible this way, with lots of small walks, and great viewpoints. Since we were driving from Port Angeles to Forks we go past Lake Crescent, which is one of the main spots in the park. It was really beautiful, really peaceful, super clear water and great forests. I had really wanted to stay here when organising this week, but I had dilly-dallied too much and all the rooms had disappeared.

There were a couple of very easy walks, just a few kilometres at most, to give us a taste of the forest and waterfalls. It's an interesting approach that is being taken with Olympic national park, it's actually becoming less accessible as time goes on. As roads fall into disrepair, the locals lobby to make sure they aren't fixed, which means they just get worse and worse. Eventually they are undrivable which effectively blocks that part of the park off from visitors. It's such a massive park, it just means that there are whole portions now that you can only visit by walking in. Thinking back on it, that actually sounds pretty good to me.

Madison Falls

This particular trip was a more of a reconnaissance trip, it was mainly to suss out how bad bears are, and what you have to do to try and protect yourself from them. This park only has brown bears, which I think are not as dangerous as grizzlies, I think we could definitely go back and camp here pretty safely. This time round it was all about day hikes. It's good to see that there is this wilderness that is surprisingly accessible from London.

Lake Crescent - looking across to Pyramid mountain

Jane Eyre - National Theatre

I would never have thought you could do Jane Eyre as a play, but I was proved wrong at the National Theatre the other evening. I think I was most keen to see it because it was a new play, first performed only last year, and I love Jane Eyre. It's one of my 3 favourite Bronte books, and with a female director, I couldn't resist. It seemed that the last few times we had gone to the National Theatre it was see an Irish play written decades ago. So it was good to see something a bit more modern, and not set in Ireland.

I was surprised at how well they had adapted it to stage, I guess it helps if you know the book really well, since they have to cut a bit out to make it fit in 3 hours. Certain characters were dropped, and the St John Rivers part was sadly shortened. But they focused a lot on Jane's desire to be free and to live the life she wanted as a full and complete human. Which I really liked. She was so fierce in some of her speeches. This is definitely the type of play I like to see, even if the seats at the NT are super uncomfortable.

Dog-sledding

The dogs - with their kennels

The final activity we tried in Tromso was dog sledding. I obviously had no idea what dog sledding was going to be like, because at the start I was really looking forward to it. I thought you would just stand on the back of the sled calling out instructions and the dogs would do whatever you tell them to do.  Ooooh boy did I have no idea! Basically the dogs are your enemy and the whole time you are fighting against them throwing you off the back of the sled and abandoning you in the snow. Once they are attached to the sled they go completely crazy, the only thing that will stop them is the "brake", which is just a piece of serrated metal that you jam into the snow with your foot.

We went twice, the first was only 90 minutes of sledding at night, this was meant to be a bit of a northern nights tour as well, but since you were so focused on either not being tipped out of the sled, or not being thrown off the back, there was no way you could look for lights. We were again lucky with the weather though, it had been snowing for 2 whole days prior to our sledding, so the dogs were super happy. In retrospect it was actually a really easy dog sledding tour, though it certainly didn't feel like that at the time.

Carnage up ahead

Given that we were doing a longer dog sled tour later in the week, I am actually really glad we did this one first. This tour was exactly what you needed to get used to dog sledding, it was totally touristy, they had everything down to a fine art. The van pulled up to the hotel, let the previous participants out, picked up the new sledders, drove to the dogs, you got changed, played with the dogs whilst they fixed the sleds. Then you had some very rudimentary instruction; this is the brake, don't let go, lean into the corner, then you were off. When you returned it was straight into a warm room with tea and chocolate cake, then back into the van and home. Seriously it was a well-oiled machine.

Beautiful spot - that's where we were snowshoeing the other day

The dogs from the night tour - lazy animals!

The second one was much more arduous, it was kind of crazy that they let beginners do that tour. This was 3 hours of dog sledding, and just so much harder. This was really down to the conditions though, it had rained the night before and was quite warm, so the snow had started to melt. This meant there was dirt patches appearing, and you would sled through flowing streams. It was actually the dog company we had seen when we were snow shoeing earlier in the week. That time we had seem the sledders cross the road and disappear off for a good hour or so. With our tour we only barely made it to the road before turning back. That's how big an effect the conditions have on the sledding.

We needed this at the end of the night

It was so hard that it was actually quite hilarious. People were being thrown out of the sleds, falling off the back, the sleds were getting caught in trees, tipping over, it was total carnage. So many times we would be waiting for someone up ahead to right their sled, and the dogs from the group behind us would start to overtake us, the driver would have fallen off again. It was never a big deal, since you could just reach out and grab the harnesses and they would stop immediately. It just must have been exhausting for that group. At one point we are waiting again, and we look around and we see that the driver had again fallen off the sled behind us, but it was at the top of a hill. The dogs just pick up speed, the person in the sled is screaming, eventually they get thrown out and the sled starts overtaking the dogs, that's when they stopped. I don't think those people will be dog sledding again. There was no way I was driving the sled this second time, we actually had a great time though. Since when the sled tipped over, Dave could just pick it up. So for me there was no real effort, just a lot of adrenaline.

My view for the day

Looking back on the two tours, I would go with the more arduous company again, not sure about the touristy one. The dogs were much stronger and better trained. With the second company, we barely had to push, only a bit up the super steep hills. Whereas the first company had really lazy dogs, and you basically had to push the whole time. That's where I came a cropper, since I was trying to push the sled and I slipped. The dogs don't stop, they just go even faster because there's no brake, so I'm on my tummy behind the sled, being dragged along. It felt like for ages, but must have just been a few seconds. Then I thought to reach up with my other hand and push the brake in, then they stopped. It was quite a scary experience though, since you don't really know what the dogs would do if you let go completely.

The second company just seemed to have stronger dogs, and they felt a little less out of control, they seemed to know how to pull the sled smoother or something. This second company does week long dog sledding adventures, where you each drive your own team and you camp in the wilderness, that would be awesome! I would definitely do that with this company, they were already all booked out for this season though, so would have to be 2017 at the earliest.

Dave with our super friendly sled dogs

The dogs were a lot smaller than I expected too, it was really impressive to go that fast, with what are really only medium sized dogs. I was expecting the big Alaskan malamutes, but they were actually just a bit bigger than kelpies. And so super friendly, again I was expecting them to be a bit stand-offish, like cattle dogs can be, but even though they were working dogs, they loved pats. No growling, no fighting, just lovely dogs, they would come out of their kennels just for pats. I definitely recommend dog sledding, it is super fun, and you really feel like you have experienced something at the end.

Snow-Shoeing - or yet another revelation

Dave at the top - trying to shelter from the wind

We went on a snowshoe expedition, this was with the same company who did the cross-country skiing, Tromso Outdoor, highly recommend them. We had the perfect weather for this walk, it was beautiful blue skies, not a cloud anywhere. Most of the other days had involved either snow or rain, or at least clouds, so we were super lucky.

We were back on Kvaloya, it really is a pretty island. There was a 400m peak we were going to climb. This was actually a really easy walk, mainly because the guide ahead of us was breaking all the trail. But snowshoes are great, you don't sink in so far, and they have these crampon-type spikes on the bottom, which means you are really stable on ice. I love them, we have to plan some snowshoeing expeditions here in the UK.

Just a beautiful day, in a beautiful location

Great mountain ranges all around

The climb was only 400m, so pretty easy. And the weather so nice, that this was a like a walk in the park. I'm glad we hadn't gone the day before, they ended up in the middle of a blizzard, that would not have been fun!

Whilst we were out we saw some dog sledders heading out for their activity as well. It was kind of cool watching them, they even crossed the road, that was the cutest thing. You can hear the dogs from a long way, they were all the way down in the valley and still clear as anything. We were wondering if that would be us in a few days, since we had booked in for a full days dog sledding. It looked super fun if it was going to be us. The key with visiting these polar night places, and what all the Norwegians say, is that you got to keep active. And that's what we found, so long as we were doing exercise every day we found we didn't really miss the sun. It's true that our eating patterns were a bit all over the shop, but I think that's because all the activities ran over lunchtime, since that's when the sun is "up".

Approaching the top

"Sunset" peaking over the ridge

I think these photos show most closely what the days were like in Tromso, as you can see it's definitely not pitch black, those skies are definitely blue. And with all the snow around, even after "sunset" it's light enough to come down off the mountain without head torches. There were quite a few people climbing the mountain at the same time as us, though they were doing it carrying skis. There is this thing called ski touring, which I have only just learned about, which seems to involve climbing these mountains and then skiing down them. I guess it's because they don't have the chair lifts that you get in Switzerland, but you have a lot of mountains. It looked pretty fun, but I don't think I will ever achieve that level of ski. There were even people doing it with a tiny dog. Apparently they would have to wait for the dog to catch up as they went down.

The road at the start

Ski-tourers on their way up

When I saw the dogs in Norway, just normal pet dogs, not work dogs, and what they would do, I feel the dogs in London are really coddled. Here they all go around with little jackets on through winter. There they would be out climbing snow covered mountains, or pulling their ski-clad owners along. It's impressive to see what dogs can put up with, and seem to enjoy.

The climb was beautiful, and easy, and even, dare I say it, warm. And then we hit the peak. It was this gale force wind, which was picking up the snow and driving it into your face like ice. We could hardly even rest. And Dave and I made a tactical error of waiting until we were at the top before putting on our additional layers for the walk back down. That really cooled things down, my hands were blocks of ice. Definitely a lesson learned there. Put the warm layers on just before you get to the summit. Especially if it's lovely and still where you are on the route up. And then some how most of the way down was in this same howling wind. I'm not sure how that worked given the total lack of even a breeze on the way up.

This was the whale-watching fjord, totally different with blue skies

Moon-rise over the mountains

Sunset at the peak

Whale Watching : I am never seeing this many whales again

Humpback going for a dive

Now that we were in tip-top condition after our ski expedition we went on a whale watching tour the next day. Now I've been on whale watching tours before, which have been universally disappointing. You may see some bit of a whale in the very far distance, and then a bunch of dolphins might swim around the boat, and that's it. So going into this tour I was probably the least enthusiastic, since I kind of thought it was going to be more of the same. Oh man, was I wrong.

We saw our first whale within the first 5 minutes. We saw so many whales that by the end of the day I was a bit bored with them all, it's like, oh another whale. The guide later said that she was a bit worried, since it took us a full 5 minutes to see our first whale. Apparently it's normally quicker than that. I think I saw more whales in that one day, then I am likely to see for the rest of my life. It was incredible.

Amazing lights in the morning

A whole family of orca

The other, slightly more amazing thing, is that the whales have only been visiting this fjord for the last 5 years. Five years ago you couldn't even go on a whale watching cruise, they didn't exist in Tromso. But 5 years ago the herrings turned up, and the whales followed. The herrings used to occur further south, but I guess global warming is pushing them further north.

It's amazing visiting Norway, since they have these signs all around them as to how the climate is changing, so on almost all fronts they are completely environmentally conscious. But then they still hunt whales. Because the whale hunt is tied in with their Viking ancestry, and nobody can touch that. The populace is totally behind the whale hunting. You feel like the Viking time was their golden age, they did ransack a lot of Europe, so fair enough if they want to hold on to that. But it feels like they might be entering a second golden age, what with their immense oil wealth, that they haven't squandered on middle-class tax breaks. I wonder if that will change their whale hunting stance.

Yet more humpback

The whales you will see from Kvaloya are humpbacks and orca, and they are so awesome. You get pretty close to them, of course the boat has to stay 100m away from the whales, but they are free to swim up to you. We had a humpback right next to the boat, we were saying to each other, what is that white thing under the water, turned out to be a whale! And the noise of them spouting the water, it was all around you. It really was another awesome tour. Seriously everything we did in Tromso was amazing.

A beautiful spot for a boat ride

Can actually see it's spot

This is were we actually met a Norwegian tour guide, there weren't many of them, he was captain of the boat. It sounded like this was a bit of a holiday for him, since he used to live on Svalbard. Now Svalbard sounds like this amazing place. It's basically as north as you can go, there's only the Arctic further north. They get the true polar night, pitch black the whole time, I don't know how you would survive it, and people live there all year. They have polar bears there. So even though you think it's pretty tough living in Tromso, there is always somewhere more hard core. In fact Tromso is a paradise compared to Svalbard. This captain was a real viking though, really tall, red hair, super tough hands. And yet so nice and friendly. Man I love Norwegians.

Cross-Country Skiing, Or A New Way of Life?

Dave with his skis

The day after our first northern lights tour we really needed a sleep in. So we had organised guided cross-country skiing in the afternoon. I have to say I didn't wake up feeling 100%, I'm not really used to 4am nights. We did manage a good sleep, but I did feel like I was about to get sick. I definitely wasn't super keen for skiing. But man am I glad I went!

I felt 100% after the trip and have discovered my winter activity. I have felt like we are wasting our winters a bit, given that we are not massive downhill skiing fans. And we haven't really done any mountaineering. So to discover cross-country skiing has blown winters wide open. We are already planning on going back to Norway, purely for a cross-country ski holiday. When we planned our Tromso trip, we had only one skiing session planned, just to see how it was. As soon as we finished our first class we booked in for another one, and hired skis ourselves to go out on the trails yet again. It was that amazing.

The trails in Tromso

Basically it's like running really slowly, and if there's one thing I can do, it's run really slowly. It's exactly the winter spot for us; solitary, meditative, surrounded by trees, no real fear of dying, and without too much skill involved. I can't believe it took us this long to discover it. Though I think Norway is the best place to discover cross-country skiing. They say Norwegians are born with skis on their feet. And skiing that first time I can see what they meant. It's like all of Tromso were on the trails, there were people with their tiny toddlers, people with dogs attached to them, people just chatting as they skied along. It's definitely a way of life for them, and they are all so good at it, there was perhaps one 3 year old that I was better than, but other than that, they were all totally at home on their skis.

Dave ready to carve it up

It's funny that we had this life-changing epiphany where we did. Since the trails we were on are basically commuting trails, between the city centre and the university. In summer I think they are a bike path, I think it would be similar to someone hiring a bike and cycling around Lake Burley-Griffin in Canberra, and deciding that cycling is the best thing ever, and that they have to come back and do more. It does mean that the skiing we do next time, which won't be on commuter trails, should be even more awesome than what we have just done.

The other awesome thing about this activity is that you can catch a bus from the city centre to the start of the trails. There is no need for expensive lift passes, and everyone is super friendly on the trails. I guess it's because everyone has endorphins pumping through them. And the trails are all lit up, so you can ski anytime. The lady at the ski hire place said she couldn't sleep one night, so at 3am she got up and went skiing for a while. This is why I want to live in Norway!