-Yawn-. Today we rolled out of bed at 9:40. Even later than yesterday. The morning began with a little of last night’s pizza and packing up the car. We ate breakfast at ‘The In Place’ which was catty-corner to the Forks’ Cafe. The atmosphere was a little less home-town, had a little more of a college feel. There, too, had a small blurb about Bella and the Twilight series in the menu. The place was newer and cleaner, the wait staff younger and complained about their ‘bitch’ of a manager, and the food more like middle americana. All in all, I would go back the the Forks’ Cafe (though this place did have flavored creamer to cover up the coffee.)
We set off north and east to Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort. Along the way we picked up a geocache along the side of the Sol Duc river. A little more east, and 10 miles past any road our onboard GPS guide knew about, we arrived at the Resort. And wow … an amazingly spectaculay place until you saw the cabins. The Sol Duc Resort is nestled in a narrow valley between steep heavily wooded mountains next to the Sol Duc river. The main lodge is beautifully constructed and hides three large spring fed hot pools. The cabins lay in front of the main lodge and are arranged and built like army barracks. Two dozen square plywood cabins standing in formation within a barricade of multicolored Toyota Priuses (and our L.L. Bean limited edition Subaru Outback).
Check-in wasn’t until four PM so we drove to the end of the road and parked at the trailhead to the Sol Duc waterfall. The hike to the waterfall is a 1.8 mile round trip slice of nature loving heaven. It is an easy walk through some of the best old growth moss covered rain forest that I have seen. It crosses four small bridges and one large one. Each crossing comes with tumbling water, mossy rocks, a soothing presence, and a score of photos.
The last crossing is on the bridge at Sol Duc falls. Here I used up a gig of smart media and nearly cascaded to my own demise twice. But the pictures were worth it.
Upon our return, we unpacked and slid into the hot pools at the resort. I must admit that I like the warm water amidst the beautiful mountains. I did have a hard time getting used to the smell of sulphur, but managed by imagining that the brimstone smell came from the breath of a tamed dragon used to heat the water in which I sat.
That evening we had dinner at the resort. I again tried their version of clam chowder and a chicken Caesar salad. It was better here than at the Kalaloch lodge.