Our instructors seem to think we aren’t getting quite enough rain here, because we spent the week on the Olympic Peninsula in and around a true temperate rainforest. All rain aside (and there was plenty of it), this trip took us to new and different landscapes where we were able to expand our understanding of the Pacific Northwest a great deal in a short time. Before the trip, a coworker asked me- “what will you be doing there?” I told her we’d hiking around, learning about the forest and coast there. She didn’t seem to understand why we would spend long days traveling just to spend a day or two hiking around. I realize that experiential education is hard to pin down, to quantify, but hopefully after reading on you will understand how valuable this experience was to us.
We had spent a classroom day learning some background information on the ecology and cultural history of the Olympic Peninsula, so we went into this experience with a bit of knowledge and a whole lot of curiosity. Our first stop was the Sol Duc Valley of Olympic National Park where we got to explore a mature old growth forest and lunch by a waterfall. Although much was familiar to us- many of the plants, trees, bird calls- the character of the forest was completely different from the often- cut dense Cascade foothills we are used to. We walked through the open forest in awe of the massive trees and open space around them. The expansiveness and powerful energy there caused us all to breathe a little deeper and speak a little quieter.
On to our camp site at Ozette lake, at the far northwest corner of the peninsula. We had just one full day to explore there, but what a full day it was! We split into small groups and set out on unstructured wandering; the landscape provided us with more than enough material to evoke continual wonder and always more questions. We made our way on slippery boardwalks though spruce and cedar forest dotted with tannin-rich swamps out to the thunderous Pacific. Some of our teachers that day were a Western Red-backed salamander, Black-tailed deer, sea otters, sea lions, seals, Harlequin ducks, Bald eagles, cormorants, Surf scoters, anemones, limpets, chitons, and sea stars. We also learned from those there before us, through Black Bear and River Otter tracks, a variety of bones, a shell-filled midden, and petroglyphs carved deep in rock. At the end of the day we all came together around a fire amidst heavy wind and rain to share lessons, stories, questions, and songs.
Our final day we spent some time at the local Makah tribe’s cultural history center and museum, where we were able to soak up more information on the rich natural and cultural history of the northwest tip of the peninsula- some questions answered, more asked. Coming home on the ferry, breathing the salt air and singing a new song, we were surely not the same people standing in the same place just two days before.

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