When I took Cali for a morning outing along the driftwood covered sands of Puget Sound, I noticed how calm and glassy the water was. I decided to get in a paddle on the Rosario Straight to get the day started. I grabbed the board and put in directly in front of the campground. I stroked my way south for a half an hour before returning to the more turbulent water by the narrows that go underneath the bridge. A pair of seals were tailing me from a safe distance as we moved beneath the watchful eyes of the snow covered Olympic peaks across the sound. I paddled part way out into the crossing to view the bridge but could feel the current getting stronger wanting to suck me down to the bridge with the incoming tide. I had to work hard to get back into safe water past the eddy by the campground beach.

PJ was stirring when I got back and we relaxed making plans for down the road. It was a pleasant day with partial sun from time to time. In the afternoon, we decided to take a hike over to Goose Rock. We followed along the rugged shoreline that leads around the corner to the bridge. About 45 minutes into the hike we came to a portion of the trail that had been closed off due to a rock slide. We could abort or rebel, so we chose to sneak through and emerge under the bridge where the roadside pull outs are located.

Rebels under the bridge downtown

On the far side of the bridge, the trail rose up on the right to climb to Goose Rock summit, on the left to skirt around the headland on the perimeter trail. We opted to climb to the top where we were rewarded with some panoramic views from the balds at the top of the hill. We sat on an overlook where we startled a deer grazing just a few yards below us. Some days the gratitude really sets in and we are overwhelmed with a sense of awe that we get to do this on a daily basis rather than sit at a desk or fulfill some random quota.

We descended on the far side of the escarpment to explore the green watered inlet that is hidden on that side. We were turned back at the closed gate at the Boy Scout camp so we did the return loop on the perimeter trail. We reconnected with our original trail near the bridge and followed that back to camp. A three hour hike in the northwest rain forest. A truly scenic and beautiful area of the U.S.

We were glad to get off of our feet and kick back. An easy evening at camp, occasionally roaming around with Cali but mostly reading and resting.