the springs.

nathan was pretty disappointed yesterday when katie woke up crying at 5 am from an ear infection....it pretty much put a damper on our hiking plans for the day. after a visit to the ER yesterday morning, a couple doses of antibiotics, some pain meds, and lots of rest, she was feeling quite spunky this morning and we decided to make a go of it. we drove up to the Olympic Hot Springs in the Elwha River Valley. Nathan and Austin had been there several times before, as their scout troop does about 2/3 of their camping in the Olympic National Park, but the rest of us had never been and i've always wanted to see them. it was a fairly easy hike (albeit soggy, it sprinkled the entire time). no worries, we all had rain jackets and hiking boots. oh. except for me, the idiot in tennis shoes, trying to keep my feet dry as we crossed several streams. yeeaaahh. i actually managed to keep them pretty dry most of the day.


crossing cougar creek


the littlest hiker


(he didn't make it the whole way)

one of the highlights of the day for me were the deer sightings....twice we spotted deer right off the trail. they were pretty brazen too, although i'm sure they are probably used to all the hikers.




three at once!




fam on bridge over boulder creek


moi on bridge


probably my fave POTD (pic o' the day :) they are standing in a stream under a HUGE old growth tree that had fallen.


a pretty lil' spot where we sat and took a snack break.



ironically, i didn't get *one* pic of the actual springs....although we did stop and stick our hands in them (and the kids played in them a little) it was a pretty busy day up there; all the pools were full (several with skinny-dippers that we tried to quickly herd the kids by LOL)

thanks for looking!