Meeting the ocean & lake swimming

We woke to much condensation on our tents so we hung them in the sun patches while we prepared breakfast and packed up. The ride from our campsite was through wooded parts then through clear cut area with signs scattered telling when they were clear cut, replanted, and when the next harvest would be.

Before leaving on this trip I was having lunch with my good friend, Mike Bartlett, and I told him that restoration has been really impressed upon me this summer and I'm wondering what that is going to look like on the trip and after and I would say that so far I'm happy to see these clear cut forest being replanted (the forethought is wise) but its crazy cause I saw a replant date of 1986 (a year after I was born) and the trees still had a long ways to go. Nature works in a much different scope of time and so does restoration. Be mindful in a day of instant oatmeal which is getting a little old for me.

We winded through some wooded area then rode up along the beach which was so gorgeous! I joked about how we can finally start the trip but after a quick lunch by the shore we headed back inland to Lake Quinault. 

We settled into the first campsite and setup right on the beach. It was hot and we were sticky with sweat and sun screen so we jumped in the crystal clear lake. Frigid at first then it just was perfect. We swam and giggled like small boys taking videos of us diving in and acting like goofs. 

The sunset complimented nicely with the lake and surrounding hills. I tried to capture it but the human eye is such an amazing piece of technology. The sun dipped over the last hill and we settled into our sleeping arrangements: Blake in his tent, Evan wrapped like a burrito in his tarp, and me in Evan's tent.