The northern Olympic Peninsula includes Cape Alava, where an Ozette Indian village stood for over 2000 years as a Makah home on the westernmost point of the continental United States and a base for whale hunts; archaeologists excavated thousands of artifacts there in the 1970's, many now displayed at the Makah Museum in Neah Bay. Along the scenic but hazardous Olympic coast, ships have long been lost on treacherous reefs since European exploration of the Northwest began over 400 years ago, while much of the coastline remains undeveloped for hikers seeking solitude and wildlife. Lake Crescent is linked both to an Indian story of Mt. Storm King and to glacial carving 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age; in 1895 Rear Admiral Lesley A. Beardslee found a trout later identified as a new species, resorts and ferries once served visitors there, and the lake remains a popular destination with trails including one on an old Spruce Division railroad bed from World War I and another leading to Marymere Falls. Sequim is known for its festivals, including Washington State's oldest community festival, and nearby the Manis Mastodon Site provides the earliest evidence in North America that people hunted and butchered mastodons. Port Townsend preserves its Victorian seaport character with a National Historic District, Fort Worden, and a county museum on the town's early days. Sol Duc Hot Springs became a well-known resort after its discovery by a pioneer in the 1880's, reached a peak in 1912, burned in 1916, and today offers mineral pools and visitor facilities. The Hoh Rain Forest, shaped by mild temperatures and 140 inches or more of annual rain, supports giant conifers, moss-draped maples, ferns, and Roosevelt elk, whose survival helped justify Olympic National Park. Near the Quimper Peninsula, Hadlock, Chimacum, and Irondale reflect the region's sawmill, farming, and iron-smelting past, and east of Quilcene the Hood Canal Floating Bridge, one of the longest floating bridges in the world and the only one over tidal waters, was built in 1961, destroyed in a February 12, 1979 storm, and rebuilt in 1982.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Coupeville, Washington · USA