Javin Elliff Photography

February 15, 2026

Three Hikes in Three Days

I took advantage of my last week of unemployment by hiking a couple trails that are popular tourist destinations in the summer. Thankfully, there is still solitude in the middle of the week in winter. And the weather was perfect!

I hiked a few miles out to Cape Alava on the Washington coast near the tip of the Olympic Peninsula. The low tide coincided nicely with the sunset. I explored the tide pools for a few hours, marvelled at the bald eagles, and found some harbor seals resting on the rocks.

A boardwalk trail through temperate rainforest.
A boardwalk trail through temperate rainforest.
A female Columbia black-tailed deer resting in the grass.
A bald eagle takes off from a rock with seastacks in the background.
Harbor seals resting on a rock.
Pacific Harbor Seals
A doe feeding during the golden hour.
Light rays burst through the trees near sunset along the Pacific Northwest coast.

As I hiked along the beach looking for a good sunset vantage, I saw a few gulls standing on a boulder. When I got closer I realized it wasn't a boulder at all, but a dead gray whale, about 25 feet long. A sad but amazing sight to behold.

A gray whale lies dead on a beach at sunset.

Dead Gray Whale

The next day I went on a bushwhack to another place I'd never been. A young bull elk stepped out of the forest at just the right time, and I sat and watched him for fifteen minutes before my scent betrayed me.

A young raghorn Roosevelt elk feeds on the edge of a clearing with a wall of Sitka spruce behind him.
A cow elk between trees in an alder bottom.
A Pacific Northwest river flanked by red alders on both sides.
Elk herd feed in a farmer's field on a foggy evening just after sunset.

And lastly, a short hike up the Hoh river trail.

A hiking trail cuts through a stand of towering Sitka spruce in the temperate rainforest.
Vine maple covered with moss in the winter.
A long exposure of the Hoh River in winter.
A big leaf maple draped with moss in the rainforest.
A snowy subalpine ridge in the rainforest.
A trail through the sword ferns and moss-covered trees in the temperate rainforest.
Hoh Peak above the Hoh River in winter.