Sol Duc Falls

Today was the first day of our very first family camping trip. It has been going great. We woke up at 5:30 AM to start our camping adventure. We had everything ready from the night before, so I loaded up the car. Katie got Penelope ready. Without knowing we wanted to leave early, Penelope woke up at 5:40, which was actually convenient for once. By 6:40, we were in the car and on the road. Penelope seemed to sense that something was going on, but she went with it. Our plan had been for Katie to nurse Penelope at home, then we would give Penelope her breakfast while waiting for the ferry, then she would take a nap while we drove tom the ferry to the park. Much to our amazement, the plan went perfectly. Penelope enjoyed the ferry, but was more interested in the people than then scenery. She fell asleep as soon as we drove off the ferry, and she slept the whole way to the campground, about 1 hour 45 min.

When we got to our campsite, Katie took Penelope on a walk to register, while I set up the tent. Then Katie and Penelope set up our sleeping bags, while I finished securing the tent and setting up a trp over the picnic table. We let Penelope have some crawling time before getting back in the car. We expected Penelope to try eating dirt, and she did, but we didn't think she would like it! Penelope ate a lot of dirt, which wasn't too bad except she also tried to eat these small rocks that were a definite choking hazard. We kept most of the rocks out of her mouth, but one got past our defenses. Luckily, Katie saw it, and I was able to fish it out with my finger before she choked on it. Our first close call. Also, I should pint out that we did not intend for Penelope to eat dirt, but there was no way around it. We tried putting her on a clean tarp, but she shut crawled to the edge to eat the dirt and play with the rocks.

Next, we drove to the Sol Duc area of Olympic NP. We ate lunch at a picnic table at the trailhead parking lot, then we loaded Penelope into the backpack for our first hike. We hiked about a mile to the Sol Duc Falls, which were really cool. The water fell into this narrow rock canyon, and a bridge crosses right near it for a great view. Penelope fell asleep on the way there. Rather than turn around right away, we continued further up the Sol Duc river toward Deer Lake. The full hike to Deer Lake was three miles on way, so we just went a little bit then turned around. Penelope woke up from her nap and was able to see the falls when we passed it again. She was interested but not impressed.

I just want to say that hiking with a 20+lb infant is hard. The backpack felt very good, and I really liked it, but it is a lot of work. Especially because Penelope doesn't always sit still and sometimes she hits me with her toy (I attached Madam Butterfly to the backpack) or pulls at my clothes and hair. It was a lot of fun to hike with her, but definitely the hardest hiking I've done in a while.

After the hike, we drove up the road to Sol Duc Resort, where they have pools that are fed by sulfur hot springs. We had to lie about Penelope's age so that she could go in the coolest "wading" pool (99deg F). You have to be at least one to go in, so when they asked we said she was one. There were two hotter pools, as well as an unheated chlorinated pool that Penelope could have gone in, but that pool was really too cold. Penelope was unsure about the hot spring pool at first, but after a while she got used to it and started splashing. She could sit in it since it was so shallow. Katie and I took turns sitting with Penelope or sitting in the hotter pools, which felt amazing. It was great after a hike. We stayed in the pools about 40 minutes, then showered and drove back to camp.

Fixing and eating dinner with a baby was tricky because someone always had to be with Penelope to prevent more rock eating. We ate in shifts, and fed Penelope her dinner, too. Cleanup was also done in shifts. Katie nursed Penelope to sleep, then we went to bed. It was only 8pm, but we were tired and had nothing else to do (usually I make a fire and stay up watching it, but we decided no open flames with the baby around).

It got very cold at night, and none of us slept great. Penelope's hands were exposed, so Katie tried to snuggle with her, but Penelope didn't like it. Around 3:30 AM, Penelope woke up and started crying. We changed her into her bunting to cover her hands and head. Katie had to nurse her to get her to fall back asleep. Then we all slept until 6:30 AM. Another lesson learned: start with the bunting.