Spruce Railroad Trail
Lake Crescent
Elevation 700' - 8 miles roundtrip
| MARCH 17, 2006 - An easy hike with my daughter, Rachel, on
a cold, clear day. It was 24º
when we left the trailhead on this hike along the shores of beautiful
Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula. Lake Crescent is
crystal clear and was a deep sapphire blue color the day we hiked this
trail. The trail is built on the old railbed of the Spruce
Railroad, which was built during WWI to transport Sitka spruce to
aircraft factories. Although the railway was completed in just six
weeks, the war ended before any logs were transported. It remained
in use through the 1950's, when it was abandoned. We were
particularly fascinated by the ice sculptures along the shores of the
lake.
There had been a windstorm the week before our hike, and the road leading to the trailhead was strewn with branches. As we drove away after our hike, a medium-sized branch got caught in the right rear wheel well, and we drug it along behind us all the way from Lake Crescent to Port Angeles before we noticed it. |
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