Murhut Falls

February 20, 2016

Can I just say, the Olympic Peninsula is an amazing place? No matter which area you are travelling, you are going to be treated with eye-candy. If the weather is clear, as it was this day, you're going to go into visual diabetic coma from the uber-sweet eye candy. In my opinion, some of the best diabetic-inducing eye candy can be found at Lake Crescent, especially if you're there on a clear day when the waters are calm.

 

 



Perfection.


After an enriching hike to Sol Duc Falls and soul quenching drive around Lake Crescent, I found myself southbound on Hwy 101, following Hood Canal home. The problem was, I wasn't quite ready to go home yet. There are a couple of waterfalls on the Hood Canal side of the Olympics that can be reached via short trails I am aware of. One of them, Murhut Falls, I had not yet visited. I glanced at the clock, did some quick mental calculation as to how much daylight I had left, and turned on the road to the Duckabush Recreation Area. A short while later, after testing the durability of the stock struts on a Ford Mustang, I arrived at the trailhead.

This is a short trail with just enough elevation gain thrown in to make it interesting. It wasn't but a matter of 15 minutes or so before I reached the falls. The winter sunlight was beginning to fade, but even so, it was a sight to behold as the water plunges 130 feet. It's tall enough that, from the vantage point of the trail (where there is a nice bench - never met one I didn't like) capturing it in one photo frame is difficult without a wide angle lens. My iPhone isn't equipped with wide angle anything, so I canted it at an angle and captured about 3/4 of the waterfall.

After spending enough time there to admire the beauty of the falls, I high-tailed it back to my car. Although equipped with a flashlight, I wasn't looking forward to hiking down the trail in the dark. Nor was I looking forward to navigating the mine-field of potholes with my mud covered headlights.

It was thus I wrapped up a perfect day. I arrived home to the joyous relief of the dogs, who welcomed me with wagging tails and inquisitive noses. Where had I been? What had I done? Why did was there the lingering smell of a strange dog on my clothes?

Yep. Perfection.

52 Hike Challenge: Hike #7

Distance hiked: 1.6 miles
Elevation gained: 250 ft.