5.34 miles of hiking • 1250' elevation gain •
Clouds had rolled in over the Olympic Mountains, and we didn't want to risk getting into a lightning storm in the high country, so we decided to check out the Salt Creek Recreation Area. We spent some time on Tongue Point checking out the tide pools, where we saw a couple of otters near the rocks, who were curious about us and were peeking up from the rocks at us. A bald eagle swooped down right over us to the nearby sea stack, and it was finally chased off by some ravens. So cool! The Salt Creek area was also the site of a WWII artillery camp, and there are bunkers, where there were two fixed gun batteries. We toured through the military area, and then we made a quick hike up to the top of Striped Peak. It was a nice forest hike up to a small viewpoint, where we could see out over the strait to Vancouver Island, the San Juan islands and, we think we could even see a bit of the mountains in Canada (maybe Whistler?). We also saw Mt. Baker, but visibility was limited due to clouds. There apparently is also a road to the top of the peak, so at the end of the road, there is the usual trash and burn pile that you typically see. On the way back, we dropped down to Hidden Cove, which was a really nice small beach cove.
