Knowing that we only had 9.1 easy miles to hike and we’d be out of the trail in at most 5 hours, we felt so relaxed although the legs were still a little sore. I woke up about 6 in the morning and stayed in the sleeping bag listening to the river flowing beside us. Then I heard some sound of brushing the grass as well as the sound of a deer. I opened the door of the tent and saw a beautiful small deer running away from me. I hope I didn’t interrupt her breakfast :). The sound of the deer reminded us about the joke “呦呦鹿鸣，荷叶浮萍”.

Without time pressure, we took our time making breakfast. We broke camp and left at around 9am. There was a couple who camped on the island. They came up to us and asked us permission to take our site. They would take that whole day resting. I’d agree this is a nice place to spend a whole day doing nothing but resting.

It was pretty much shining all the time at this elevation. Although it was a little hot, but much better than the cold and wet weather the day before. We were a little slow for the first 2 hours. But we decided to speed up and finish it as quickly as possible. Yinan’s pack was a lot lighter with most of the foods gone and I was carrying all the water. So we were letting her setting the pace. We finished the last 5.7 miles in only 2 hours.

Finally we were back to the parking lot where we started off at around 1:15pm. Away from civilization for more than two days, all the people and the car looked so amiable. After unloading the pack, I felt so light and agile. We got changed and picnicked with the two kids we met. I was so glad that we brought a watermelon with us in the trunk.

After lunch, we headed Ruby Beach. I guess Yinan was tired. She felt asleep as soon as we hit the road. It’s a very nice sandy beach on the coast. I took off shoes and socks and walked in the water, enjoying the warm sunshine and salty breeze. Generally I think hihway 101 in WA is not as scenic as its OR section. But this spot is really a nice beach.

3 days, 37 miles and 5000 feet up and down. We have seen the grandeur glacier, a wild bear, cute deer and the beautiful sky painted with stars. Now we are laying on the beach enjoying the Pacific. “It’s a beautiful life”, quoting Ace of Base.

We drove to Port Angeles and had a wonderful dinner there. If I recall correctly, the restaurant (Crabhouse, at US101 and Lincoln) is where I had a lunch 4 years ago. I ordered a crab cake and Yinan had Salmon. Their New England style clam chowder was so yummy! Every restaurant in Port Angeles makes terrific seafoods! We left Port Angeles at 8:30pm and drove along US101. It was one day before the 4th of July but people were already celerating. It was like a fireworks show all along US101. Now I have driven every mile of US101 in Washington and Oregon, and also down to Eureka in California. I was a little tired and sleepy so I let Yinan take the wheel for an hour. I guess she was speeding while I was sleeping :P, since we got home before 2am. I thought it’d take 6 hours.