A Fallen Tree At The Colonel Bob Trail

We’re used to getting ourselves in hiking situations where weather gets in the way of being able to complete our journey, but this particular situation at Olympic National Park last fall was definitely a first! Before even flying into Washington state, we had planned to hike the Colonel Bob Trail which leads to a beautiful view on top of a mountain peak. We were quite determined to complete the 14.5 mile journey even when we were told by a local there was a fallen tree on the trail from a major storm a week before. Though he did say all we needed to do is find a way over or around the tree…and since we were thinking regular size tree, it didn’t seem like it would be a problem. So as we hiked about a mile in from the trailhead through an extremely dense forest, we encountered a bundle of fallen branches that required us to get down on all fours and duck under. Not too hard, right? Well, then came the infamous tree which ended up being one of the largest fallen trees we’ve ever encountered! It looked like it just fell and slid down the mountain over the trail. My husband (being an avid climber) just wanted to climb right over it…which he did. But I being super skeptical of putting myself in situations that could kill me…refused. There’s just something about climbing a building size tree slippery from the rain and hanging over a muddy cliff that puts real fear in me. In fact, I kept thinking even if I climbed over the tree, what would happen on our way back? Would the tree still be there…or would it slide down further and completely damage the trail, making it even harder for us to get back to the car? Needless to say, I convinced my husband to turn around and head back. Safety first, right?