A study of Olympic Forest, WA
Field notes from Seattle to Port Angeles, accompanied by point-and-shoot film, during March 2024.
Feature photo of Camille Nul outside of Olympic Hot Springs by Angelica Ruzanova.
At Pike Place Market, flying fish passed by handmade pepper shakers with wood so shiny that it looked like marble. The fishmongers coordinated throws to their chants, with one of them, Ryan from Alaska, talking to us in between them. “I’ve worked here for a very, very long time,” he said.
Ryan, who studied design in college, posing with a squid at Pike Place Market surrounded by Asian steam bun tents and Vietnamese magicians. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
An unexpected landmark ended up being the family-run Ludi’s breakfast diner. The man who runs it, Gregorio, told us he is an orphan from the Philippines with 7 children (2 of which he emphasized were adopted).
“If you’re a good boy, people will like you. And if people like you, they might love you,” he said, sharing the lessons from his mother who gave him up at age 7.
Me at the botanical garden of the Arboretum by Montlake. Photo by Camille Nul.
A quinceañera photoshoot at the Arboretum by Montlake. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
At McCormick Forest Park, we observed an ellipse of a tree. We noticed how a young driver was scratching their lottery ticket at Navy Yard City from the time we entered to the time we left the shattered convenience store.
A toppled tree with exposed roots at McCormick Forest Park. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
The Fat Smitty’s diner greeted us with a loud game of “Family Feud” and sketched-on dollars on every visible surface. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
We stayed the night at a property that housed mated stellar jays and cats on the menu for coyotes. The neighbor of the logged land, situated near herb and lavender farms, shoots them.
Our rented property in the city of Blyn with a population of 101 habitants. The bookshelves of our cabin collected works by Nietzsche and Kurt Vonnegut. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
Logs and equipment in the Blyn shack misted with 8 a.m. dew. Photo by Camille Nul.
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Sequin Valley announced itself with large Indigenous totem poles carved by Dale Faulstich. This northern tribe was known for its “strong” people who burned prairie each year to feed elk and grow berries.
At the Jamestown information center, I read a story about the Great Chinook prophecy of returning salmon bones to the river they came from. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
Madison Falls glowed with an iridescent blend of two transparencies: light and water. It stood on the edge of an old-growth forest characterized by 200-year-old trees, with the upper river originating in Mount Olympus.
Twigs, leaves, and pine branches illuminated by mist from Madison Falls. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
The abandoned trails were overgrown with western skunk cabbage, native to coastal sloughs and moist coastal forests, with their curious, bright yellow spadix signaling the beginning of spring.
Abandoned leisure cabins past the flooded part of Madison Falls Trailhead. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
People bathing in a river of light near the Glines Canyon Dam Spillway Overlook. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
Massive conifers, Sitka spruce, and western hemlock grew on top of ferns that weaved a spongy carpet of moss. The big leaf maples of the rainforest thrive within moderate temperatures and rain.
A decorated tree smudged with sage from the local farms. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.
