Why I call this Mystic Ridge and other such stories.

   Here in the Pacific Northwest, where I was born, we have two mountain ranges - the Cascades and the Olympics.  The above picture just happens to have been taken by yours truly from the top of Mount Walker (from here you can see from Canada to Oregon on a clear day), which shows the north end of the Olympic Ridge which, on a clear day can easily be seen from just about anywhere in Kitsap and Jefferson county.   I've lived in both and though I prefer living close to the mountains I also like being able to see them, and you can't see them all that well from underneath!

    To me the Olympics are by far the most interesting and beautiful of the two ranges, especially when you consider that the Olympic range is on a peninsula, it's called The Great Peninsula on the maps. The mountains are actually the ancient bottom seafloor (click on link below for more info) that is being wedged into the west coast by continental drift of the Pacific plate that is moving under, and causing the volcanic activity in both the Olympic and Cascade ranges.

    There is a place my family and I love to go called Solduc Hot springs, it's at the north end of Crescent Lake (click below to read about the 73 year old mystery of the lake), and is fed by the hot underground volcanic activity heating up the water that comes to the surface in this place.  Now there is a resort with three hot pools and one large, and cold, swimming pool.  It's a very popular place to go and soak in mineral rich hot springs...reputed to be very healthful, and has a history that goes back around a hundred years.  Believe me, you come out of there feeling like a wet noodle!  

    The Olympics is also the place where the legend of the suasquatch was born, apparently a practical joke started by a man who only told the tale on his death bed.  His family kept the information until all parties had passed on and would no longer be hurt by the stories, or repercussions...the largest and most imaginative world wide joke ever on record I'm sure!  I don't remember much more than that, but it was in the newspapers some time last year.

The Olympic National Park  http://www.nps.gov/olym/home.htm

Geology of the Olympic Mountains http://www.nps.gov/olym/invgeo.htm 

Map of and more info on the Olympics http://www.dnr.wa.gov/geology/olympic.htm 

This is an attempt at a panoramic picture of the view from the top of Mount Walker looking across the Hood Canal at Seabeck and the rest of Kitsap County with the Cascade Mountains behind.  The first picture is from the left of the tree, then I went around the tree to get the rest of the view...and wound up with a weird tree....if it wasn't so small (and cloudy)  you could see the Seattle buildings and surrounding residential and industrial areas as well as the Cascades on the other side of the Kitsap Peninsula.