PORT ANGELES — The Poetry Walks, a collaboration between Olympic National Park and the North Olympic Library System, are back for a second season.
Noah Glaude, Port Angeles Library manager, and his colleagues are placing poetry panels bearing the words of Emily Bronte, Carlos Castaneda, Ogden Nash, Shel Silverstein, Gary Snyder and many others on four local trails.
The work began Monday, and the poetry panels will stay up through June 14.
It’s free to walk these paths: the Living Forest Trail, the Madison Creek Falls Trail, the Peabody Creek Trail and the Spruce Railroad Trail at Lake Crescent.
The Living Forest and Peabody Creek paths begin at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center, 3002 Mount Angeles Road south of Port Angeles, and offer easy, half-mile loops.
In the spring, skunk cabbage, a native plant found along streams and other wet areas of the woods, blooms and provides vibrant color, and possibly scent, for hikers.
The Madison Creek Falls Trail, located in the Elwha Valley, offers a 200-foot paved walkway to the base of the waterfall.
And the Spruce Railroad Trail, on which bicycles and pets are permitted, begins at the end of East Beach Road on the north side of Lake Crescent and follows an old railroad bed for 4 miles.
More information about the trails and the surrounding Olympic National Park can be found at www.nols.org and www.nps.com/olym.
Anyone who finds him- or herself inspired to write a poem or take a photo while on one of the Poetry Walks is encouraged to share their work on NOLS’ Facebook page or on Twitter via #FindYourPark, Glaude noted.
“Some people might stumble upon the poems after they’re out on a hike, while others may choose to make the 15-minute walk from the Port Angeles Library up to the Park Visitor Center and discover the great trails that surround it for the very first time,” he said.
He added that the Port Angeles Friends of the Library helped fund the Poetry Walks.
“We received a lot of positive feedback about [them] when they were first offered in 2014,” Glaude said.
“People regularly came in during the summer and said they wished the signs were still up.”
All of this coincides with National Poetry Month in April as well as and National Park Week on April 18-26.
This Saturday and Sunday, the opening weekend of the week, admission to all areas of Olympic National Park, including Hurricane Ridge, will be free.
This spring also marks the beginning of “Find Your Park,” a new campaign to reintroduce the national parks and the work of the National Park Service to a new generation of Americans.
More information awaits at FindYourPark.com and the Olympic National Park website, www.nps.gov/olym.
The North Olympic Library System’s main Port Angeles location and the branches in Sequim, Forks and Clallam Bay, meantime, have hiking guides, trail maps, wildlife guides and books of poetry available for checkout.
And for children and their families, all four libraries have “Explore Olympic!” daypacks — filled with trail and field guides, binoculars and reading materials for kids available free too.
Families who check out a pack will receive a seven-day entrance pass to Olympic National Park, thanks to a donation from Washington’s National Park Fund,
For details about library locations, hours and activities, see www.NOLS.org or phone the Port Angeles Library at 360-417-8500.
