We didn't get started on the Sol Duc trail until about 6 pm. The shuttle from Rialto beach picked us up at 1 pm; it was about a 2 hour drive to our car; then we had to head to the trailhead for Sol Duc. Thankfully, there is a lodge 2 miles from the Sol Duc trailhead with hot springs and a restaurant. We didn't have time to soak in the hot springs (all the better, since it was packed with people), but we did have time to get a real meal and a well deserved beer before heading off for our second hike. We planned to only have to hike a few miles to get to our first campsite for the night. We loaded up on carbs and cleaned up, then set off on our first leg.
We don't have any photos of our hike to the campsite at Deer Lake because we just booked it. It was also mostly in the forest so not too many sweeping views. I think we easily managed to average more than our normal 2 mph and covered a good 5 miles in only about 2 hours. We had enough daylight to set up our tent and this time we broke out some whiskey. The main issue we had with this campsite was it was in the middle of swampy lowlands. This meant the mosquitoes were really starting to bug us. After already camping 3 nights on the beach with hardly any bugs (at least the biting kind), we headed to bed early to escape the bugs in our tent. The other unfortunate thing was it was deathly still. No wind and no water sounds. The creeks we had access to were more like still swamp water and we could hear everything, including hundreds of mosquitoes whining. This campground is mostly in the trees, so there isn't much in terms of views.
We didn't get as much sleep as we had the previous three nights. Due to the quantity of bugs, we also mutually agreed that if we could make it around the majority of the Sol Duc Loop, as we'd already planned to Sol Duc campground 1 mile from the trailhead, we could easily make it all the way out and get a last minute hotel. So we planned for that and woke up early the next morning to get through a good 14-15 mile hike for the rest of the loop.