PNW 3: Olympic Peninsula

This was probably the biggest stretch of our journey, as this park is so vast and diverse. 

Our first stop was for lunch on the way from Mt Rainier. It was a small cafe/diner called the Lake Quinault Internet Cafe. They did indeed have Wi-Fi which was good for us as there hadn't been any at the lodge. We got some food and then went down to explore the lake. We had to drive through a campsite (which was very lovely and rainforesty) but found the day use parking and went for a paddle. The water was a nice temperature and if we'd been staying at the campsite we would definitely have gone for a swim. 

But we got back in the car and kept driving to our next destination. We reached the coast in the afternoon and drove past a few beach spots, all which were part of Olympic National Park (as was the lake). We stopped at Ruby Beach which has the iconic rock formations and driftwood of Washington beaches. The sand is very dark, almost black, and while very stony at the forest edge, gradually becomes sand at the water. The water was cold and there was noone swimming even though it was a warm day. 

We sat down for a while, and a bee bumbled over to us and proceeded to fall asleep on my leg. We left him for about 15 minutes before we decided to wake him up and move on. 

Blessed by the sleepy bee we carried on to the town of Forks (which is where Twilight is set and also happens to be the only town in the entire North West corner of the park). We checked into our motel which was nice if very cold - they'd set the temperature to 60f degrees! We were eager to head back out, so while we waited for the room to heat up we went to go get some dinner. 

Forks is an odd town, most of it seems to be motels for hikers surrounded by residential areas. There are a few small town restaurants, gift shops and a tire shop, and that seems to be about it. They are apparently very pleased with the attention Twilight got them, as they have an entire shop dedicated to selling Twilight themed apparel and the following weekend they were holding their annual Twilight forever festival. 

We got our food to go (it was kinda weird inside) and ate it in the very nice patio area of our motel. The next morning we got a drive through breakfast from one of the many coffee shop sheds to be found in Washington, and they did to go lunch bags, so we picked that up too. 

Our first stop was the Hoh Rainforest. We had our breakfast in the damp picnic area, surrounded by green mossy trees.

 From the ranger talk later in the morning, we learnt that this was some of the cleanest air in the world due to all the trees, and that the moss growing on the trees does actually have some soil underneath it, although they're not sure how it got there. Apparently a tree was cleared of all its moss, and once dried out, the moss still weighed over 2000lb. The trees themselves rely on nutrients from previous trees, and will often sprout up all along a fallen log, and you can see the results in very straight lines of enormous trees. 

We did three trails here. The first was the Hall of Moss trail, which was indeed very mossy. It was hard to capture exactly how mossy it was, but imagine a dense forest, and each tree and every limb had a blanket of moss draped over it. It was overwhelmingly green, and the light that filtered through the clouds was almost yellow, like you'd expect late in the day, even though it was late morning. There was still some morning fog hanging around, and you could see it quite clearly on top of the creek. 

We then did the Spruce trail, which was equally mossy, but also passed through some newer areas of forest which contained more ferns and smaller trees. This newer area led towards the river bank. This water, which came from the mountains, was very cold and later in the year would be filled with salmon. 

Yes this is also sideways

We then did the first mile or so of the Hoh River Trail. This runs for 18 miles alongside the river, and we passed several backpackers on their way to camp. This trail also had river access, and when we poked out to see it, the temperature change was enormous. It was so hot in the sun and still very humid, so we didn't spend long sitting there before we wanted to go back to the cool damp rainforest. It was a pretty trail, with plenty of mushrooms and we walked until we were hungry and then went back for lunch in the picnic area. 

After lunch we drove back to motel and were so exhausted after the last few days we actually had a nap. About 4pm we woke up and headed to another beach to explore. This was Rialto beach in the La Push reservation (another Twilight location) and they had a big sign as you entered the reservation saying "No Vampires allowed, by order of the treaty" (iykyk). 

The beach was nice, similar to the one yesterday but with different rock formations to explore. There was a set of two rock at the end, but you could only reach it at low tide and we had 6 hours to wait before then, so we just sat on some more driftwood and admired the sunset. 

We got some pizza that night and then tucked in for our last night in Forks.

This wasn't the end of our time in Olympic National Park though, it's just big it took a few days to get across. We started the next morning in the diner opposite the motel, picked up some more to go sandwiches and set off. Our first stop was Sol Duc falls. It was a lovely trail through more rainforest, but ended at a big waterfall. 

We'd had to park on the road and squished in so tightly we couldn't use the passenger door, so I got in the back and directed Mitchell to the next stop like the good taxi driver he is. We stopped at the Ancient Grove loop, which was another very mossy trail, but at one point on the one mile loop the area to the right of the path dropped away and we could see all the way down to the river. It was impressive and the little side stop worth it. 

Rainforest complete, we then drove for a while until we reached Lake Crescent, which went fine overall, but was just filled with just a few too many mild inconveniences. We arrived too early for check in, so we went and sat by the shore for a while and got out our lunches to find that while my cheese was perfect, Mitchell's egg salad order had become chicken, so he couldn't eat it. We shared mine and then went to go buy some extra snacks from the little gift shop. 

We then decided to rent some kayaks and go out on the lake, but they'd stopped renting them early that day for some reason, so we sat down again. At dinner, they were out of the beyond burger (but we got the quinoa bowl instead which was actually very nice) and then when we tried to take a shower, there was no hot water available. So all in all, a lovely location of a series of log cabins out on the lake front in a National Park, but not exactly a seamless stay. 

Our cabin looked out directly onto the lake and once we'd checked in at 4pm we did go for a very quick swim in the very chilly water. We were also able to sit on our picnic bench and the sunset. The entire lake was surrounded by tree covered hills and was in a valley. It was also very cool to be able to wake up in the morning and look out onto the lake and see the mist roll down the hills. 

That morning we had our breakfast in the cafe looking out onto the lake, and then set off for our last day in the park. We were going to Hurricane Hill, to hike along a mountain ridge. 

The drive up was picturesque, as had most of the driving these last few days. As we climbed, we started to see snowy peaks and clouds below us. It was only a mile long trail, but it was pretty steep and I was setting a hard pace. It was all paved though, and on the way we saw another deer cross the path, and more marmots frolicking in the fields. 

Like Mt Rainier, it started in some trees, but gradually opened up to fields and eventually mostly rocks. We didn't touch any snow here, but we did see some on the peaks opposite. 

At the top, the view was awesome. We could see across everywhere we'd been, including San Juan Island! The cloud layer was below us, but that just added to the view. 

We made our way back down the way we came and said goodbye to the park. We drove into Port Angeles, which is the "bigger" town in the area, but was still very small. We passed several sheds selling coffee, and stopped in one called Fogtown Coffee for some breakfast burritos (which were amazing) and a drink before driving back to Seattle.

We decided to take the toll road and cut an hour off our journey, so crossed two bridges over the sea on the way into the city. We dropped off the rental car and then went back to the same hotel we'd stayed at on our first night. We caught the train into the city centre again and went to China Town/the International district. It was a little sketchy, but we found a mall with a shop selling lots of cute anime merch and a food court, so we had some good food and boba before getting back ahead of our early flight. 

Pro-tip - if your hotel provides breakfast but you'll miss it because of an early flight, ask if they do to-go bags. The front desk worker who checked us in told us about it, but we were the only people on the shuttle bus who seemed to have them. 

It was a good flight and we arrived home to the mountains to the north of us on fire because it's been so dry and a leak in our roof because of the rainstorm over the weekend. We then had to go to work in the afternoon, and the low tire pressure light lit up in the car. Reality had never hit harder. 

But this week had been amazing, with so many things to see! Bears, orcas, marmots, goats, lots and lots of deer; mountains, beaches, waterfalls, rainforests, lakes, cities. I managed to read two whole books on this trip despite how busy we were (the things you can achieve without Wi-Fi) and I think we did a pretty good job of exploring an entire state in just eight days. At the end it felt like our time on San Juan Island was so long ago!

What a week! Love you lots, 

Emily and Mitchell

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