Next on our itinerary is Olympic National Park – mossy rain forest, high snowy peaks and drop-dead gorgeous coastline teaming with colorful sea life. This park has it all. We envision days of walking the beaches tide pooling, hiking through the mossy rain forests and enjoying the high views from Hurricane Ridge.
Olympic National Park is unique in that it’s split into four parts that can be up to 2.5 hours driving distance apart. There’s Hurricane Ridge, 5000 feet, the shimmering blue Lake Crescent, the verdant Hoh Rain Forest and the wild ocean coastline. Of note, on the coast it rarely gets above mid-60 agrees (even at the peak of summer) but it can be up to 30 degrees higher inland 10 miles.
Our campsite at Kalaloch Campground is lovely, nestled in the cool dark forest. A two-minute walk from the beach only marred by the lack of sun for solar panels (necessitating six hours a day on the generator). Unfortunately, we didn’t reserve quickly enough to obtain a much-coveted oceanside spot. After getting settled in we immediately walk over to the beach – beautiful beach walking weather for us, requiring a jacket or a sweater, just how we like it.
The next day we drive to the furthest point of the park for us – Hurricane Ridge. It takes us over 2 hours to get there and there is a wait to get in the park. Once into the park, the 17-mile drive climbs up, up and up. We go from sea level to 5,000 feet of elevation. Perched at the top is the Visitor Center where we stamp our passport and take a short viewpoint hike along the Highline Trail. We can see Vancouver Island and the Olympic Mountain Range from the top viewpoint! Any thoughts of a longer hike are over when Elle takes a tumble on the trail, scraping her knee and covering here favorite pants with dirt. She is done hiking for the day. The views are stunning, but it is a long time in the car for a non-travel day. We pass Lake Crescent on the way to and from Hurricane Ridge but everyone is too tired to stop.
The next day we drive over to the Hoh Rain Forest. At 10:30am, there is a half hour wait to get in the park. We should have gotten moving earlier. But eventually we are in. We first walk the easy (3/4 mile) Hall of Mosses trail. What a pretty hike – green moss drapes the trees and the roots are in arches from the nurse logs on which they had grown, that had subsequently disintegrated. Next, we take the 1¼ Spruce Nature Trail – more beautiful green trees wrapped in moss and lush enormous ferns.
Back to the Airstream for lunch, then we skedaddle over to Ruby Beach for an excellent ranger walk. As the waves crash the ranger discusses the driftwood, tide pools and the poor dead whale.
The next day we decide to visit the Sol Duc area of the park. Our plan is a nice long hike, followed by a relaxing dip in the hot springs at the resort. While cool and comfortable at our campground at the coast, it is miserably hot inland and we opt to not take our hike through the woods in the sweltering 90-degree heat. We have lunch at the Sol Duc Hot Springs resort and check out the hot springs. We envisioned natural rock pools surrounded by nature; however the reality is various hot spring fed swimming pools surrounded by a cement patio. We decide to opt out of the hot springs also. It is time for us to return to the coast! We drive to Forks, then head over to the shoreline and take a short hike (.7 miles each way) thru towering trees to Second Beach – haystack rocks and fog rolling off the water. The weather is a lovely 70 degrees with a nice breeze off the water and we spend a good hour relaxing in this beautiful spot.
Our last morning we get up early (6am) for low tide and quickly drive over to Ruby Beach. Stunning. Purple, red and orange starfish on the rocks. Green anemones everywhere. Gorgeous. Topped by breakfast with beach views at Kalaloch Lodge. A perfect ending to our Olympic Park visit.
