Olympic National Park Days 1-2

Previous: Seattle to Forks

July 18

Rialto Beach / La Push

Though about 175 miles as the crow flies, the drive from Mt. Vernon, Washington took about 6 hours to get to La Push, welcome to traveling around the Olympic Peninsula.  We got to our Hipcamp campground “Shagri La Push” at around 4:30 p.m. Hipcamp is basically AirBnB for car camping. We met the hosts and set up the tent in the host-recommended “honeymoon site” (because it was the most private of the sites on their property). Once settled into our site, we headed out and explored the town of Forks, home of the sparkly vampires from the Twilight book and movie series. Of course, everyone knows that the La Push section of Forks is home to the Twilight werewolves. We didn’t want to show favorites and risk mutilation or eternal blood sucking so we explored both.

Forks is a rather dreary looking town. It’s not a place that inspires getting out and walking around. There are just a few scattered, run-down mom and pop stores and restaurants, a high school, and a small hospital which has designated vampire parking. We saw two Twilight-themed gift shops that weren’t too inviting. Really not much to do downtown.

We also explored La Push, the most northwestern point in the continental U.S. Compared to La Push, Forks is a bustling metropolis. The pacific coast beaches and trails around La Push are truly spectacular but the Native American poverty in town is very sad. Downtown La Push is also not a place to get out and explore; however, these beaches are most definitely places to explore. This northwest part of the Olympic Peninsula is stunningly beautiful.  Our jaws really did drop when we got our first glimpse of First Beach at La Push.

It was getting to be dinner time, but we could not get food at a restaurant as they all had a 30-60-minute wait for food after ordering at the counters so we went to our campsite and cooked there.

After dinner we drove about 10 minutes to La Push’s Rialto Beach for sunset.  Rialto Beach is one of the most popular and famous spots on the Olympic Peninsula, and for good reason.  We were lucky to snag one of the last two parking spots in the lot for sunset viewing. Next time, we will arrive 30 minutes before sunset instead of 10 minutes before sunset. We tooled around on the beach for about 45-minutes enjoying the breathtaking scenery under changing light upon dusk to sunset.

There are some great hikes that include Rialto Beach, but our schedule is tight so we just get a sunset here.  Though “just a sunset” at Rialto is itself a bucket list item.  Our beach hike at Ozette in a couple of days makes up for it (click HERE to jump there, or click the link at the bottom of this page).

Then back to the campsite for a fire and a beer.

Off to bed. It got down to the mid 40’s overnight.

July 19

Olympic National Park: Hoh Rainforest

We had breakfast at the campsite.

It was another in a long series of beautiful days.  We really had great, dry weather on this trip.

At about 8:00 a.m. we drove toward our first stop in Olympic National Park, the beautiful Hoh National Rainforest, about 1.25 hours away.

There was construction on the Upper Hoh Road leading to the park but it wasn’t a problem going in…only a few minutes delay. We made good time. There were just two cars ahead of us at the entrance/pay station.  We were wise to get to this most popular place in Olympic National Park early.  Though not busy at the entrance station, we found the parking lot full by 9:15 a.m.  We managed to score a parking spot on the access road, close to the visitors center and trailhead.

After checking out the visitors center and chatting with a ranger about our plans, we hiked 2.7 miles of the 18-mile Hoh River Trail from the visitors center to Mineral Creek Falls.  We hiked a total of 6 miles out and back including a couple of spur trails to the river.  The trail was not difficult, and it was not too busy going out, but coming back we noticed it was much busier.  The popularity is warranted as the Hoh is mesmerizing in its rainforest green beauty.  The Hoh receives an average of 14 feet of rainfall annually!!  The moss is amazingly dense and intensely lime-green.  The Hoh is considered one of the lushest forests in the world, and any hike there is great.  There are two very short hikes from the visitors center: the Hall of Mosses, and the Spruce Nature Trail, both of which are 1-mile loops.  These are fantastic hikes that show off this temperate rainforest, but we had done those hikes a few years ago when we visited Olympic National Park in 2016 (Click HERE to see that).  So we opted for the Hoh River Trail to Mineral Creek Falls to mix it up.

As we exited park we passed a VERY long line of cars waiting at the entrance/pay station to get in. Several people were out of their cars walking around, chatting, and eating. Beyond the long line of cars more and more cars kept coming down the access road from Rt. 101. We were fortunate to have gotten there early. As the two most popular hikes here are short and don’t go much beyond the visitors center, we have to wonder whether the significant wait to get into the park this time of year is worth it. Best to come very early or off-season.

Olympic National Park: Quinault Rainforest

From the Hoh Rainforest we headed south toward the Quinault Rainforest, also in Olympic National Park. This was about an hour away.

Just outside the Hoh, but on the access road we stopped at the Hard Rain Cafe for a BLT and coffee, and friendly service.  We were really hungry and this BLT was awesome.  We ate it at a table on the porch of the shop.  The cafe’s description from its website is perfect for not just them, but the area around them:

The Hoh Valley has about 10 households total in the span of 18 miles of road.  It leads to the trail that is considered the world’s quietest spot.  The animals way out number the humans.  The first sign of civilization isn’t until you have driven 5 miles off of 101 onto the Upper Hoh Rd.  There will be a farm with some cows at that point, an outdoor store called Peak 6, and at 5.7 miles onto the Upper Hoh Rd there’s a little place with an inviting porch and strong coffee.  The Hard Rain has been serving hungry hikers, potential professional photographers and lost tourists for 34 years.  Welcome to our little paradise.

At Quinault we did its 31-mile loop drive around Lake Quinault.  At the very small ranger station, from the highly unenthusiastic lonely ranger, I got a guide sheet with noteworthy stops and sites noted with mile-markers. With no plans to hike, the loop drive (or the Olympic Forest Auto Tour) is easily the best way to see the Quinault Valley. We did it backwards, clockwise.  Our first stop was at July Creek to take a look around, and sat and put our feet in the water.  This was a beautiful, quiet stop with nice views of Lake Quinault, and a few mountains for good measure.

We continued on the loop road (North Shore Road), which is big enough for just one car for much of it.  We were lucky that we didn’t meet up with cars going the other way, especially around some of the blind curves…it was an adventurous ride for sure, but just so beautiful.

Eventually we made it to fun Merriman Falls, along the loop road.  We pulled over to the side of the road, got out, walked across the road, and thar she blows! Checking it out up close required our navigating the rocky “trail” at the base and scrambling just a bit upward.  Every stop in the Olympic National Park is worth the detour.

Just at the edge of the Quinault Rainforest and the southern end of the loop drive near Rt. 101 we stopped at a nearby campground to check out the World’s Tallest Spruce Tree!

When out of the Quinault we headed north back toward La Push.  The first stop was actually just a few minutes away, the last stop on the auto loop tour, Lake Quinault Lodge.  This is a very nice property that we may stay at next time, right on Lake Quinault. They had a clean public restroom at the mercantile store next to the lodge here where we picked up some snacks and headed out.  We stopped at a few beaches along Rt. 101 (which is the main byway route encircling the Olympic Peninsula) between Quinault and Forks. We pulled over to discover cryptically named Beach 1, then Beach 2, and then Beach 2.5 (this was the best).

Further up, we stopped at Beach 3, but this was too steep to explore at this late time in the day, so we skipped this one. These beaches represent Pacific Northwest beaches perfectly. They require walking through thick forest trails to reach, they are strewn with fallen and washed up timber, the water is way too cold to swim in, huge rock formations prop up like icebergs all along the water, and they are breathtakingly beautiful.  We saw a few seals, too.  Nobody visiting this area should forgo stopping off the side of the road or squeezing into the small parking areas to check these out.

At Beach 4, the most commercially accessible one with lots of parking in an actual parking lot, we only ventured to the overlook. It was getting dark, and we were getting hungry.  We stopped for beer and ice in Forks. Just outside of town, and right off the main road, we watched a family of elk eating in an open field.

Back at the campsite we had dinner in a bag, sat around the campfire for a bit, and then off to bed.

It rained overnight while sleeping.  This was the only time it rained on us the whole time we were on the Olympic Peninsula…that is both fortunate and rare. Luckily the “honeymoon suite” campsite we took came with a pop-up canopy, so things we normally don’t keep in our tent stayed dry.

Next: Olympic National Park Days 3-4