Olympic National Park – Day 1
Home to Vampires:
Diverse Landscapes:
Easy Touring:
The Cullens must have been on vacation. The weather last week in Olympic National Park was so outstanding that had the vampires been in town, it would have felt like touring a jewelry store instead of a rainforest. Even though it would have been extraordinary to meet Edward or Bella, the warm air and sunny sky more than made up for missing them. Olympic National Park is the 15th park in my quest to visit all 63 National Parks in the U.S.
This park is the most diverse I have visited so far on my journey. In three days, we saw the snow-peaked Olympic Mountain range, pristine alpine lakes, two temperate rainforests, and the intimidating Washington coast. Each of these three landscapes has a beauty and magic of its own. As you are walking in the forest or along the coast, it isn’t difficult to believe in vampires, werewolves, and other fictional creatures. If you have more time… a week, a month, a summer… I recommend spending it all in this wonderful place.
For those of you who don’t enjoy day-long hikes– no worries! We had spectacular views with short, easy hikes. There is a lot of driving though, so choose your travel companions wisely. Luckily for me, my brother joined us for this trip. He has lived in Washington for several decades, and thus was the perfect tour guide.
Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park
We arrived at the Hurricane Ridge visitor center (which burned down in 2023) at about 10:00 am on a Wednesday. There are many hikes that start here that all sounded fabulous. But because we had a lot of ground to cover in a short time, we opted for the High Ridge Trail. This is a moderate, 1-mile round-trip trail with great views for the effort. You even get to pass the quaint ski patrol cabin and lift. Olympic National Park is one of only three national parks to offer downhill skiing, snowboarding, and snow tubing. (Yosemite and Cuyahoga National Parks being the other two.) There were a few remnant patches of snow on the trail to remind us of how fun -and cold- this park might be in the winter.
Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park
After Hurricane Ridge, we meandered over to Lake Crescent. This glacier-carved lake is simply stunning… and chilling. For those True Crime fans, if you aren’t aware of the story of the Lady of the Lake, you are missing a good one.
Before eating lunch at Lake Crescent lodge, we hiked the Marymere Falls trail. This hike is just under 2 miles, easy, and full of outstanding views.
Lunch at the Lake Crescent Lodge was delicious. On the drive from Seattle, we passed through the town of Sequim and the Dungeness Spit. The former is known as the “Lavender Capital of North America,” and the latter is associated with the crab. Not having had the time to visit either place, we honored them by ordering the Lavender Lemonade and the Dungeness Crab Louie Salad. We were fortunate to arrive at the lodge just before they stopped serving lunch. We were also fortunate to dine at a window table, from which the views were something out of a Normal Rockwell painting.
Sol Duc Valley,
Olympic National Park
After lunch, we hiked to another waterfall, Sol Duc Falls. This trail is another easy, 1.5-mile hike with stunning views and a waterfall. If you are like me, waterfalls alone are worth a hike.
On the drive to the trail head, we passed a great viewing spot over the Sol Duc river where, if you time it right, you can watch the salmon run.
Another activity we had to pass on this trip was a visit to the hot springs in Sol Duc. Since my visit to Hot Springs National Park is just around the corner, we opted to take a rain check on the Sol Duc hot springs.
Not to skip, however, is the Native American legend of the creation of these hot spring.
Forks, Washington
Next on the agenda was to check into our lodging. We stayed in the town of Forks at the Pacific Inn Hotel. The rooms were clean, freshly painted, and well kept. The town itself is very cute and conveniently located for touring the park. For those interested, Forks also houses the infamous Twilight Museum.
Feeling a little Team Edward AND Team Jacob, we picked up a pizza at Pacific Pizza in Forks and then headed to the beaches of La Push, home to the Quileute tribe and the Black family.
Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park
The goal was to hike to Hole-in-the-Wall on Rialto Beach, back to the parking lot, and then enjoy our pizza while watching the sunset over the sea stacks. We did, in fact, achieve our goal, but I completely underestimated Rialto Beach and the difficulty I would have getting around.
The beach is rocky with enormous logs of drift wood scattered about, making it quite literally an obstacle course. At one point the path along the beach was interrupted by a stream of water too wide for a human to jump. Being neither werewolf nor vampire, we had two choices: get wet or walk on top of the lattice-work of logs. Adding to my anxiety was the approaching high tide. Not to have my plans thwarted, we made it across the stream, to Hole-in-the-Wall and back to safety in time to enjoy the sunset. Needless to say, I slept well this night!
