I have been going to Seattle regularly for work for over seven years, however I had still not taken the chance to combine a work trip with a trip to Olympic National Park. Until now….I have to be in Seattle in the middle of July, the perfect time to extend my stay and make it out to the Olympic Peninsula for 3 days in magical Olympic. Olympic National Park has it all: a glacier, a rain forest, waterfalls, mountains, lakes and a beautiful rocky coastline.
Day 1
Salty Girls
I meet my friend Mandi at the car rental location at Seatac, just after noon on Friday. We load our luggage in the Hyundai, and we are on our way. Neither of us had lunch, so we decide to make our first stop Salty Girls in Sequim. (At Salty Girls we learn that is pronounced Suh-kwim, not Si-kuim as we expected). We scan the menu and decide to start with 3 different kinds of oysters: Kumamoto, Miyagi and local Jamestown sapphires. All delicious, but the Kumamoto remain favorite. In addition, we have an order of the mussels in white wine and we wash it down with a glass of bubbles and a pinot gris. We are off to a good start.
Lavender festival
On our way to Salty Girls, we passed a sign for a lavender farm. We learn that this weekend is lavender festival in Sequim. As we don’t want to miss this and it is still early enough, we stop at Jardin du Soleil. After paying the entrance fee, we walk into a sea of lavender. It is beautiful. A band of two men are playing guitar and singing, and it all adds to the relaxing atmosphere. We stroll through fields of lavender, breathing in the lavender scent. We stop at the ice cream shack. Taking our strawberry and salty caramel cones we continue through the fields. We end in the gift shop where we find some nice lavender nicknacks.
Port Angeles
We check into our hotel, the Red Lion Hotel Port Angeles, conveniently located in the downtown area, right at the harbor. After dropping our bags in the room, it is time to explore town. We start at the wharf, where we browse the shops and check out potential restaurants for dinner. From the wharf we wander through the downtown area ending up at PNWonderland Wines, across from our hotel. It is a delightful little wine bar and bottle shop. We select comfy chairs and order a glass of pinot rose. So far, we are happy with day 1 of our 3 days in magical Olympic.
Day 2
Donuts no Donuts
Our plan was to start our day getting donuts at the famous Sasquatch donuts shop as soon as they open at 7, before driving to Hoh Rain Forest. However, we read that the lines to get into the Hoh Rain Forest can get long. So, when we wake up at 6 am, we decide to skip the donuts and go straight to the park. After a quick stop at Starbucks for a caffeine boost, we leave Port Angeles and almost immediately enter Olympic National Forrest. It is a scenic drive and there are not many cars on the road yet. We are hopeful it stays that way.
After about an hour we reach Lake Crescent. The road leads us along the south shore of the lake. It is pristine, the water still, the mountains rising above it and only a handful of houses, lodges and campsites. We continue and pass through the town of Forks.
Taking the left turn towards the Hoh Rain Forest, after another 30 minutes, we see a warning sign telling us to expect delays. We pass the 2-hour sign, then the 1-hour and 30 sign, before coming to a stop at the 1-hour marker. Thinking this will be worth the wait, we turn off the engine and turn on some music. I start writing my blog while Mandi does her daily word games. After a while, I get out of the car and walk to the river edge. I got an email from a friend this morning with not great news and need some time to process. Staring at the beautiful nature of Olympic National Park, I once again realize life is unpredictable and we have to make the most of every day.
Hoh Rain Forest
Just over an hour later, we finally reach the gate and enter the road to the Rain Forest. When we reach the parking lot and visitor center of Hoh Rain Forest, we decide to do the shorter Hall of Moss trail as we have a lot of things on our list today. The trail is nice and the forest with all the moss eerily beautiful. One Square Inch in Hoh Rain Forest is supposed to be the quietest place in the US. With all the people on the trail, it does not feel like it. We are happy we got to see Hoh Rain Forest and glad we went early: as we leave, the lines to get in are already passed the two-hour mark.
Kalaloch and The Tree of Life
From the Hoh Rain Forest, we drive south-west to the Pacific Coast. Our next stop is the Kalaloch Lodge for lunch. After a nice burger, our next stop is Kalaloch beach to visit the “Tree of Life”. Don’t let google maps fool you; it’s not the first tree after you get down to the beach, but the one next to it. That this tree is still alive is really a miracle. The Sitka Spruce tree has a fully exposed root system, and it flourishes despite not getting any nutrients from the earth. We crawl into the root cave under the tree to check it out.
Ruby Beach
From Kalaloch beach, we continue north, to our next stop: Ruby beach. Ruby beach is a beautiful, rugged beach with amazing rock formations, reminding me of Halong Bay in Vietnam. We walk down to the beach and from there stroll along the water. The fog is still hanging over the water, making for beautiful vistas. We notice that there are a lot of logs washed up on shore. We learn that the trees die due to erosion, and they get dragged to the beaches by the rivers.
Rialto Beach and “Hole-in-the-Wall”
We continue north for our final stop of the day: Rialto Beach. Another beautiful beach. We climb over the dunes and more dead trees to get to the beach. We walk 1.6 miles along the beach to the “Hole-in-the-Wall” rock formation at the far end of the beach. Unfortunately, it is still high tide so we cannot get to it and are only able to take pictures from a distance. Walking back, the views of the fog covering and uncovering the rocky formations are breathtaking.
Day 3
Yes Donuts
Unlike yesterday, today we are determined to have our Sasquatch donuts. When I wake up at 6.45, Mandi is already ready to go get them. She comes back with a box full of them: a chocolate one, a fritter, a caramel glazed one with bacon bits and a bag of donut holes. Trying to avoid having to wait to get to the trailhead for Hurricane Ridge, we decide to take them with us and head out. We are in the car at 7.15 and at the parking lot at 8. I have my first bite of a chocolate donut with my tea in the parking lot at Hurricane Ridge trailhead. It is to die for.
Hurricane Ridge Trail
We start our hike. The trail, per its name, follows the mountain ridge, with stunning views of Mount Olympic. The wildflowers are in full bloom. The yellows, purple, white and red a beautiful contrast to the dark greys of the white capped peaks of the Olympic glacier. We stop when we see a deer on the side of the trail. It does not seem to be bothered by us humans. It is happily eating away from a little bush, or, as a teenager watching says ” eating from its own organic salad bar”.
We continue our path and see a sign pointing out another local creature: Olympic Marmots. not to be found anywhere else on earth. Only minutes later, we spot one on the side of the trail. It is much bigger than the marmots I have seen before. Chubby, with a lot of fur and big furry tails. It is happy to pose for us. You would be tempted to pick it up and cuddle it. As they are wild animals, not a good idea.
We continue our hike up Hurricane hill. We see marmots pop up on the fields everywhere. They sit posing in the field almost as if to mock us. After the final steep part of the trail, we reach the top of Hurricane Hill with spectacular views. On one side views all over the water, past Port Angeles to Victoria Toland in Canada and the San Juan Islands. On the other side the peaks of Mount Olympic and its glacier. It is nature at its best.
Sol Duc Falls
After a stop in town for some shopping, our next stop is the Sol Duc Falls. Almost at the far end of Lake Crescent, we turn left and follow the road that ends in the parking lot. We are lucky and find a parking spot. It is .8 miles to the falls on a pleasant shady trail. Getting closer to the falls, it gets busier. The falls are beautiful, but we have been spoiled recently on our trip to Yosemite, with waterfalls so big and impressive, that almost nothing will live up to that. As always there is people ignoring the signs not to cross the barriers. We watch in shock as a dad is taking his two small kids over the barrier, to the edge of the falls.
Lake Crescent Lodge and Marymere Falls
Although it was only a short hike, we are hungry. We have been snacking on the donuts and donut holes (my maple glaze donut with bacon bits was amazing), but we cannot live on donuts alone, as delicious as they are. So, we drive to Lake Crescent Lodge, where we arrive just in time. Its 2.15 and the kitchen closes at 2.30. The lodge is lovely, with that old school feel. It reminds me a bit of Nantucket. After lunch, we take some pictures of the lake from the dock and the little beach outside the Lodge. Next time I come to Olympic National Park, I want to stay here. It is so serene and peaceful.
We do the short hike to the Marymere Falls. They are ok, but frankly a bit underwhelming. They are relatively small and there is nearly as much water as I have seen in pictures. Maybe because it has been hot. However, some of the trees and plants are cool, with leaves ten times as big as our hand.
Granny’s
Unfortunately, we are at the end of our trip and need to head back to Seattle. We leave Lake Crescent and take the 101 back towards Port Angeles. The 101 is closed at the Elwha bridge and there is a detour via the 112. We have seen the detour signs for the 101 road closure all weekend. At the intersection of 101 and 112, there is a sign “Granny’s cafe, open, 3 miles”. We have been feeling bad that Granny is most likely not getting a lot of customers this weekend. This afternoon, the detour sign seems to have disappeared and we miss our turn to the 112. However, we just pretend we drove there on purpose to check out Granny’s. We are glad to see that our worries about their business were unfounded: the parking lot is full, and the place seems to be hopping. We turn around and drive back to Seattle. 3 days in magical Olympic has been all we had hoped for and more.
All photo credit: Mandi Mena and Mariel van Tatenhove
