We left our full-hook-up site campground and headed towards a long stretch of no hook-up campground days in the often-cloudy Pacific Northwest. This area is known for cloudy and rainy weather, and we hoped our solar panels were up for it! But we were surprised to see beautiful blue skies as we headed north up Highway 101 towards the entrance of Olympic National Park. We found out the 101 highway was "ripply" and a little hard to drive with a trailer. We also found that there was no big national park visitor center handing out maps and information. We were mainly on our own to figure out where to stop and how to see this vast national park, so we were glad that we had a plan. We visited here on a fast trip in 2017, so we were prepared to spend more time at a slower pace for this visit.
Our first stop was at the Quinault Lodge. The green yard behind the lodge overlooks Lake Quinault, and a bright array of kayaks that can be rented for a spin on the lake.
The lodge offers historic old rooms on this southern border of the national park. This section was less visited than the northern sections, and we had no problems finding a parking place that would fit the pickup and trailer. But we didn't find any visitor center or ranger station for advice or maps.
We had already researched the hiking possibilities, and picked out the Falls Creek and Quinault Loop Trail. We headed into the rain forest at the trail head.
On our way, we paused by a Redwood Tree near the lodge. We love the tall Redwoods, but didn't get to stop at any of the Redwood forests in California. So it seemed like we found an old friend when we found this one.
We stopped by Cascade Falls, which was a little underwhelming.
But we loved the old growth trees dwarfing everything and everyone around them. Can you see Denisa at the bottom of the trunk?
The rain forest was so dense that this hike was dark and spooky at times--even in the middle of a sunny day.
The old logs have come back to life as it looks like they have grown hair and sprouted faces made of tree fungi.
After a 2.7 mile loop, we headed back to the pickup in the now crowded parking lot. That's where we found the biggest and purplest (is that a word?!?) hydrangea ever! The size of a dinner plate, it's an example of how big something can get when it gets lots of water.
Our next stop was just a mile down the road. But the crowds had arrived, and we had a very hard time finding a parking place big enough for the pickup and trailer. After the 0.6-mile hike, we got to see the world's largest sitka spruce. This tree is 191 feet tall and 59 feet in circumference. In this valley they also host the world's largest western red cedar, Douglas fir, and mountain hemlock tree. Things grow this well when watered with the 13 feet of rain they average per year. We're used to measuring rain down to the hundredth of an inch, and here they measure it in feet.
After our stop in Quinault, we headed further north on highway 101. It's another two hour's drive to our campground here inside Olympic National Park, so we tried to do some sight-seeing on the way so we didn't have to come back to this southern section. We passed the Kalaloch Beaches. The only parking was in small pull-outs right along the 101. With the trailer in tow, we couldn't fit into the parking at beach 1 or beach 2, but we snagged a place at beach 3. Our pickup and trailer would fit here! As we looked down on the beach, we were surprised that 64 degrees at the highway level felt hot.We hiked down the steep path to the beach, and the cold wind off the water suddenly made it feel chilly. It's amazing how a few feet in elevation and the wind off the water can change the temperature.
The tide was rising as we took a walk down Kolaloch's Beach 3. Mark loves to scramble on rocks--even when the increasingly high ocean water was splashing all around them.
He was soon surrounded as the water continued to rise around his perch on the rocks.
It looked like he was conducting the waves as they splashed against the rocks that were high and dry just moments ago.
Denisa obviously has a much more risk-averse personality. She preferred to walk on the beach far from the approaching tide.
If she scrambled on the rocks, you could be sure that the rocks were far from the incoming water's edge.
We loved these weathered old sea rocks on this beautiful blue-sky day. We saw only two other people on this entire stretch of beautiful beach. We had wandered onto more of God's wonders!
As we climbed out of beach 3, we met a local coming down the steep path. He was marveling at the unusual weather. He told us that this beach was usually cold, cloudy, and rainy. It was a rare treat to see blue skies here in this section of the Pacific Northwest. We have been blessed!
We continued north on Highway 101 through Olympic National Park. The other beach parking areas were too congested for trailer parking so we kept driving. Actually, we stopped frequently, but it wasn't for beaching. It was because of the continued construction on this section of the highway. We went through several more sections of one-lane highway that was monitored by automatic stop lights. That made our drive last longer. After that cool beach stop, we finally pulled into the town of Forks, Washington. Best known for hosting the "Twilight" trilogy of books, today it was unusually hot at 91 degrees. We haven't seen temperatures that hot since the second stop of this trip over a month ago.
At Forks, Washington, we left Highway 101. We were headed to Mora Campground, that was ten miles off the main loop road that encircles Olympic National Park. We headed ten miles straight west, towards the Pacific Ocean. We got set up in site #43 in Loop C.
We snagged this spot inside the national park 14 days ago when they opened up Loop C reservations at 7 a.m. All those spots were filled by 7:01 a.m. We played the national park campground game and won this time and got a great spot. We were a little worried about how our solar could charge our battery under the shade of these big beautiful trees for our three-night stay. We are also far from any telephone signal, but we found we could borrow some free wifi from the Three Rivers Cafe just four miles away. We also made a stop at the ranger station at the entrance of the campground to finally get a national park map and a little advice.
We got our bikes out for a ride around the three loops that make up Mora Campground. After studying the layout of the campground on-line so we would know which site would be best for our trailer, it was interesting to see them for ourselves. We probably could have been happy with any of the campsites now that we have a tiny trailer. We also hiked the only trail in this section of the national park--the 2.4-mile James Pond trail.
The advice from the ranger included the tide schedule. While Mora Campground is ten miles off the 101 highway, it is close to some beautiful beaches. After a full day of sight-seeing, we headed to one of the most popular beaches at 6:30 p.m.
We chose this time for a combination sunset stroll and low tide exploration walk. We had on our jackets in August because it was a little nippy on Rialto Beach in the evening. It was also a popular place and time to be here. We found the large parking lot full, and we followed the mile-long line of hundreds of other hikers on the beach.
We were all heading to the "Hole-in-the-Wall" and its adjoining sea stacks. You can only stand where Denisa is under that hole at low tide.
After waiting in a bit of a line of tourists, we finally got a picture without the crowds. It was an unusually clear blue sky that enabled us to see the sea stacks far out in the ocean framed by the hole.
A picture from the other direction shows the forest that marches up the mountain behind the beach.
It was a slippery walk across the crusty rocks to get to the hole in the wall. But when we stopped to see the details, we saw the uncovered sea stars waiting for the end of low tide.
This sea anemone was still happy to be soaked in salt water, with its green fingers unfurled.
We couldn't decide if we liked the purple sea stars . . .
or the orange sea stars the best. We're also not sure what the difference is, because they usually hang out together.
The sun was slanting across the beach as we approached the golden hour on Rialto Beach.
We had hurried past Split Rock in our haste to get to the Hole in the Wall at the lowest tide. But on our way back we had time to stop for pictures and exploring the tide pools here. That's Mark standing between the splits of Split Rock.
As it got later, the crowds got smaller. We wore our crocs for this beach walk. As we walked 3.75 miles on this rocky--then sandy--beach we decided that crocs weren't our best decision. Tennis shoes would have been better on the rocky tide pool areas too. But for the softest section we left barefoot prints in the sand.
The sun was low in the sky as we captured it in the split of Split Rocks from a different angle.
We got to see the sun set on the west coast on our first day at Olympic National Park.
Besides going to our son's wedding, visiting this national park was a main destination for this summer. It's good to have made it to one more destination.
We stayed on the beach until 9:00, and the parking lot was still crowded when we left. We were just glad that we had only a two mile drive back to our trailer at Mora Campground in the dark. It's been a long and very full first day in Olympic National Park!
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