Olympic National Park - Day #3

 The first thing on today's agenda was to explore the Hoh Rainforest. As we arrived at the parking lot of the rainforest, I received a voicemail from the property manager of the condo association for the complex in which our rental condo is located. Her message said there was water pouring out of the backyard of our unit. Of course, we feared the condo had a water leak, so we quickly drove back down the road until we had cell phone service. After numerous phone calls and several nerve-wracking minutes, it was determined that our unit did not have a leak. Instead, it was a hose that had been left on in the neighboring condo's backyard that was flooding our yard. The problem got taken care of with no damage to our condo - phew!

Once that was behind us, we headed back to the Hoh rainforest and started with a hike on the Hall of Mosses Trail. This is a beautiful short hike among the mossy lush trees of the rainforest. 

A black Banana Slug

The mossy trees of The Hall of Mosses Trail

Next, we hiked the Hoh River Trail to the first point where there is access to the river. Along the way, we encountered a herd of grazing elk that were in no hurry to move away from the trail. So, we stood watching them for quite a few minutes before they moved along.

The Hoh River

After lunch near the Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center, we spent the afternoon visiting several of the beaches within the national park - Ruby Beach, Kalaloch Beach, Rialto Beach, and 2nd Beach. Each beach was unique, but we enjoyed 2nd Beach the most as we felt it was most scenic and we were able to do some tide pooling there.

Fog at Ruby Beach

More of Ruby Beach

The Tree of Life at Kalaloch Beach

Rialto Beach

2nd Beach

Looking South at 2nd Beach

A Sea Anemone

Olympic National Park - Day #2

  

Today we got an early start in order to get a parking spot at Hurricane Ridge. Unfortunately, as we approached the entrance to Hurricane Ridge, the ranger was turning cars away because there had been a lightning strike overnight that had sparked a wildfire near the top of Hurricane Ridge. The park service ultimately shut down Hurricane Ridge to visitors for the next several days, so we were unable to see it on this trip.

Our picture in front of the sign at the Hurricane Ridge entrance to ONP

Instead, we walked around the wharf of Port Angeles before heading back to the Lake Crescent area to do the Marymere Falls Trail. This trail is an easy one mile out and back trail that took us through a lush green forest to the 90-foot tall Marymere Falls. It was another pretty hike, and because we had such an early start, there was practically no one else on the trail. After the hike, we checked out the Lake Crescent Lodge before driving to Sol Duc Falls.

Port Angeles Wharf at sunrise

The Marymere Falls Trail begins right next to Lake Crescent

Marymere Falls

Lake Crescent Lodge

On the road to Sol Duc Falls we made a quick stop to do the .6-mile loop along the Ancient Groves Trail that immersed us in the green forest of 200+ year old Douglas Fir and Western Hemlock trees. 

Then we continued on to the Sol Duc Falls Trail which is an easy 1.6-mile round trip hike out to the falls. 

Sol Duc Falls

After the two short hikes in the Sol Duc area, we got back in the car to drive out to Cape Flattery - the most northwestern point of the contiguous United States. Cape Flattery is simply breathtaking with its views of steep cliffs, sea caves, and the lighthouse.

The boardwalk trail out to Cape Flattery

At this point, it was late in the day, so we headed to Forks, Washington to enjoy the evening in our Tiny Home Airbnb.

Olympic National Park - Day #1

      

     We took a morning flight from Fresno to Seattle, got our rental car, stopped to buy an ice chest/lunch food, and were on the road headed to Olympic National Park by noon. Our first stop in the park was the Lake Crescent area since we wanted to hike Mt. Storm King. This hike is rated as "Hard" by the Alltrails website primarily due to the fact that it includes 2100+ feet of elevation gain in just over two miles. In addition, the last part of the hike has a rope section with quite a bit of rock scrambling. 

The hike starts right by Lake Crescent

    

Our first wildlife sighting of the trip

 

The only flat section of the trail

The trail got steeper!

And steeper!

     

I can attest to the fact that this hike is indeed hard (my muscles are still sore 5 days later)! But the effort was worth it! When we got to the top of Mount Storm King, most of the view was obscured by clouds. However, we waited it out and it cleared to reveal a beautiful view of the mountain and Lake Crescent down below.

Waiting for the clouds to clear

     

We could begin to see Lake Crescent through the clouds.

A little bit clearer!

Finally - the clear view we'd been waiting for!

A quick picture by Lake Crescent after our hike

     By the time we made it back down the mountain, we had worked up an appetite. So, we drove into Port Angeles, found a restaurant for dinner, and then checked into our cute Airbnb.