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The Olympic National Park 2015: Hoh Rainforest

May 28, 2015 whitney 2 Comments

Camping in the Hoh Rainforest 2015: Overnight stop in Port Angeles, Olympic national Park Hoh Rainforest Visitor’s Center, walking the Hall of Mosses trail and Spruce Nature trail

We love the Olympic National Park. There is so much to see and so many different parts of it. We had visited the Hoh Rainforest portion of the park 11 years ago and loved it, but unfortunately the distance from Seattle makes it only worth it to us to visit on a three day weekend or longer. We were invited to go camping with some friends on their property on the Hoh River in May, so we took an extra day off work and packed up our camping gear.

Getting to the Hoh Rainforest from Seattle is a bit of a trek, usually involving a ferry. You can go a few different ways depending on which ferry is closest to you, or even drive around from the south. We opted for the Edmonds-Kingston ferry route in the north, with an overnight at a hotel in Port Angeles on Thursday night to get a head start.

The ferry from Edmonds to Kingston is a short 35-minute ride and is first-come/first served (no reservations). They leave about every hour to hour and a half or so depending on the season and day of the week. The 2015 fare for a vehicle and driver from Edmonds to Kingston is $17.30 + $8.00 per passenger. On the way back passengers travel free.

Day 1:

We managed to catch the 5:25 PM ferry on Thursday, and we drove straight from Kingston to Port Angeles (about an hour and 20 minute drive). We were on a super-tight budget, so we had reserved a room at the Flagstone Motel on the main highway, in walking distance to everything in town. The rate was $59 a night, and it was about what you can expect for that rate.

The bed wasn’t super comfortable, but the room was clean. The towels were actually not small pieces of sandpaper, which was pleasantly surprising. I was glad we brought our hair dryer though, there was none to be found in the room.

After we checked in, we were starving so we headed into town seeking sustenance. An old college roommate of mine grew up in Port Angeles, so I had messaged her for recommendations prior to our trip. For dinner she recommended the Next Door Gastropub, so we went down to check it out. Unfortunately, it was jam packed with a wait at the door. No one seemed available to put us on a list or give us an estimated wait time, and we were too hungry to wait around. We walked down the street and around the corner to Front Street and found the Kokopelli Grill. They were able to seat us right away and their southwest menu looked good.

The entree prices were a bit high, but they came with soup or salad and dinner rolls, as well as a vegetable and your choice of cilantro rice, plain or green-chili mashed potatoes, southwest fries, or sweet potato fries. We both started with the salmon corn chowder. Paddy ordered the surf and turf with grilled shrimp and the green chili mashed potatoes, and I had the yellow and blue corn crusted crab chili relleno with southwest fries.

Salmon corn chowder at Kokopelli Grill Port Angeles

Surf and Turf with shrimp and green chili mashed potatoes at Kokopelli Grill Port Angeles

Yellow and blue corn crusted crab chili relleno at Kokopelli Grill Port Angeles

Overall it was a pretty good deal for the money and the service was good. The restaurant decor was a little strange, it kind of looked like it used to be an Italian restaurant that someone bought and added a few Kokopelli figurines on the walls and Kokopelli dishware. The food was good, however and there was more than we could eat.

Completely stuffed and tired from working earlier that day, we walked back to the hotel and made it an early night. At around 3:00 AM there was an incoherent drunk yelling outside the motel, but he didn’t yell for too long. The Motel is right on the highway through town, so it can be a little noisy and the walls are thin.

Day 2:

Since we had gotten a head start the night before, we were able to sleep in and take our time in the morning. I woke up with a stiff back from the cheap mattress, but a hot shower fixed it. We checked out of the room and went down the street to First Street Haven, the restaurant my old college roommate recommended for breakfast. It was tiny and a bit cramped, but we got a table right away. I’m sure there is a wait on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

First-Street-Haven-Port-Angeles — First Street Haven Port Angeles

We were given a choice of light or dark roast coffee (nice to have the option!) and a regular menu and a specials menu. All breakfast entrees come with either toast or a baked good–coffee cake, cinamon roll, scone, muffin, or bagel. Paddy ordered the Montrachet omelette with toast off of the regular menu, and I ordered the bacon and brie scramble with raspberry coffee cake off of the specials menu. The coffee cake arrived first by itself and it was enormous. We sampled a few delicious bites, but figured we had better save room for our egg dishes. Fortunately, coffee cake travels well and we were able to take the rest to go. They didn’t skimp on the goat cheese on the Montrachet omelette, much to Paddy’s delight (you can never have too much goat cheese). Both the omelette and scramble were excellent–this place is worth the wait on the weekend if there’s a line.

Raspberry coffee cake at First Street Haven

Bacon and brie scramble at First Street Haven Port Angeles: Bacon, brie, and asparagus

Montrachet omelette at First Street Haven Port Angeles: Herbs, spinach, goat cheese, bacon, scallions, and plum tomatoes

After breakfast we walked across the street to check out Moss, a little boutique store featuring Northwest style clothing and accessories, as well as outdoor gear and gifts. The owner was a friend of my old college roommate, so we went in and said hi. The store was outdoorsy and unique, and had a lot of interesting stuff. A great place to go for gifts.

We got on the road, making one last stop in Forks for gas and beer. We couldn’t help but notice that Forks is still desperately clinging to the Twilight phenomenon, with Twilight tours advertised and “Twilight” inserted into the names of a couple stores and restaurants.

After a short drive south of Forks, we arrived at our friends’ property on the Hoh River off of Oil City Road. We set up our spot right along the river.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing with our friends. Late in the afternoon Paddy and I explored Oil City Road a bit and found that the end of the road is an entrance to an Olympic National Park trail through the Hoh Rainforest to the beach. It is also an access to the western-most portion of the Pacific Northwest Trail, which extends all the way from Glacier National Park in Montana. We walked part way down the trail along the river until we could see the ocean, but didn’t want to get too far out as everyone was getting dinner started. Next time we come here, we plan on following the trail at least to the ocean.

The Hoh River along the Pacific Northwest Trail

Back at camp, our friends were making some BBQ pulled chicken and baking biscuits in some camping Dutch ovens. Hot coals from a coal starter in the campfire were set underneath and on top of the ovens on the ground, baking the biscuits. The biscuits turned out perfect, and now we both think we need to invest in a camping Dutch oven. Paddy had brought a pasta salad he made to share, and some other friends heated up a foil pan of their homemade mac and cheese. I must say we ate extremely well on this trip.

That evening many drinks were consumed and a tribute was done to our friend’s grandfather, the previous owner of the property. This weekend would have been his 100th birthday. Words of appreciation were shouted, a horn was blown, and scotch was poured in the river.

Day 3:

The next morning we made some coffee on our Coleman stove with a tea kettle and french press, ate some granola and hard boiled eggs, and set out to explore. We drove back to the highway and headed a short ways north back towards Forks to the Hoh Rainforest National Park entrance road. On the way from our campsite to the highway on Oil City Road, we passed a family of cows lazing away the morning. It must be good to be a rainforest cow.

About halfway down the National Park entrance road we reached the fee station and paid our fee. The fee for a one-week pass to any area of the Olympic National Park is $15.00 per vehicle, or $30.00 for an annual pass.

At the end of the road is the Hoh Rainforest Campground and Visitor’s Center. We camped there 11 years ago for a night, and the sites were a little open but it was a nice campground. It is first come first served, with 88 sites total. According to the ranger I talked to a couple years back, it is the largest campground in the Olympic National Park and the last to fill up on summer weekends.

There are two extremely easy walking trails (I’d hesitate to even call them hikes) that are great for families with kids or people who are not super in-shape. The shortest is the Hall of Mosses Trail, which is .8 miles, and the Spruce Nature Trail, which is 1.2 miles. If you are up for some serious Hoh Rainforest exploration, there is the Hoh River Trail, which is about 18 miles one way.

We opted for the two easy ones, starting with the Spruce Nature Trail.

The Hoh Rainforest truly is a magical place. The moss hanging from the trees, the ferns and vines, mushrooms and green life growing out of every place in the forest all gives me a sense of peace when I’m there. You almost expect to see faeries and elves dart away when you peer closely at a fallen tree along the path.

Of the two trails, the Hall of Mosses trail is my favorite. It is the shortest, but I feel it is also the most scenic. I love all the hanging furry moss in the rainforest.

There is a portion of the trail that is actually called the Hall of Mosses. It is a large clearing with tall spruce trees and moss hanging from every branch. When we approached it there were several people in the clearing all being very quiet. We walked in and saw a large elk to our right, munching on the vegetation and paying no mind to all the paparazzi snapping pictures of him.

Elk in the Hall of Mosses trail Hoh Rainforest

At the end of the trail is a gigantic fallen Sitka Spruce tree that is 190 feet long bordering the trail. It is impressive to see, and even more impressive to know that it isn’t the largest tree in the forest–many Sitka Spruces in the rainforest are over 300 feet tall.

Giant fallen Sitka Spruce on the Hall of Mosses Trail

We finished our hike and stopped by the two small stores on the road back to the highway in hopes of picking up some ice. It was the weekend before Memorial Day weekend, and the Hard Rain Cafe told us their ice machine wasn’t in business yet, but would be by afternoon. I’m assuming their business is seasonal Memorial Day through Labor Day. It also looked like they were still stocking the souvenir shelves. The Peak 6 Adventure Store didn’t have any ice either, but they had just about everything for camping and hiking you could need if you forgot something–including rain gear and hiking shoes. We had enough ice to last until morning, so we figured we’d be fine.

**Note–you will need to drive back to Forks for most of your groceries and supplies if you are camping in the Hoh Rainforest.

Back at camp we relaxed a while longer, and then Paddy helped with dinner. Our contribution was baked potatoes, which we cooked on the grill over the campfire. Our friends had made the genius discovery that welder’s gloves are perfect for cooking on the campfire, and are a fraction of the price of camping or oven gloves. We have added welder’s gloves to our camping supplies shopping list.

Our friend Scott had brought a deep-fryer and was deep frying steaks for everyone up on the road. Our friend with the Dutch ovens was baking a chocolate cake (which turned out amazing by the way), and another friend made some fabulous baked beans by adding bourbon, bacon, and other ingredients to a giant can of Bush’s which she heated in a cast iron pot over the campfire.

deep fried steaks Hoh-Rainforest 133 — Deep fried steaks

It was another great evening with amazing food and good company.

Day 4:

On Sunday we packed up our campsite and headed back towards Kingston to catch the ferry. We made a quick stop at A Shot in the Dark Espresso stand in Forks for coffee. The coffee was great and came with chocolate espresso beans.

About 45 minutes outside of Kingston we pulled over and stopped for lunch at the Snug Harbor Cafe on Discovery Bay. It was a seafood basket and chowder type of place. I had the oyster sandwich and Paddy had the fish sandwich with a side of coleslaw. Both sandwiches were great but the tempura battered fries were really bland. Service was good–we’d stop here again. It looked like they had a nice outdoor patio and they advertised live music in on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Snug Harbor Cafe fish burger — Fish sandwich with a side of coleslaw

Snug Harbor Cafe oyster sandwich — Oyster sandwich

When you approach Kingston, there is a lane on the right for the ferry, which you need to get into as soon as you see it. You inch through with the other cars until you reach a ferry worker who gives you a ticket, and then you follow the ferry signs through town. This process appears to ensure that people don’t cut into the ferry queue from town. You give your ticket to the ferry toll booth when you get there.

The wait for the ferry wasn’t too bad. We missed the one that left a few minutes after we arrived but made the next one an hour later. It was a nice afternoon for a short ferry ride.

Kingston-Ferry (5) — Cars loading onto the ferry to Edmonds

seagulls Kingston-Ferry (6) — Edmonds-Kingston ferry

seagulls Kingston-Ferry (9) — Edmonds-Kingston ferry

I always leave the Olympic National Park wishing we had more time to explore it. There is so much to see in each part of the park. The next time we make it out to the Hoh Rainforest, we’d like to walk the trail at the end of Oil City Road out to the ocean and possibly up the coast a little ways. I love to be out in the Hoh Rainforest any time of the year, it is so peaceful and a bit magical. Rain gear recommended, but the rain isn’t too bad.

ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, ADVENTURES IN THE UNITED STATES, Main menu

Lake Quinault WA Fourth of July 2014

July 16, 2014 whitney 2 Comments

Our Fourth of July weekend with friends at Lake Quinault WA: Fun with friends on the lake, hiking in the Quinault Rainforest, and a trip to Ruby Beach.

Originally, we had wanted to go to Lake Chelan for Fourth of July, as it is on the East side of the Cascade Mountains and usually hot and sunny. We only had four nights for this trip, and an exhaustive search for rental houses (I searched in the winter, so it wasn’t last minute) yeilded extremely high prices and one week rental minimums.

I expanded my search to the rest of the state to see what else whas out there, and came across this lovely house on Lake Quinault, on the edge of the Olympic National Park. It was huge, and right on the lake. We went for it.

Day 1:

We left Seattle on Wednesday at 2:45 PM and trudged through freeway traffic a ways, alternating between heavy and light traffic through Tacoma and Olympia. Finally, we got off I-5 and onto Highway 8 West to Aberdeen. We were getting pretty hungry, and decided to stop for some dinner at The Beehive in Montesano.

We really, really wanted to like The Beehive.

A diner built in the 1940’s, with a kitschy name, booths, and pies, it looked like the perfect small town gem.

The waitress gave good service, but the food took forever. We hoped that meant that good food takes time, which is true. I ordered the oysters with a salad and baked potato, and Paddy ordered a chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and a salad. He had a choice of white or brown gravy, and he chose white, assuming it would be like the standard country gravy that comes with such a dish.

The salads were iceberg lettuce and croutons, but that is expected at a diner. My oysters, advertised from nearby Westport, tasted fresh but were pretty greasy and not crispy. The potato wasn’t anything to write home about, and came with a tub of margarine with chives and bacon bits mixed in.

The big disappointment was Paddy’s chicken fried steak, which came with a thick, buttery, yellow sauce over everything and looked nothing like gravy. The steak was paper thin, and not worth the $16 price tag.

We moved on, figuring the weekend can only get better from there.

We passed through Aberdeen, WA, the hometown of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. The “Come As You Are” sign welcoming tourists to Aberdeen must have Kurt spinning in his grave. The town that he hated, called him names, and treated him like a freak for being himself is now trying to cash in on his fame. It’s grossly ironic.

After Aberdeen and Hoquiam, we drove another 45 minutes north on the 101 and arrived at Lake Quinault. The house was beautiful. It was huge, with four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a dining room with a table big enough for 10, living room with satellite and flat screen TV, and a huge deck and yard right on the lake. It also had a fire pit and a covered gazebo on the deck with a mosquito net, which was definitely useful in the evenings.

We settled in, had some drinks and watched a movie. Our friends Ian and Jaz had a 15 month old baby with them and they took the upstairs suite. We couldn’t even hear the baby from the downstairs bedroom at night, and they had all the space they needed. It was perfect.

Day 2:

The next day, we relaxed and waited for the rest of our group to arrive. I baked a pina colada cake for Sara and Jaz’s birthdays (you can get the recipe and read about that here).

Paddy and I went into the bustling metropolis of Amanda Park, the town on the west end of the lake and got some fireworks and firewood. There’s not much there, but there is a pizza place and a small general store.

Everyone else showed up that afternoon and evening, and we enjoyed some drinks watching the sunset, some drinks while playing some games, and some drinks around the campfire. Our friend Cass accidentally sat on a slug, but other than that it was a lovely night.

Lake Quinault 2014 078 — Playing “Ticket To Ride”

Day 3:

Lake Quinault is part of the Olympic Rainforest, and therefore is not always hot and sunny and great for swimming. The Western side of the Cascade Mountains seems to only guarantee sun and heat between July 5th and Labor Day. And by guarantee I mean about 85% of the time.

Knowing this, swimming would have been nice but it wasn’t part of our agenda. The temperature didn’t get much above 70 the entire weekend. There is a beautiful rainforest to hike in, though, and we took advantage. We woke to a beautiful sunny morning, and we drove to the South side of Lake Quinault to check out the forest trails.

Lake Quinault 2014 082 — Sunny morning lake view from the deck

Our first stop was the World’s Largest Sitka Spruce Tree at the end of the South Shore Road. There is parking, and the tree is 0.3 miles down a level trail, so it is a pretty quick stop.

Lake Quinault (6) — Photo by Cassandra Whelan

And yes, it’s big.

The South Shore Road has a lot more going on than the North Shore Road. It has a museum, hiking trails, a Mercantile, and a post office. There is also a campground and the Lake Quinault Lodge, one of the Olympic National Park lodges.

We parked at the parking lot for the Quinault Forest loop trail, and embarked on a four mile hike through the temperate rainforest.

**Note: Bring $5 cash per vehicle for a parking pass (self serve)

Lake Quinault loop trail — Photo by Cassandra Whelan

The trail ascends up a hillside, but the elevation gain overall is minimal and there are many level parts in between the hill parts so it isn’t very strenuous. I sweated the whole time, but I’m not quite as in shape as everyone else was. Oh, office jobs….

We crossed a lot of bridges and streams, and through a cedar bog with a long boardwalk. It wasn’t very boggy, but I’m sure that changes in the winter when the rains start falling daily.

Lake Quinault loop trail cedar bog — Cedar bog boardwalk portion of the trail

After about three miles around the forest and through the cedar bog, we arrived back at the road to cross down to the portion of the trail along the edge of Lake Quinault. The trail goes along the lake past many vacation bungalows with private docks and beaches, and past the Lake Quinault Lodge. The lake facing side of the lodge reminded me of the movie Dirty Dancing, or a mental institution. It was very nice looking though. The weather does get warmer in July and August, and I’m sure the beaches are nice for swimming.

At the end of the trail, my feet were dragging. It was a great hike, and we all went back and rested awhile, napping and watching movies. Later in the afternoon we started Fourth of July dinner, including Heather’s amazing lobster mac and cheese, cucumber salad, hot dogs, and my Asian watermelon salad. We were glad we hiked that day to make up for all the calories we consumed.

Heather's lobster mac and cheese — Heather’s lobster mac and cheese

Lake Quinault Canadian Geese — Canadian geese on the lake

Because it was the Fourth of July, and I love seasonal cocktails, I decided to make Guy Fiery’s Fourth of July Cocktail, which is supposed to look like this:

Guy Fieri's Fourth of July Cocktail — **Guy Fieri’s Fourth of July Cocktail:** Ingredients 1 ounce watermelon schnapps 1 big splash cranberry juice 1 very thin slice jalapeno or serrano pepper 1 slice lemon 1 slice lime 1 1/2 ounces tequila 1/4 ounce blue curacao 1/2 ounce simple syrup Watermelon wedge, for garnish (optional) **Directions:** Mix the schnapps and cranberry juice in a shaker; pour into an ice-filled glass. Muddle the jalapeno pepper, lemon and lime slices, tequila, blue curacao and simple syrup (to make a batch, dissolve sugar in equal parts hot water and chill) in the shaker. Slowly strain into the glass over the red layer. Garnish with watermelon, if desired.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/fourth-of-july-cocktail-recipe.html

Instead, what I got was this:

It turned brownish green, and was strong enough to knock you on your ass. We decided that we needed to mellow it out a bit, so we added some iced tea, which made it taste a lot better. It was still strong, and looked even more like swamp water. So that’s what we called it. So much for patriotic pretty Food Network cocktails.

We did the birthday cake thing with Sara and Jaz, stuffed ourselves silly, drank swampwater, and played some games.

The fireworks we got were sparklers and bottle rockets and a floating lantern like the kind used in countries such as Thailand for celebrations. The guy at the firework stand said they were safe, and that they burn themselves out high in the sky and don’t impact the environment. Unless of course, they veer off course and set a tree on fire.

We decided to try it out. We went down by the lake and I held it while Paddy lit the black flammable square at the bottom of the lantern. We got it going, and then Paddy let it go.

We watched as it soared really high in the sky, and then blew in the opposite direction of the lake. We panicked for a second, afraid that it might hit a tree, but it went so high so fast that it quickly turned into a tiny orange spec like a star way up in the sky. I’d love to go to a festival where they set a bunch of these off, it looks like a beautiful sight to behold from the pictures I’ve seen.

We then lit off the sparklers and bottle rockets. Not quite as exciting as a giant orange orb of fire, but still fun.

To our surprise, we did see some professional fireworks across the lake. (Lake Quinault Lodge maybe?).

Day 4:

Our last day brought morning showers, but they were off and on. Paddy, Cass, Devin, and I wanted to see a bit more of the southern Olympic Peninsula, so we took a drive up the coast to Ruby Beach.

After Paddy cooked eggs benedicts for everyone, the four of us left the others behind and drove north on the 101.

Eggs Benedict assembly line Lake Quinault 2014 184 — Eggs Benedict assembly line

Highway 101 North Olympic Forest — Heading north on the 101 through the Olympic Forest

After 45 minutes, we reached Ruby Beach, which was pretty popular for a cloudy, semi-drizzly day. I suppose it was a Saturday in July, though. On the Olympic Peninsula, you can’t ever expect sun. If you get sun- bonus.

There were cars parked up the road from the parking lot, so we grabbed a spot along the road that was being vacated. There is a viewpoint at the top of the trail down to the beach.

The trail is 0.25 mile downhill to the beach, an easy trip there and easy climb back. It looks like it can be muddy in the winter.

There is another viewpoint halfway down

Beach trail to Ruby Beach WA — Beach trail

We weren’t diligent enough to plan around a tide chart, but Ruby Beach is best visited at low tide. You can check the tide schedule here: http://tides.willyweather.com/wa/jefferson-county/ruby-beach.html. This is because Cedar Creek runs from the forest into the ocean, cutting the beach in half. We were at medium high tide, so we had to cross the creek to get to the other side of the beach . Cass wore rain boots and Devin had flip flops, so they were able to walk through the shallow water to the other side. I had to take off my shoes and go barefoot. Paddy didn’t want to go barefoot through the creek, so he stayed behind with my shoes.

Ruby Beach Washington — Photo by Cassandra Whelan

Ruby Beach gets its name from small bits of garnet in the rocks and sand. Maybe this is only seen in the sunlight. The rocks were pretty, but we saw no ruby.

Being barefoot ended up being non-conducive to tide pooling, however. There are tide pools to see around the sea stacks (large rocks), but the rocks are covered in barnacles and sharp. I carefully climbed around a few so I could get a look at one of the tide pools, which hosted a solitary giant green sea anemone, anthopleura xanthogrammica. (I used to want to be a marine biologist in 6th grade, and somehow all that I learned stuck with me).

Ruby Beach tide pools sea anemones — Anthopleura xanthogrammica

Ruby Beach tide pools — Anthopleura xanthogrammica

We also saw a purple starfish snacking on an unfortunate mussel.

Starfish snacking on a mussel Ruby Beach tide pools — Starfish eating a mussel

Next time we visit Ruby Beach, I’m going to come back at low tide and wear rubber boots. I think there are more tide pools to discover at low tide, and I want to have the footwear to do it.

We headed back to the car and drove back on the 101. We decided to pull into a driveway that had a sign with an arrow labeled “Big Cedar.”

At the end of the road was a small trail with a sign telling us to watch out for falling trees. Within a few feet we reached the Big Cedar. It was big alright. And it had split in two. I later researched that this had just happened in March 2014.

Olympic rainforest Big Cedar — That’s a big cedar. Photo by Devin Margolies

It’s sad that this ancient giant finally began to split and rot. However, the massiveness of it is still a sight to behold. The intricate roots and internal structure are pretty fascinating.

Moving on, we continued down the road and pulled into the South Beach Campground to check it out. It was right on the beach, but a complete clusterfuck. Maybe it’s not so bad when it’s not Fourth of July weekend, but it was camping chaos. RVs were lined along the beach, and tents were piled on top of each other in every available patch of grass. Zero privacy. I can see the appeal of waking up in an RV to the ocean, but there’s no way we’d pitch a tent here.

We made one last stop at Kalaloch Lodge to pick up a few things from their little store. The Kalaloch Lodge looks really nice, right on the beach with a lodge and cabins. There is a restaurant, the menu looks really good albeit expensive. I’d like to come back for a romantic getaway in the winter sometime.

Half our group left that afternoon, and the rest of us stayed one last night at the Lake Quinault house. Heather made crabcakes and steaks, we played games and had beers and wine out on the patio.

We left really early the next morning, anticipating bad traffic. Surprisingly, traffic was completely fine and we made it back to Seattle in almost exactly 3 hours. I’m sure the afternoon was a different story though….

We are already talking about renting the same house on Lake Quinault next summer. It’s a great deal in a great location. If you are okay with overcast days and like forest trails and beaches, this is a good spot for a getaway.

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Tag Archives: Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic National Park 2015: Hoh Rainforest

Camping in the Hoh Rainforest 2015: Overnight stop in Port Angeles, Olympic national Park Hoh Rainforest Visitor’s Center, walking the Hall of Mosses trail and Spruce Nature trail

Lake Quinault WA Fourth of July 2014

Our Fourth of July weekend with friends at Lake Quinault WA: Fun with friends on the lake, hiking in the Quinault Rainforest, and a trip to Ruby Beach.

Exploring the world, just the two of us