National Park Number: 44/63
NPS Unit Count: 87/430
US Unesco World Heritage Sites 17/24
Hey there Adventurers! Shortly after returning from the desert of the southwest, I was off again! This time to the rainforests and towering mountains of Washington, with the Sidekick in tow for part of the trip. After a late arrival to Seattle, rental car pickup, and an overnight there, we got up and made a beeline for Olympic National Park, an oft mentioned contender for best National Park in the country.
Here is a map of the area :
To get from Seattle to Olympic we opted to take the car ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. The ferry was actually really cool and gave AMAZING views of the city. I definitely recommend that you take that ferry if you have a chance! After disembarking, we headed northwest and made a stop at Kitsap Memorial State Park. Many state parks in Washington offer Bark Ranger programs/swag. This site is one we have on our amazing interactive map over at #USBarkRangers. We stopped in, and walked down to the water to take in views, then found a park employee who was kind enough to get us Bark rRanger swag from the campground registration hut.
Afterward, it was off to Port Angeles, the major gateway town to the park. We were meeting up with one of the amazing moderators of our Facebook page and her pups, Harley Quinn and Prince Louis, to visit Olympic! We only stayed the first night in Port Angeles. There are other towns around, but this one sits right at the entrance of the northern side of the park and the drive to Hurricane Hill, has plenty of restaurants and lodging options, and a cute colorful downtown area.
After meeting up with our amazing moderator Caroline for dinner, we headed out with her and her pups to check out Madison Falls, the first foray into the park. The falls are very close to the parking area and super accessible – a great start to the park visit! Olympic National Park is actually where the NPS Bark Ranger program originated about 11 years ago! However, this is wilderness in the NPS, so dog access is still limited. The Madison Falls trail is quite a short, but dog friendly hike with a great payoff! An important note: the road out here used to go much further into the park and has been closed for some time due to bridges washed out, but you can still hike and bike the road.
The next morning was an early morning drive up to Hurricane Hill, a cool mountain haul up to 5200 plus feet. That might not seem that high, but starting at sea level and ascending to over 5000 feet in only about 20 miles made for an interesting weather change! In Port Angeles the temps were in the 60s or so, and pleasant. We ran into snow/ice on the drive up! The top of the drive definitely seems much higher than it is and there are spectacular views at the parking lot. But the draw here is the famous hike to Hurricane Hill. The hike was cold, and a bit more strenuous than we expected, as it was essentially straight up hill the entire time, but the trail is almost entirely paved, which makes it easier. The trail length is a bit over 3 miles round trip. At the top we found deer, snow, and killer views out to the ocean, and, when the clouds cleared, of Hurricane Ridge. By no means were our views fogged over, but they were not clear. The ranger we spoke too later said that day was the clearest in a few days, so prepare to deal with less than ideal views. Still, it was an incredible sight up there!
After descending, we met back up with Caroline at the visitor center in Port Angeles. After doing a photo op with one of the Rangers there and getting our cool Bark Ranger tags we headed down the road west, to Lake Crescent where we hiked the Spruce Railroad trail. This trail is dog friendly, and features a tunnel plus access to the lake shore in an area called the Devils Punchbowl, which is about as far as most people go. That stretch of the trail is rocky and narrow, and not a really great spot to take the dogs, so we only went a bit down for a couple photos of the lake. The main trail is paved and mostly flat, so sticking to that is just fine for the pups and for people with mobility issues.
After completing this hike, the Sidekick and I parted ways with Caroline for a bit. The next area we were headed to is not dog friendly, so she went ahead to the next town. The Sidekick and I headed off to Sol Duc Hot springs to relax a bit. This area is on the way from Lake Crescent to the coast and is a resort/lodge area in the park. There is no device connectivity to be found here and being offline is a key feature. There is a restaurant, so after grabbing a bite to eat we headed into the hot springs. The hot springs are essentially a large hot tub with the hot water pumped in. It is very hot, 104 degrees, and felt great in the cool woods! There is also a non heated pool. When we were there that pool was in the 50s and empty. The only people in there were braving the shock off going from the hot to the cold. The Sidekick did it, then made fun of me for being a baby so I ended up doing it as well… 0 stars out of 10, do not recommend!
After departing Sol Duc we headed toward Forks, the main town in the northwestern part of the Olympic Peninsula. The hotel there was fine for the location but pricey. After reuniting with Caroline for the evening we all got up early and headed to the coast to check out the Kaloloch area. This part of the park is on the Pacific Coast and the weather was as you would expect! We stopped at a nice seaside restaurant and hiked down to the shore to see the famous (and probably not long for the planet) Tree of Life. If you are unfamiliar with this feature, it is pretty famous, and nature is taking its toll on the longevity of this tree. The weather was pretty suspect so we all went our separate ways again, until later. The Sidekick and I went toward the Hoh Rainforest and learned the hard way that the wait to get in is pretty legit, turned around, and then ended up in another section of the park for a pretty decent last half of the day!
La Push is a very scenic and beautiful shoreline area of the national park area. The park boundaries skirt the area and abut the tribal areas, but the land does not know about the boundary lines. This town is part of the Quileute Indian Reservation, and the Sidekick and I headed out that way in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day there. We did some exploring of a couple of the beaches in the area, Rialto and First Beach, and settled in dinner at a nice native restaurant where Caroline met up with us. This area is really pretty! The weather cleared up nicely and it was a great visit! Unfortunately the tides did not quite line up properly so we were unable to get those tide pool pictures, but maybe next time!
The next morning we bid adieu to Caroline and headed (early!) back to the Hoh rainforest. We managed to make it in this time and did a nice hike around the area. It is very beautiful and serene! We also met a park ranger there who was one that we had spoken with before for Bark Ranger stuff at another site. We did not know she was there so that was really cool! The hike through the rainforest was awesome and what was unexpected was the hike went out into an open rocky river area to give a view of the rainforest from outside, so to speak. This is a super pretty spot and a definite must visit. The road into the area is suspect due to flooding and winter damage, and it didn’t even open until shortly before our trip so be sure to always check park current conditions! I mentioned before, but you need to get there early. The first attempt the day before was at 10 or 11 AM and the line to get in was backed up for hours. There is no roadside parking and only one limited parking lot. The rangers only let one car in when one car leaves. Plan accordingly!
After departing the Hoh Rainforest our next destination was back in Seattle at the Space needle. We made a stop at Ruby falls to check it out in clearer weather (we actually stopped here the day before and it was too rainy to see anything) and then it was a couple hour drive around the southern part of the park. There are no visitor centers or any real destinations that we were looking for. If you make a big square around the park, the east, north, and west are definitely the go-tos. Due to timing and routing we did not get to the eastern side, but I understand there are some great areas to visit there as well. Anyway, the southern route went back through Olympia andTacoma and around the water back up to Seattle.
This was the Sidekick’s last night of the trip and we went to dinner and then checked out the Space needle. It was a MUCH cooler experience than either of us expected and I definitely suggest giving it a go. The experience was highlighted by sitting in the fancy (paid for it!) part of the rotating section of the tower. The views were killer and we caught a sunset and a hot air balloon even from up there! So cool!
The next morning I dropped the Sidekick off at the airport and continued on my way. This visit to Olympic was great! We spent 4 days there and saw *most* of the park. If I came back I would definitely try to do more of the tidal pools stuff and get up to the northwest corner of the peninsula (which is not actually part of the park), along with the eastern part that we missed.
Overall Impressions: Olympic National Park is an outstanding National Park. It isn’t my favorite, but I can understand why others would say so!
The Adventurer’s Rating: 5 Arrowheads!
