I had driven through a portion of Olympic National Park back in 1984, near Lake Crescent, and knew from the little that I'd seen that I wanted to return. After our visit in September of 2003 we still know that we want to go back and see more. Our most recent trip is what we tend to call a "survey" trip, where we do all of the touristy sites and nature trails and get a general feel for what an area is like, collect as much information as we can, scout out the interesting trails, and see as much as we can before heading home to dream about and plan our next trip to the area.

Although the Park can be entered from all four directions, it seems that most of the tourist sites are on the west and north sides. Although we only have limited experience with the south and east sides, they seem to be less advertised, have fewer paved roads, and seem to cater more to hikers and backpackers. There are miles and miles of trails in this Park. We could have spent a week there easily, and still wanted more.

And, of course, as one might expect, it rained on and off for most of the time we visited the Park.

All of the beach areas that we visited while in Olympic National Park are also part of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Kalaloch Information Station

10:30 a.m.
I suspect that because of the size of the Park, and the varied approaches, the Park Service has set up Information Stations at strategic points around the perimeter. The first that we encountered was the Kalaloch Information Station, about half way between Aberdeen and Forks, Washington. We almost drove by, but realized that we'd been driving for about two hours and needed a break. So we pulled in and are glad that we did.

The woman behind the counter was very talkative, friendly, and loaded with suggestions and information about the area. There were brochures and other free information that provided insight into the locations that we had planned to visit. And while she was at it, she suggested that we stop at a place called Ruby Beach. We had not heard of it before, intending to stop at Rialto Beach or La Push to see the ocean. She convinced us to do Ruby Beach as well.

Ruby Beach

11:10 a.m.
There are a whole series of beaches along this stretch of Highway 101, all within Olympic National Park. But we only got glimpses of the ocean through the tall pines that cover everything. We love pines, but sometimes they do get in the way of the view. Ah well ... that's why we have to get out of our cars.

Ruby Beach is along the coast (of course), just south of where Highway 101 turns inland once again. There is a short drive through a wooded stretch to get to the medium sized parking area, but that gives you a chance to slow down and catch your breath from the highway. There are restrooms near the trailhead down to the beach.

The trail does go down, and is steep in places. It is mostly packed damp sand. Between the parking lot and the beach we walked through tall pines, and lush vegetation. We saw several more slugs along the trail, a couple of which had been stepped on. That is one disconcerting thing about those fascinating critters. Their protective coloration matches the color of the trail and forest debris close enough, and there are so many interesting things to look at, that I suspect lots of these critters get squished. It's unfortunate. But it did make us watch where we stepped, and I don't believe that either of us were responsible for squishing a slug while on this trip.

At the bottom of the trail the forest suddenly opens to a huge pile of driftwood logs tossed up like a child's discarded Lincoln logs. We had to climb over them to get to the beach. But that was part of the fun, getting a close-up view of the weathered and rounded wood. If a person were patient enough to wait for the correct light, and had the right camera equipment, there would be some fascinating photo opportunities here. The natural textures and colors are amazing.

We walked out along the beach for a short ways, watching the waves tumble in, and checking out the sea stacks (the chunks of mainland that have been separated by the waves). The morning was still sunny and the sky was blue and the ocean looked blue and the waves were white against those colors. It was pleasant and there wasn't a lot of the usual "sea" smell that we've encountered on other shorelines.

While we were out there we spotted a Cooper's Hawk, several cormorants, sea gulls, and a few other tourists. It's a nice area, well worth the stop. We wish we would have had more time, but we wanted to get on to the rain forest early enough so that we could get in a hike.

Hoh Rain Forest

1:00 p.m.
The Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center is at the end of a paved road through some of the most interesting forest that we have ever seen. Everything is covered in one type of moss or another. Everything is green, damp, and lush. And the trees climb up toward the sky forever. But the forest is so dense that it is hard to look up and see the tops. One tree blends into another.

It was raining when we arrived in the parking area. There are quite a few spots, and on this day, midweek in the off season, we had no difficulty in finding a spot. We toured the small rustic Visitor Center, used the large, modern rest rooms to change into our rain gear (jacket, pants, and hats), ate lunch in the rain while standing at the back of our Trooper (so that we could more easily access the cooler and food containers), and then went for a four mile round trip hike out along the Hoh River Trail. By then the rain was coming down pretty hard (at least in the parking lot) and the temperature seemed to be dropping.

Hoh River Trail

We hiked two miles into the Hoh Rain Forest, to Campsite 2, and returned. Because it was raining, we wore our rain jackets, rain pants, and rain hats. That kept us dry from the rain, but it also kept our perspiration in, so we got wet from sweat. Otherwise it would have been a very pleasant hike, and if it were not raining we would have hiked perhaps ten miles round trip.

The trail is packed sand and forest debris, is fairly flat, but has lots of roots and walking stones along its path. You do have to watch where you are stepping. And there are the ubiquitous slugs about, so you have to be careful so you don't step on them.

As one of the rangers had predicted, even though it was raining heavily, it was only a drizzle down in the forest. In fact, there were places along the trail where no rain reached the ground at all. They seemed to be bone dry.

There were quite a few hikers out along the trail, both coming and going. The trail parallels the Hoh River, and there were side trails along the way where you could access the stream. The two campgrounds that we encountered seemed to be near the water, and were large enough for several small backpacking tents. And because of the trees, the camp sites seemed to be much dryer than the trail. Although everything was damp and I can only imagine that camping in the rain forest would be a totally different experience from our backcountry trips in the deserts of true canyon country.

The rain forest seemed very quiet, with no breeze. But it did not seem stifling or closed in. The canopy of trees still gave us enough room to look around and see into the depths of the forest without it feeling like a dense wall. Most of the growth of the older trees is way above our heads.

While in there we spotted a large woodpecker working away, and it didn't seem concerned about our presence. We saw lots of moss and ferns and lichens, a variety of fungi and mushrooms, and enjoyed the short time we had there. Getting out of, and storing wet rain gear, was another matter, and something that we're not used to doing. And as we found out, nothing seems to dry completely in the damp climate of the Pacific Northwest.

Ozette Lake

9:25 a.m.
Ozette Lake is the largest natural lake in the state of Washington, which is amazing, since the lake does not seem all that large, and, since it is practically in the ocean. It is also part of Olympic National Park.

The lake is hard to reach if you are coming from the south, because you have to drive all the way to the north coast near Clallam Bay and Seklu, and then turn back southwest to reach Ozette. The drive is mostly through pine forest, with a few breaks for meadows and small unincorporated communities and farms. We spotted a coyote in this area.

At the Ranger Station there is a nice parking area with picnic tables, a rain shelter, informational kiosks, a small display about the local history, and very modern, and large, rest rooms near the trailhead. The Ranger Station was closed when we were there, but there is a place where overnight backpackers can sign in on their own. It's all set up very nicely.

After we finished our hike to the beach, we ate our lunch at one of the picnic tables, and observed another black tailed deer.

Cape Alava Trail / Beach / Sand Point Trail

The locals call this "The Triangle," because there are two official trails, the Cape Alava Trail and the Sand Point Trail, that each leave the Ozette Lake Ranger Station and head west to the coast. If you add the three miles of beach between their destination points, you have a nice loop trail. The Cape Alava portion of the trail is 3.3 miles long, while the Sand Point portion is a bit shorter, at three miles one way. So the entire hike makes a nice 9.3 mile hike.

Of course most of the hike is through a rain forest type environment, and because the area can be swampy and damp to muddy, the Park Service has built a boardwalk almost the entire length of the two trails. This is something that we'd never seen before, except, perhaps, in thermal areas around Yellowstone, and usually for only short distances. These boardwalks are mostly damp and slippery. The trailhead signs suggested that hikers not wear their usual lugged soled boots, but that's essentially all that we had. Our tennis shoes would not have been suitable for this long of a hike, and, as it turned out, we were glad we had the boots as we trudged along the beaches along the shoreline.

One of the problems with lugged soles is that they don't have the same surface area as a tennis shoe would, and on the slippery wood surface there is nothing (or very little) for the lugs to grab on to. We had to be careful, especially on downhill slopes, because we did slide some. That slowed down our hiking, which wasn't all bad, because we were able to observe our surroundings more closely.

The other factor is that the boardwalk is rotten in some areas, so one has to be careful not to step on a busted or loose board. And in some areas the supports under the boardwalk had obviously rotted out, so the surface swayed and buckled like a pier in a hurricane, twisting and bouncing as we walked along. It was kind of fun, in a way, but I'm sure we would have a different story if one of us would have slipped and gotten hurt.

Along the trail we spotted several slugs, including white, green, and tan varieties, all of about the same size.

When we reached the beach at Cape Alava we could see Ozette Island off the coast, and we found four black tailed deer browsing in the tall grass at the transition point between the forest and the shoreline. There is also a designated campsite nearby, and a primitive privy that is not very private and not very "fresh." But it serves the purpose and was a relief to find.

There were a few people about, poking around the tidal pools. There isn't much "beach" in this area. It is mostly rocky and there is a lot of sea weed and kelp thrown up in large piles. It's quite smelly and we decided that it reminded us of a bad smelling salad. All of the colors of sea weed added to that comparison, but walking across the spongy stuff only brought up swarms of files. Fortunately they didn't latch on to us, or bite.

We poked around some of the tidal pools and headed south along the shoreline. Apparently the tide tables for the local area are important, because there are two points along the three mile stretch where there is no passage when the tide is in. And if you are caught out in those areas when the tide comes in you could be in trouble. So they have large red and black circular signs posted along the beach where these heads are. There are short trails that you can take to avoid the ocean side of these points.

Out along the shore, and in the tidal pools, we saw sea anemone, small orange crabs, tiny hermit crabs, sea weed of various types, algae, a variety of sea birds, seals out on several of the islands, snails, and other water critters that we couldn't identify.

The morning was cloudy and cool, and damp, but we didn't wear our rain gear. We wore shorts and T-shirts. But, we did have our rain gear in our packs, just in case.

Eagle

8:50 a.m.
The Eagle area is along the Sol Duc River and can be reached along a paved road coming in from the north, just west of Lake Crescent, at a junction with Highway 101. It's a forested area, and it was drizzling almost from the start. There is a Ranger Station, a campground, nature trails, and an RV camp at the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort.

Salmon Cascades

We pulled into the Salmon Cascades turnout and walked the short distance to the observation decks. The stream is interesting and pretty, but there were no salmon yet this year. The stream didn't have enough water to allow the big fish to get this far. But apparently by early October there would be more water flowing down the drainage and the salmon put on a pretty good show as they leap up the steps of the natural cascade.

Sol Duc Falls

There is a large parking area with restrooms at the Sol Duc Falls trailhead, and there were a good number of cars in the lot. We were surprised because it was the middle of the week in the off season. And we were even more surprised when we saw only two or three people on our entire hike, and they were going in as we were coming out. So, evidently, most of the folks parked there were heading in deeper than the falls.

The Sol Duc Falls Trail is .8 miles one way. It was raining, so we donned our rain gear once again and headed off down the mossy forest trail. And once again we were amazed by the huge trees, their twisted roots, and the amount of vegetation growing on everything. Almost to the falls we encountered an old dilapidated log shelter. It seemed to be fairly modern, but one corner of the structure was collapsed where a large tree had fallen through its roof. The opening of the shelter looked out over the cascading Sol Duc River.

Just beyond we came to the spectacular falls. There are several streams of water pouring over the edge of a precipice and collecting in a tight, narrow canyon that channels the water under a wooden log bridge and on down toward the sea. There is a lot of noise, and the feel there is one of excitement. The Park Service has build several observation decks that allow you to view the falls from several different angles. The setting is quite beautiful, with the moss covered trees acting as a contrast to the white water of the falls. The scene is well worth the effort of the hike, even if it is raining.

Storm King Information Station

We only stopped at the Storm King Information Station for a few minutes to get our bearings and figure out what we wanted to do next. We know there are several interesting trails in the area, especially to Marymere Falls, and the sun was even coming out, but we also wanted to get on up to Hurricane Ridge so that we could see Mount Olympus.

Storm King is near Barnes Point on Lake Crescent, and has lots of parking and looks like a very interesting area in its own right. We had to save it for another trip.

Elwha

Noon
The Elwha area was a bit of a disappointment. They were doing road work along the road, and we were not able to get up to the Observation Point. We settled for eating our lunch at the picnic area near the Ranger Station. At least it wasn't raining, but it was chilly, and there was a bit of a breeze. It did start to sprinkle as we were preparing to leave.

Madison Falls Trail

We did stop at Madison Falls before we left the area. They have a small parking area and restrooms. The paved trail is only about 600 feet long, one way, and is fairly flat. But the falls are very nice and it makes for an interesting side trip. Near the rest rooms there is a large tree trunk that is at least 12 feet across. It is weathered and deteriorating, but it is fascinating none the less to look down into its interior and see how far down it goes.

Visitor Center

2:00 p.m.
On the way from the Elwha area we passed through Port Angeles, where we stopped at Port Angeles Harbor and looked around. Then we found the Olympic National Park Visitor Center, on the south side of town, near the Park Headquarters.

This is a very nice, modern facility, with plenty of parking. There is a museum, a gift shop, rest rooms, and, of course, Rangers on duty to answer your questions. That is how we learned that because of the cloud cover, there was nothing to see if we were to drive the 18 miles up to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. Apparently they were in fog with 20 m.p.h. winds. The Ranger recommended to several tourists that they find something else to do. We followed his suggestion. Once again, this is an area we will have to return to to explore in more depth.