Olympic National Park

A week backpacking in Olympic National Park in July, 2012.

[Emily] Another adventure to the west coast began with a quick flight to Seattle, four days after Christopher got back from Uganda. We rented a red sports car and drove to the Hoh Rain Forest  I loved the huge trees and ultra-blue hydrangeas along the road. We made a quick stop at a Wal-Mart to buy a thermometer, which confirmed that Christopher had a fever - so our first couple days we took things a little easier than normal-Christopher paced.

After the several-hour drive to the trailhead, we ventured into the rain forest and immediately began marveling at the gigantic, moss-covered trees. Upon arrival at our creek-side campsite, Chris found the first of many banana slugs, which quickly became a game to find a bigger or prettier slug. The mosquitoes were really bad since it was warm so we spent the first few hours in the tent playing cards.

The next morning we hiked by an old rangers station into the Enchanted Valley. We passed the designated campsites which were full (this place is more popular than we are used to) and found a flat spot on a spur by the river. The valley was beautiful with waterfalls all around. Fog settled into the valley overnight so the view was completely different the following day. We took a mini-day hike through the mist across the river. We found a snow/ice cave and hiked up the hill along a waterfall. Just after we got back to camp we saw a large black bear walking along the hill where we had just been. We were lucky to see one this late in the year, but they are frequent earlier in the year.

On the third day we started back toward the car. Our planned campsite was full but we found a cute spot nestled in the trees down by the bright blue stream. On the fourth day we hiked the rest of the way out of the rain forest, made a few pit stops, and found our next trailhead along the Pacific Ocean.

[Chris] At the trailhead to Third Beach we changed clothes, repacked food, filled water, and headed back out. I think our transition was fast enough that it still felt like we were “out” the whole time. The trail to Third Beach is wide, mostly flat, and easy. After smelling the ocean for a bit we could finally see the water and descended to the beach. There were at least a dozen tents on the beach, but we went all the way to the south end and got away from everyone enough to relax. The ocean is beautiful along the Olympic Coast, with sea stacks, tide pools, and steep bluffs.

The morning of our 5th day we packed up, as a deer played in the surf in front of us, and headed south. There are a number of bluffs that are impossible to go around, either because of the constant water or because the tide isn’t out long enough to make it all the way around. We had to go over a few of these on our trek south. Most of the paths are so steep that there are permanent rope ladders or at least ropes to help people climb over. We ended the day in a cove and were the only people in the cove until the next night. We spent the afternoon and all of the 6th day playing in the tide pools, looking at star fish and anemones, and laying in the sun.

On the 6th night, someone set up camp at the other end of the beach. We watched their fire at night, amused because we knew they weren’t up far enough to accommodate the ten foot tide that would come in that night. They weren’t – and we eventually saw them pick up the entire tent in the fire light and try to move it toward the bluff. We set out logs in front of our tent to stop any rogue waves at high tide, and they did get splashed.

On the last day of our week in Olympic we packed up early to try time the tide and avoid needing some of the over-land passes – it wasn’t much faster because walking around the points was slippery. We drove back to Seattle and spent a few days watching the 2012 Olympics, walking on the wharf, visiting Pike Place market, and shopping.

All-in-all, it was a great way for me to come back to the U.S. The scenery was unique and worth the trip, although the trails were more heavily used than we are used to. We think the beach would be a great place for a group or a trip with kids, but I don’t think we’d go back by ourselves if we were looking for solitude on a trip. But then again, only seeing a handful of people while on the beach isn’t something to complain about.

Here are more pictures from the Hoh Rain Forest, and here are pictures from the Olympic Coast.