Our Second Visit to Olympic National Park

We weren't expecting to stay close to home this summer, but after various plans fell through, we were once again looking at local options. I always want to go somewhere we haven't been before, but nothing was really working out ... so I asked Jason and the kids if they'd want to go back to Olympic National Park. We had all really enjoyed our time there four years ago, and we knew there was lots more to see, so we booked a campsite and a cabin (we have some non-tent campers now), and looked forward to our trip.

Little did we know that most of the other locations in B.C. that we'd been looking at would be plagued with wildfires and smoke. We were very fortunate to be going somewhere with lower temperatures and cleaner air.

Monday morning we drove across the border and through Deception Pass, 

then took a ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend.

This is just a 35-minute ride, and the weather was nice, so we enjoyed some time out on the deck.

 

We got to our campsite then decided to explore the Dungeness wildlife refuge area.

The beach here includes a 5-mile spit that leads to a lighthouse--when the tide comes in, part of this walkway is covered with water, so we didn't take a chance on the hike.

 

Even though it was cold and really windy, Janae, Alaina and Eric ran into the waves and had the best time!

We saw some beautiful deer here, and one of them came right up to our car window!

 

After Dungeness, the kids swam in the pool at our campground before calling it a night (a very cold night!).

 

Tuesday morning we visited Hurricane Ridge. The visitors center here had burned down in May, so we couldn't get to some of the amazing viewing areas we'd been to before, but we had a good time hiking and taking pictures. We got in almost 18,000 steps this day!

 

Wednesday we went to the Hoh Rain Forest, which included a stop in Forks, the setting of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. We'd been here before as well but had to stop again for some fun photos ops.

 

 

The Hoh Rain Forest was so busy that afternoon that we had to wait almost two hours to drive into the area, since the park controls the amount of traffic going in. But once we made it to the visitors center, we enjoyed a walk through the Hall of Mosses--one of the greenest and mossiest areas we'd ever seen.

 

Our last stops of the day were La Push/First Beach and Rialto Beach. We'd been to the more southern Ruby Beach before but never to the more northern beaches that are considered part of the "Wild Coast" (Mora area). 

For me, Rialto Beach included the most spectacular scenery of our entire trip. Olympic National Park is known for its unique combination of ocean, mountain and forest, and this creates some absolutely breathtaking views. The shoreline here extended endlessly in both directions, and the beach was lined with enormous stacks of fallen trees and wood. I have never seen anything like it!

 

Wednesday was supposed to be our last day in the park, but we were able to extend our stay two extra nights ... in a bigger cabin that fit all six of us! 

So, on Thursday we travelled back down through Forks once again to visit beautiful Ruby Beach (sometimes described as the "jewel" of Olympic National Park).

 

The kids had fun climbing rocks, looking for anemones (not easy with the tide so far in), and running into the waves. 

 

On Friday we had to check out of our campsite at 11 a.m. After that, we visited the nearby Salt Creek Recreation Area and then drove over to Port Townsend, where we had reserved a spot on the 10 p.m. ferry (the only down side of extending our trip!).

Still, we made the most of our time, sitting on the beach,

looking in some of the shops (until everything started closing at around 5:00), visiting the candy shop multiple times (luckily it stayed open later), and taking lots of pictures :)

 

We got into the ferry line at around 7:30, hoping to sail earlier than 10:00 on standby--luckily we got a spot on the 8:30 sailing.

 

We got home just before midnight, and the kids definitely all slept well in their own beds that night.

Today I asked everybody their favorite part of the trip ... here are their replies:

Jason--the KOA Campground

Ben--Ruby Beach (even though he was feeling sick while we were there!)

Janae--the waves at Dungeness

Alaina--the waves at Dungeness

Eric--hearing Janae tell him the entire story of Twilight on the way to Forks (haha)

So, even though we'd been to Olympic National Park before, I'll admit that there was still lots to see. In fact, we're already talking about visiting again in another four years or so ... maybe sooner :)