A Weekend at Olympic National Park

Driving into wilderness

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Say hello to a blanket of precariously low hanging clouds, filtering the harsh rays of sun, letting you bask in the soft touch of sunlight and cool breeze from the Pacific. Say hello to a small peninsula in the north west corner of the United States, that boasts a 70-miles long coastline adorned with pristine shingle and sandy beaches, craggy shores, and sea stacks. Say hello to a park that has temperate rain-forests, rolling meadows, snow-capped mountains and glaciers. Say hello to Olympic National Park.

Hello winds and clouds

Next in this series is Olympic National Park. A place I managed to visit in installments and still covered just fifteen percent of the park, because this park is like a packaged gift from nature to the state of Washington. Imagine this 3700 sq. km park has rain-forests, beaches, mountains and glaciers and is considered to have the quietest square inch of US. Sounds beautiful right? Trust me, no pictures can do justice to the place, but I am going to try to show you whatever I saw!

Port Angeles, La Push and Forks are your best shot at finding budget stay in the area

Olympic National park has a road that runs around the park and a few spur roads that take you to the mains points of the park, but most of the park requires you to hike and trek. Unfortunately, wanting to cover more ground in 1.5 days’ time means drive around and see what you can with some easy hikes. 

View of Port Angeles from Ediz Hook

So here it is. If you are travelling from Seattle or Tacoma, the access point to the park, and probably the best place to stay near the park (if you are not camping) is Port Angeles.

Hurricane Ridge is famous for a reason

Safely tucked away in the rain shadow area of Olympic Mountains and kissed by the Puget Sound, Port Angeles is the prime entry point of Olympic national park. So, whether you are travelling via road or ferry, you would surely end up crossing Port Angeles. Make sure to visit Ediz Hook in Port Angeles before making your way up to Hurricane Ridge. Ediz Hook is a 3-mile-long tapering sand pit that lets you get a panoramic view of Puget Sound and Port Angeles with Olympic Range in the backdrop, marking the perfect start to your Olympic National Park expedition.

Did you see me?

From Port Angeles, you can drive a scenic 20-mile road, gradually gaining an elevation of 5000 something miles and head to the snow-capped Hurricane Ridge. As Hurricane ridge is one of the highest motorable vista points of the park, thus best place to view the snowy part of the park up close without hiking at all. But that is not it, on the other side of the ridge, you can see the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Canada from there! If you are lucky, you would be frozen (in a pleasant way) by really strong winds while trying to spot insouciant animals (deer and marmots) grazing on the slopes. 

Mountains and mountains and mountains

During late summers, you can see a sea of wild flowers on the slopes which are then covered in thick layer of snow for months, converting this point into a ski and snowboarding paradise. The only downside of this area is traffic, but the view at the top and several vista points along the route totally compensate for the long queue at the entrance of the park and the traffic towards the top.

The blue of the lake

From hurricane ridge you can head to one of the several hikes around the mountains or you can hit the calm pristine waters of Crescent Lake to break the chills from the mountains! Crescent Lake is the second largest lake of the park, which would have been the largest if there hadn’t been a land slide some thousand years ago. There is a tribal legend in the area that Mount Storm King (mountain at the south of Lake Crescent) got angry on the local tribe and caused a land slide, dividing the large lake into a crescent shaped lake and an elk faced lake (nearby Lake Sutherland).  

Can't believe such trees exist!

Whatever be the story, the historic incident did leave Olympic National Park with a glistening blue gem called, Lake Crescent. Best spot to see the clear waters and the numerous shades of blue of Lake Crescent, along the lake’s edge is undoubtedly the pier next to Lake Crescent Lodge, but given the place gets super crowded during summer weekends, you can also stop but the numerous vistas along the edge and you won’t be disappointed at all!

Walking through Hoh Rain-forest

After covering the mountains of the park, explore the temperate rain-forests for some fresh forest feels. Olympic National Park has four temperate rain-forests – Hoh, Queets, Quinault and Bogachiel, with Hoh being the largest and the most accessible of the lot. Located on the banks of Hoh river, Hoh Rain-forest has trails for all ages and all experience levels! 

The Blue of Hoh river

If you are feeling adventurous but do not have enough experience with hiking, you can walk the Hall of Mosses and seek out some elks and some stunning views of Hoh river on the Spruce trail. 

Somewhere in the forest... Nature has its way of enchanting us!

If you are experienced enough, there are tons of other trail options and also search for the quietest square inch of the United States that is believed to be in Hoh Rain-forest!

Hidden in the Northwestern corner of USA!

Post snow-capped mountains and mossy rain-forests, Olympic National Park treats you with a wild and stunning coastline. Starting from the most northwest point of USA (contiguous) – Cape Flattery, the long coastline of Olympic National Park boasts a series of sea stacks and stunning beaches, some quite secluded too. 

When sun rays hit Cape Flattery...

But first let’s talk about Cape Flattery – one of my favourite spots of Washington! Walk down a 20 min trail and enjoy the sunset just at this edge of US when sun lits up the craggy rocks of Cape Flattery in flaming orange. That is when you get exactly why the point is called Cape 'Flattery'.

The water is really cold!

Next, follow the trail of sea stacks and camp or hike at Shi Shi beach. But if you are pressed for time drive to Rialto Beach where you can laze on driftwood and feel the cold pacific waves on the pebbled beach.

Rialto is pretty, right? I told you!

If you thought Rialto was pretty, wait till you get to La Push. Can you imagine sitting quietly on a beach watching few speed boats cruising you by and then suddenly you see water sprouts really close to the shore and a black hump peeking out of the water at regular intervals?  This sight is very very regular sight at all the beaches in La Push (especially First Beach).

No whales in this picture, but they frequently visit this beach.

And for the very best and secluded beaches of the lot, drive the long tree fenced highway 101 and head south to Ruby Beach or Kalaloch Beach for a beautiful sunset and some marvels of nature – Ruby Beach for the best set of sea stacks in Washington and the driftwood hike, and Kalaloch for the tree tunnel. (We chose Ruby Beach because of lack of time, but a couple of my friends have confirmed that Kalaloch is no less striking in any way.)

Beautiful sunsets like this one!

This pretty much gets you around the whole park, literally and still, like I had mentioned earlier, this is just 15 % of the whole park! But once you set out to circle the Olympic peninsula, it will surely call you back for exploring more of this UNESCO World Heritage site.

Some extra stuff that might be helpful –

1.   Leave early for the National park on any given day. It tends to get really busy during summer weekends. If you are travelling from Seattle, try and leave by 8:30 A.M. max, you would be able to cover everything and do a trail or two comfortably by 6:00 P.M.

2.  Hurricane ridge center is worth exploring, if you want to know about the area’s history. It is also the access point to various moderate trails of the park. If you are a hiking fan, this is the place you might want to start at.

3.  You do not need to layer in the Park up during summers. However, go prepared! Carry a puff jacket or a heavy rain jacket. It gets really windy at Hurricane Ridge and the beaches.

4.  Entry to the park currently is 30 dollars for a private vehicle and the entry ticket is valid for an entire week in the park, so keep your ticket safe and handy if you are planning to stay in the park or visit again in the week.

5.  Most eateries in the area, even in Port Angeles close early, with a very few (and not very budget) places open beyond 9 p.m., so plan your travel accordingly.

6.  Forks, La Push and other interior areas of the park do not have a lot of vegan restaurants and hurricane Ridge has a small cafeteria with limited vegan options. If you are vegetarian or vegan, you might want to carry your own food.

7.  The park also has some really pretty waterfalls, but all need you to hike a bit to get to them. Due to lack of time, I had to give them a miss, but if you have time, Sol Duc falls and Marymere falls are accessible by small trails near Hoh Rainforest and Lake Crescent respectively.

8.  During winters, it is mandatory to have chained/traction tires and some parts of the park do close during heavy snowfall, so you might want to check the NPS site for latest updates before planning your trip.

9. Majority of the park area does not have network coverage. In some cases you might be able to connect to Canadian network but that would be roaming. So download the area map before leaving Port Angeles.

Hope you guys found this post helpful and feel free to ask me anything you want to know about the park in comments section below.

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