Olympic National Park: July 2021

The genesis for this trip began in May when we started talking about where we could spend our summer vacation. It was uncharacteristically late for us but the pandemic turned everything topsy-turvy and after three canceled trips in 2020, I was not feeling the planning love. That said, for my sanity and to regain some life balance from work, we knew we were going to do something even if it was a similar staycation to our 2020 summer trip. And so it was that one night, I got caught up reading about Olympic National Park and remembered that we had talked about visiting during my last sabbatical but didn't because of....reasons, I guess. I started poking around on the National Park website and happily discovered that Lake Quinalt Lodge actually had July availability in their fireplace and lakeside buildings! I have always wanted to stay in a National Park lodge and now we have the chance. We googled some more to make sure there was other lodging available around the peninsula on either side of the lodge dates and finally booked two nights. The rest of the trip would take shape around those dates. We knew that ONP is a "hiker's park" and I can say for certain that to really do the place justice, you need to spend at least 5-7 days there and that's without backpacking (those backpacking days are behind me now).

Day 1

We left Portland early, stopping at Blue Star on N. Mississippi for donuts and coffee on our way out of town. We had considered taking the kayaks for Lake Crescent but decided not to at the last minute, a decision that we did not regret for reasons that will become evident in a few days. We sped north on I-5, a drive that will become very familiar now that the Boy has committed to UW, to our first stop at Staircase Rapids. At the entrance station, we had to make a u-turn to park on the side of the entry road, since the parking at both trailheads was full but despite the large number of cars, there were remarkably few people on the trail we chose. We hiked the loop upstream, past the big cedar, to the suspension bridge and back down to the ranger station. It was a great leg stretcher to ease into vacation.

Next stop was the Hama Hama Oyster Saloon & Farm Store. Though we adore raw oysters, the news that vibriosis cases were up 10X after the recent heat wave killed our enthusiasm for them. We thought to get some grillers for the night's AirBnB dinner instead. Unfortunately the farm store was sold out of the large grillers so we got some manila clams and purple savory clams along with some smoked oyster and clam dips to munch on. The clams were excellent in a grilled clam boil that evening. Our final stop before checking into our AirBnB in Sequim was Alpenfire Cider for a tasting on the lawn.

Day 2

Today was the first of a couple of early hiking days. We wanted to get through Heart O' the Hills entrance station before the crowds. Our target this morning was Klahane Ridge via the Switchback Trail. We sailed through the entrance station around 8AM and got one of the last two parking spaces. We geared up, extended our poles, and set off....or I should say, set UP. When they built this trail, they did not mess around but slow and steady does it. We paused at the junction with the visitor center trail to shed some layers and carried on. We saw a couple of deer grazing at the next switchback so we stopped to watch them (and catch our breath) for a bit. In the middle of switchbacks 3 or 4 from the junction, I stopped to drink some water and take a picture of some wildflowers when my husband suddenly nudged me and whispered, "Stay calm but slowly look up." I looked and there was a young bear on the trail, about 20 yards away!

And this stream of conscious followed, "OMG. It's a bear. I've never seen a bear in the wild before. It looks young. I hope it's not a cub. But it looks young. Really hoping mama bear isn't close by. It's ignoring us. Please continue ignoring us and go on your merry way...." The bear ignored us, snuffled across the trail, and then bounded down the hill. And then we continued on, banging our sticks and making lots of noise for the next 1/4 mile just in case he had friends in the vicinity. We arrived at the saddle shortly and what a view! All that vertical work was worth it.

After a brief rest, we continued on down the ridge for another 1/2-3/4 mile, enjoying the wildflowers and views from all different directions. It was fascinating seeing so many different ecosystems in close proximity. I imagine sun exposure, snow levels, other factors contribute to the slightly different landscapes we saw around each new corner. And surprisingly, we saw fewer than twenty people on the entire hike. Out of all the hikes we did, this was easily our favorite!

Once we finished hiking, we had a quick lunch and headed to the visitor center to use the facilities. What a contrast! The parking lot was mobbed. Since we had already enjoyed the ridgetop views and have had the opportunity to explore Hurricane Hill in the past, albeit in winter, we didn't stay long and headed back down the hill. We stopped at a lavender farm before going back to our AirBnB to clean up for dinner which was at Finnriver Ciders.

Day 3

Today was supposed to be a rest-ish, lower mileage day. We packed up and left Sequim by 9. The final destination was Forks via Lake Crescent and Sol Duc Falls. We were still thinking of maybe renting kayaks at Lake Crescent for a bit of water time but the wind kicked up much earlier today and we were seeing whitecaps on the lake. We were now glad we didn't bring our own boats. Our flatwater paddlers needed an extra 2-3 feet in length to comfortably navigate the lake in these conditions so we were glad that we weren't schlepping them all across the peninsula. Instead we hiked to Marymere Falls and did the Moments in Time trail off Storm King Ranger Station before heading to Sol Duc Falls.

We headed to Forks after Sol Duc Falls and despite a 20 minute wait for roadwork and a long slow caravan down US-101, we realized we were a couple of hours early for our AirBnB check-in. We had originally pushed all the beaches to a single day to maximize the tides but decided to head to Rialto Beach and hike to Hole In the Wall today even though we were only 30 minutes after high tide. It was a lovely walk down the cobbled beach. We saw lots of pelicans and even a small pod of whales swimming in the distant surf. We kept looking for the creek that needed crossing but never found it before we got to Hole In the Wall. I guess it's seasonal and dried up with the recent weather? A decent marine layer was starting to build up as we headed back so we opted to take our chances and push sunset to the next day in hopes of clearer skies.

Day 4

Rainforest day! Today's destination was Five Mile Island via the Hoh River Trail. We got up early to beat the crowds and sailed into the park at 8AM finding plenty of parking at the visitor center. It was kind of refreshing to be hiking on what was pretty much a flat trail for miles and miles for once. We admired the mossy old growth and ran into lots of backpackers hiking back from Olympus Guard Station, Five Mile Island, or Tom's Meadow. We stopped for lunch at a bend in the river on Five Mile Island before heading back into the second wave of people visiting the park. 

We left the park around 2:30 and the line of cars waiting to get in was beyond the 2 hour sign! We cleaned up and had dinner in our AirBnB and headed back to Rialto Beach for sunset. We're glad we pushed it a day. The skies were clear and the beach was full of photographers taking advantage of golden hour.

Day 5

To the beach! Second Beach reopened a couple of weeks ago and we are grateful we got the chance to see it. It is stunning. We arrived about an hour before low tide and wandered the beach, looking in tide pools, and just enjoying the scenery. We saw lots of anemone and sea stars but were saddened at the carnage left by the June heat wave. We had read that billions of sea creatures perished on those few days because low tide was during the hottest part of the day. Many animals essentially cooked where they lay. It was sobering seeing all the open mussel shells clinging to the rocks.

After a few hours at Second Beach, it was south again on US-101 to the Kalaloch Unit. We stopped at Ruby Beach, Beach 4, and the Tree of Life marveling at how sandy the beaches were getting as we moved further south.

Our coastal explorations complete, it was time to head to Lake Quinalt to wind down our trip at the Lake Quinalt Lodge.

Day 6

This was a perfect place to wind down our week because you can do everything, nothing, and all things in between. It had a definite "Kellerman Dirty Dancing" vibe with croquet on the lawn, boat rentals, and lots of other activities. We reserved a room in the Fireplace wing and got a second floor room with a lovely view of the lawn and lake. We opted to drive the lake perimeter on arrival day to see both the south and north shores and decided to have take-out from the Salmon House on our balcony the first evening.

After breakfast in the Roosevelt Dining Room and completing a self guided tour of the historic property on the sixth day, we hiked a section of the Quinalt Loop Trail to Cascade Falls and Gratton Creek Falls and then saw the world's largest Sitka Spruce. Our last afternoon was spent reading on the lawn and enjoying the last of our vacation week.