The Many Faces of Olympic National Park (by Jim)

From mountain peaks to temperate rainforests, from turquoise glacial lakes to rocky seashores, Olympic National Park is so diverse and spectacular, we could hardly scratch the surface in the few days we had to explore. The park is massive. No road goes through the park itself. Rather, a highway surrounds the park with smaller road arteries that reach into the different areas that make it unique. Joey and Kendra were a wellspring of information about the park which helped immensely with planning our trip.

We started our journey on June 26 at Heart O’ the Hills campground on the northeastern side of the park, just south of the town of Port Angeles. The campground was nestled into an old growth forest, carpeted with mosses, ferns, and tiny pink flowers with leathery leaves. The bases of the trees had plenty of holes for exploring and playing. Walden pretended he was a bear and gathered “slugs” (dead ferns) to store in one of the tree holes. We visited the nearby Olympic National Park Visitor Center, which had a disappointing lack of buttons (as usual… Walden loves the buttons), but made up for it with a Discovery Room filled with puppets, books, coloring pages, and other activities. It wasn’t easy dragging Walden out! We hiked a short trail near the visitor center called the Peabody Creek Trail (0.5 mile), that led down into a jungle-looking valley of ferns, hanging moss, and large leaves over a small stream. Walden enjoys hiking for limited distances, and led us over bridges and up stone steps.

Playing in Peabody Creek

That evening, Walden and Sunshine attended a ranger program about endangered animals at the campground, so I planned to head up to Hurricane Ridge, the highest point in the park, to watch the sun set. Seeing ranger trucks race up the road behind our campsite with lights and sirens blaring should have been a sign. But I hoped for the best and made the drive up the twisting road. Near the top, the rangers had set up a roadblock as ambulances and fire trucks found room on the narrow pavement. I was informed that a car with a family in it had driven off the road, and the road would be closed for several hours. We found out the next day that miraculously no one had been seriously injured. But it did put a damper on my plans for the evening! I drove back down and walked a trail in the campground called the Heart O’ the Forest Trail, which meandered through ancient trees with the last rays of sun filtering through the leaves. I learned from Walden that the highlight of the evening program he had been to was when a ground squirrel ran onto the stage, inspected the animal furs and bones, then tried to get into the ranger’s bag!

Scavenger hunt

The next morning (June 27), we attended a kid’s ranger program about forests. Walden made his own “ant trail” through the forest, went on a scavenger hunt, and acted out a story. Joey and Kendra drove over from Seattle (about a 3 hour drive) and joined us at lunch time. That afternoon, we drove up to Hurricane Ridge, this time without incident! The temperatures in Washington had been unseasonably hot and dry since we arrived… in the 80s and 90s. We thought that heading up into the mountains would offer some relief, but unfortunately, the 5,000 feet of elevation gain wasn’t enough for an escape.

Hiking the High Ridge Trail

We hiked several trails from the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center (Cirque Rim and High Ridge Trails, 1.5 mi) that offered spectacular views of the Olympic mountains, including Mount Olympus (7,980 feet tall). Surrounded by several other snow-covered peaks and much shorter, Olympus isn’t nearly as dramatic as Mount Rainier. But seeing all of the rocky peaks, steep valleys, and snow marching outward for miles was awe-inspiring… it made us realize the vastness of the Olympic Wilderness. Facing north, we were rewarded with views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Vancouver Island (Canada), Victoria (Canada), and the British Columbia Coast Range.

Top of Hurricane Hill Trail

We also hiked the Hurricane Hill Trail (3.2 mi), which leads through subalpine meadows to a breathtaking viewing point on a high, rocky knob. While the flowers weren’t as vivid as at Mt. Rainier, the meadows were filled with tufts of white that looked like miniature clouds floating above the grass. The panoramic views from the top made us feel like we were on the top of the world, seeing where the mountains and ocean meet. We saw a ranger at the top shaking a garbage bag and yelling (coincidentally, the same ranger who I told couldn’t park in a spot at the bottom of the trail because I was saving it for Kendra and Joey… woops). While we at first questioned her sanity, we learned this is the most effective way of chasing away mountain goats. Apparently, mountain goats aren’t native here and have become habitualized to people. Strange how wildlife species people flock to see in one place (like Glacier NP) serve as a nemesis to rangers in another. Amazingly Walden slept through the entire experience in the pack on my back.

That evening, we visited the waterfront of Port Angeles, a neat little town on the coast. We found a small maritime-themed playground for Walden, climbed a viewing tower to see the boats and watch the sun slip behind storm clouds, and, of course, played in the sand.

Site of the former Glines Canyon dam

The next day (June 28), we packed up the Burro and drove to the Elwha area of Olympic, just west of our campground.  We visited a small waterfall called Madison Falls, which streamed down a rocky cliff hanging with moss. We also drove to Glines Canyon, where a hydroelectric dam had been built in 1927. Amazingly, agencies and conservation groups worked together to restore the waterway, and the dam was removed between 2011-2014. Remnants of the dam were left on either side of the gorge, providing an amazing view of the former lake bed… now a braided stream cutting through gravel.

Throwing rocks in Lake Crescent

After Joey and Kendra started their return to Seattle, we continued driving west to Lake Crescent, a beautiful, glacially carved lake surrounded by forested mountains and filled with turquoise water. We ate lunch near the shore, threw rocks in the water (a necessity, of course!), hiked to a beautiful cascade surrounded by moss and waving ferns called Marymere Falls (2 mi), and walked the Moments in Time Trail (0.6 mi) that interpreted the history of the area. (In all of our excitement leaving, this is also the place I left my cell phone in the pit toilet building, didn’t realize it until we had driven 30 minutes away, found out that Sunshine’s phone didn’t have reception, drove all the way back to discover the phone was missing from the toilet, called the phone numerous times without an answer, until finally, a person named Jessica answered, who had found the phone and was keeping it in hopes that the owner would call back. That was a tense hour of our trip!)

We continued driving west to the Mora Campground, which is near the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Appropriate for the wet rainforest western side of Olympic, it was raining when we arrived… the first rain we had seen for over a month! But it was a light rain and refreshing after the heat of the past several days. We found a campsite nestled into a coastal forest with large buttressed stumps and roots making neat caves.

Trees draped with hanging club moss

We woke the next morning (June 29) to a chilly and damp weather, quite the difference! We planned to explore nearby Rialto Beach, but when we arrived, the cold wind and dense fog made it almost unbearable to do any hiking or exploring. So, we decided to scrap the plans and drive to the Hoh Rainforest instead. What a change! Just a few miles from the coast, the fog lifted, and the weather became hot and dry again. When we arrived at the rainforest, Walden asked, “Where’s all the dripping?” It took us a while to realize that he thought it would always be raining in the forest… pretty logical. Unfortunately, it wasn’t raining. Just hot and dry.

Hoh Rainforest

The rainforest itself was amazing, with massive clumps of moss, several inches thick, draping from the massive trunks and barks of old-growth trees. To my surprise, the moss was actually dry… I guess I had always pictured it as being wet and “dripping,” just like Walden. Ferns carpeted the understory. And with crystal clear spring-fed streams meandering through the forest, it really was a magical place. We hiked the Hall of Mosses Trail (0.8 mi) and the Spruce Nature Trail (1.2 mi), which provided access to the large, rocky Hoh River, a refreshing place to dip our feet. Walden also earned his Olympic Junior Ranger badge, even though the visitor center was closed and undergoing construction (a table and tent near the parking lot served visitors while they remodeled).

Rialto Beach

The next morning (June 30), was also foggy and cool, but the weather was better for exploring Rialto Beach. The fog came in waves, momentarily revealing sea stacks and rocky islands along the coast. The beach was covered in smooth, rounded stones of every color. Walden delighted in stacking the stones as tall as he could. When the waves washed up onto shore, you could hear the millions of tiny stones being carried by the water. We hiked down the beach to Hole-in-the-Wall arch (3 mi). Although the tide was coming up fast and threatened to erase our trail along the beach, we made it just in time to quickly walk through the arch and explore a few tide pools filled with neon green sea anemones, waving like flowers.

Sand village at Second Beach

Since it appeared that the fog would lift, we drove to a parking area just south of La Push and hiked to Second Beach (1.4 mi). The fog was actually worse at this beach and the temperatures quite cold. But Walden definitely didn’t mind! He stripped down to his diaper and played in the sand and water for several hours. Through the fog, we could just make out the massive, black sculptures of sea stack islands with waves crashing against them. I took a short walk and was surprised to see a mature Bald Eagle carrying what appeared to be a bird in its talons. It was flanked by two other eagles. Then, I saw three smaller, sleek birds dive-bombing the eagles. Looking closer, I realized the smaller birds were Peregrine Falcons, the first I had ever seen in the wild! It was fascinating to think that two species of raptors, both of which had almost disappeared due to DDT 30 years ago, were now fighting it out in the open sky.

Touching a star fish

For the first time, I helped Walden to build a sand castle and he didn’t immediately step on it! We actually created an entire sand village with a moat. We stayed at Second Beach so long, in fact, that we got to see the tide go out, and this revealed numerous tide pools near the sea stacks. Bright orange and purple starfish clung to the sides of the cliffs. Barnacles and mussels covered every square inch of the rocks. Multicolored sea anemones, crabs, and snails floated in and crawled through the calm pools. Walden enjoyed exploring and especially liked touching the bumpy starfish.

Tide pools at Second Beach

Ruby Beach

On our last day at Olympic (July 1), we packed up the Burro and headed south out of Mora. We stopped at Ruby Beach in the southwest portion of the park, and finally had our first sunny day at the beach! The easily accessible beach is studded with fantastically-shaped sea stacks… rocky black pyramids, arches, and towers near shore for exploring. We made “mud pies” with the soupy sand near the water, climbed on the rocks, and watched the waves explode against the rock sculptures.

We also visited the Quinault Rain Forest area, climbing up to the Quinault Big Cedar Tree, a massive Western red cedar completely hollowed out inside like a cave, and hiked the Kestner Homestead/Maple Glade Trail (1.3 mi), a much quieter trail than the Hoh Rainforest that meanders through a lush forest hanging with moss.

Inside the Big Cedar Tree

Big Tom's Drive-In

On our return to Seattle, we stopped at Eastside Big Tom’s Drive-in in Olympia for dinner, an eclectic fast-food dive filled with characters that any 3-year-old boy would love… Minions waving, dinosaur statues eating hamburgers, Dr. Who’s TARDIS Police Box, a Yoda painting wearing a TOM hat, and dinosaur toys at the table. Walden even got his first taste of a strawberry shake.

Yep, it was a good trip!