Olympic National Park Pt. 1

Wanderlust; a strong desire or urge to wander or travel and explore the world.

Here is a national park full of many different varieties of what this country has to offer on such a small amount of land. Here is where I got to explore my first ever rain forest, experience the beauty of what a wet, humid landscape could create, moss covered trees, mountains filled with glaciers and beautiful lakes, and a coast like unlike any coast line I have ever seen before. Filled with the most extremely beautiful sea life in tide pools at low tide.

We spent almost a full week here before having to leave and head south to Portland, OR. This was the second of the three NP that we did not have a reservation for. This one was more of a hassle than Glacier. We arrived by ferry from Seattle, drove an hour and half to the the parks entrance, where we would realize there was no gate. This was very different than most others we had been too. Arriving at the campground we wanted a site at early, many others were there waiting as well. I left the car and took a walk to see if there were any empty site available that no one had grabbed or called dibs on yet. I found the mother load of campsites. With Josh visiting, we were going to need space for 2 tents. This site was beautiful and very large!

Hilleberg Anjan 3

After setting up camp, we decided to head back into town and head to the visitor center to gather all the information we would need for the next few days. After stopping at the visitor center we decided to take a drive on Hurricane Ridge Road. This is a perfect drive into the mountains. At the end of this road there is a huge visitor center with exceptional views of the surrounding mountains. We took a few pictures along the way and walked around once we got to the top. There was several hiking trails leading from the visitor center as well.

We stopped at the local grocery store on our way back to camp to pick up our supplies for dinner and wood for fire for the next few days. It was almost an hours drive to the nearest grocery store from our campsite. We were staying at the Sol Duc Campground in the park because of a hike we were planning to do that left right from there later in the week. We enjoyed a finely cooked dinner over the fire by Josh. It was nice to have a chef for a few days. We all gathered round' the fire for the evening and discussed plans for the HOH Rainforest & the coast for the next day.

We all woke up fairly early for our long drive to the other side of the park to see the beautiful HOH Rainforest. On my walk back from the bathroom I spotted the largest slug I have ever seen in my life. It was as large as my entire hand.

We finally arrived at the HOH Rainforest and checked into the visitor center here and then took a few small recommended hikes (1-2 miles) then after eating a snack at the car we decided to hike in a few miles to a trail that runs along the river bank for many miles until hitting the base of Mount Olympus.

HOH RIVER TRAIL HIKE: A gradual hike along the river, with some of the most beautiful moss covered trees. Large blow downs you could walk on top of, waterfalls you could climb to the top of, and the grayest river I had ever seen.

First Beach or La Push Beach:

After a few hours spent at the rainforest, on our way home we decided to also make a pit stop at the coast. Check out some of the most spectacular coast line in the United States. I had read about how incredible it was, and the tide pools you could find while there during low tide. We arrived and it was a bit foggy so we didn't get to see as much as we had hoped for. We took lots and lots of photos and waited for every clearing possible! We finally got it. We started at La Push Beach first..

After we saw some clearing we decided to take a drive to Second Beach where the tide pools were unbelievable! We hit low tide at the perfect time and I got to see sea creatures I had only seen in aquariums before. Florescent colored starfish, sea urchins, and the coolest of them all Velella's. I even got to put my feet in the coldest water in August across the country, The Northwest Pacific Ocean.

They are the same color as my shirt!

Josh & I touching a Starfish

Velella's:

This day ended with cooking hot dogs out of the back end of our vehicle and then stopping in Forks to get some ice cream/ milkshakes on the way back to camp! The coolest part was the place we stopped was actually the name of the restaurant in the move Twilight and was decked out in Twilight memorabilia.