Forks, Washington

It was a busy day with lots of driving and hiking....we drove south to the Lake Quinault area of Olympic NP.  The park shares borders with the Quinault Indian Reservation.  

We hiked a pretty little nature loop with info posted about the temperate rain forest environment.

Neat to see all the lush vegetation - here a tree is growing entirely on top of an old huge tree stump.

 

Just a pleasant, moist walk.

 

There is a 31 mile loop drive around Lake Quinault.  

We stopped by the Lake Quinault lodge - I was in the mood for some hot chocolate and they did not disappoint!  Some of the most buttery whipped cream I've ever had topping my hot drink!

Beautiful setting - apparently Franklin Roosevelt visited here in the early 1900's and this was a part of the inspiration to create Olympic NP.

 

 Next up was a hike to the Gatton Creek waterfall.  Pretty but unremarkable.

 

Amazing lush vegetation....

 

Along the path was dotted with these beautiful flowers.  We've seen them on the side of the roads frequently.   I looked them up with Google Lens and they are foxgloves.  

 

And when you see signs for the world's largest sitka spruce tree...you have to walk the trail to see it!

 

 Driving on around the lake, the skies cleared off and we could see in the distance for the first time in a while.  Beautiful countryside.

 

The Merrium Falls were right along the road so a quick hop out for a photo was all that was required.

 

Driving along the Quinault river.  We had to turn back when we were almost 1/2 way around the lake because of a road washout.....so we took another route over to the north side of the lake.

 

We stopped for a quick sandwich along the lake shore.

Beautiful views!

 Our curiosity about the lake satisfied, we got back on the road to the next destination - Beach 4 which is also called Kalaloch Beach....(we'd originally planned to stop at Ruby beach but it was closed by the DOT for some parking area work.) 

Beautiful beach with driftwood piles and rock formations. 

We timed it well again for low tide -- more "tide pooling".

 

Fun to walk on the boulders.

 Back to the rental car with some wet feet....because I got a good dousing when I was taking photos of the tide pools and ignored an incoming wave....

We still had some daylight left and I had the Hall of Mosses trail penciled in as a possibility - so we drove an extra 20 minutes into the Hoh Rainforest area of Olympic NP.  This area is extremely popular, often with hour-long wait times, so we were lucky to arrive late in the day with zero wait.  The drive into the park was lovely!

The  mile long trail has lots of, you guessed it, moss!  

 

Along the path was a deer, completely unafraid of us walking within 10 feet.

And driving out of the park, there were these elk along the road, happily grazing.

 A busy day...stopped by the grocery store and bought some local steelhead trout for a nice meal  Tomorrow will be a bit let hectic.

 

 

 

 

.

 

Forks, Washington

 Time to leave our favorite little AirBnB.....packed up and on our way in the early morning drizzle.  Plan for the day is to drive a good bit - first along a very curvy road for 80+ miles towards Cape Flattery - the most western spot on the contiguous US.  I figured that we will only be this close once so it was worth the effort!  Driving along the northerncoast of Washington, it was misty and low visibility.  

 

There were a few quaint little towns along the way but mostly it was just a curvy mountainous road.   This is Sekiu, a little fishing village.

 

We had to stop by the Makah Tribal office and pick up our permit to visit Cape Flattery.  Very nice ladies sold me the permit - and called me "sweetie" and then "honey".  So sweet.

 

The trail itself was well maintained and the forest was peaceful of course.

The actual terminus of the trail was spectacular!!!  Just enjoy the photos imagining the roar of the ocean.  (Reminds me a bit of the Ragged Island cliffs - with no rain and much warmer temperatures!)

 

 

If you look really close you can see a lighthouse on the small island.  Only accessible by boat of course....

 After enjoying Cape Flattery for a good while, back to the road towards Fork, Washington.  Stopped for a few photos.....the rocks out in the ocean were beautiful.

 

 And another fishing village.

 

 We had time for another visit -this time a beautiful beach - Second Beach on the Pacific coast about 60 miles from Cape Flattery.  (Yes, there IS a First Beach and Third Beach!)  

Second Beach is on the Quileute Indian Reservation.....another lovely trail - almost a mile for beach access. 

 

Neat rock formations.

The main thing I wanted to do was "tide pooling"....which is simply going to the rocky shore at low tide and seeing the urchins and star fish that are "trapped" until high tide.

We timed it well....

 

 

With low tide passed, we started feeling the tide coming in....time to get out!   On to the next AirBnB and the next adventures!