Olympic National Park, Washington
Olympic National Park is the only U.S. park system I’ve explored that has so many distinct ecosystems in one central location. Situated in northwestern Washington State, hugging the rugged Pacific coastline, the park has rainforests, beaches, and alpine mountains. We visited in August 2020 on a road trip through Washington State.
Eight Olympic Peninsula tribes, including the Quileute, Klallam, and Quinault tribes, used to call this area home before ceding their territory to the United States government in the 1850s. Today, their descendants live on reservations on the shore of the Washington peninsula. As you can see in the photo above, the park’s official welcome sign includes a “come inside” greeting in Klallam, the language of the local indigenous people on the peninsula.
Hurricane Ridge
We started our two-day journey through Olympic National Park at the Port Angeles entrance on the northern stretch of Washington State. From the Hurricane Ridge Visitor’s Center, we could see across the Pacific into Victoria, Canada, just a few miles away. My phone actually tried to connect to an international data plan while we stood on top of the hill!
From the Visitor’s Center, we hiked a few miles in blustery, wet weather on the Hurricane Hill trail–aptly named. The trail had panoramic views of the Olympic Mountains, Vancouver Island, and Mount Baker, an active glaciated volcano in the Cascade Mountain Range. It was certainly a wild glimpse into the alpine region of the park.
Sol Duc Valley
Our next stop in Olympic was the famous Sol Duc Valley and Hoh Rainforest, which receives approximately 140 inches of rainfall each year. The result is one of the largest temperate rainforests in the United States, an enchanting, lush place carpeted with moss and ferns. There are various trail networks in this area, but perhaps the most famous is Sol Duc Falls, an easy 1.6-mile out and back trail that ends at a three-pronged cascade (pictured below). Tourists also seek out this part of Olympic for Sol Duc Hot Springs resort, right along the road to the Falls.
Sol Duc Falls 
If I were to offer just one piece of advice for travelers to Olympic, it would be to bring a raincoat. It drizzled, misted, and stormed almost every minute of the two days we explored the park, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! The rain creates the ambience you want out of a Pacific Northwest hiking experience.
La Push
My absolute favorite part of visiting Olympic was seeing the famous, wild, dangerous Pacific coastline at La Push beachhead. We ventured to the coast on a morning draped in fog, wind, and rain and set out on a coastal hike along the beach. The wind was fierce and unpredictable. Apart from an old woman collecting shells along the shore, we were the only hikers out there that morning.
Many people are likely familiar with La Push because of the exposure it received in the Twilight series. I have to say, as an avid consumer of those books in the eighth grade, the beaches did not disappoint. They are everything you imagine the Pacific coast to be: brutal, cold, spooky–the perfect place for vampires to hide.
When hiking on the beaches, you have to be extremely careful of the tides. We took a 2.8-mile round trip hike through the rainforest to get to Third Beach, which is only accessible through the forest due to rocks, cliffs, and driftwood along the coastline. To actually touch down from the forest onto the beach, hikers have to climb across giant piles of driftwood stacked across tributaries leading into the ocean. On the day we hiked in, the water below us was fast-moving due to the amount of rainfall the area had recently received.
Once on the beach, we walked along the coast while I nervously kept an eye on the ever-increasing tideline, not wanting to get stuck on the beach while the ocean rolled in.
Lake Crescent Lodge
Between days at Olympic, we stayed at the historic Lake Crescent Lodge, built in 1915 on the shores of Lake Crescent. The Lodge was so architecturally beautiful, with a warm, cozy lobby and a bright, spacious dining room overlooking the lake. Despite the chilly temperatures, plenty of people were swimming and kayaking along the lake during our visit.
Forks
On our drive south to Portland, Oregon, Matt and I couldn’t help but stop in at the City of Forks, the home of the Twilight books. On the day we passed through, the town was cloaked in fog and mist and it was the perfect aesthetic for stopping in at several tourist traps where shop owners sold Twilight merchandise and displayed costumes used in the movies.
