There are no roads that cross the Olympic National Park. Route 101 encircles it, with roads that go in at various points, like wagon spokes. You need to drive in, turn around and retrace your steps, pick up 101, and move on to the next entrance. The park, on the Olympic Peninsula, is divided into three different ecosystems- mountain, rain forest and sea coast. We entered the park on day 1 at Port Angeles, the northern entrance into the mountains. We drove into the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center and were advised that there was a 1 1/2 mile hike that would give us a good view of the mountains. We headed up the trail (somewhat more elevation and warmer than we anticipated) and were rewarded with some great views of the distant mountains and, again, lots of wildflowers. As we were photographing the mountains, we were hoping the usual coastal fog, known as the marine layer, would burn off. We then noticed the smell of smoke in the air. The Visitor Center staff confirmed what we thought- it was not fog we were seeing, there were several wildfires burning in the park. We had our picnic lunch at the high point of the trail, then returned to 101, heading west/southwest to Forks, where we would spend the night.
This was the first time in our trip we had concerns about lodging. We had not booked ahead in the Forks area, and the few motels that were listed in AAA were booked. On reaching the town, we were lucky to find a little motel with one room available. It was owned by a Korean woman, and it was probably the cleanest place we had stayed thus far. As Dale pointed out, going into some of these little towns is like going back in time- no chain restaurants, no chain hotels, and no Walmarts. As an aside for any of you that follow the Twilight series of books and movies about teenage vampires (I don't), apparently Forks and vicinity was the setting for the stories.
We arrived in town early enough to take a drive to the coast, about 6 miles west of Forks. The Olympic Park protects about 60 miles of coastline, separated from the rest of the park by National Forest land and private property. We don't know what we expected at the beach, but were surprised to see large numbers of bleached out, huge old trunks and stumps of trees. They had been washed down the rivers into the ocean, than redeposited on shore by storms. It was as if someone had thrown a pile of old dinosaur bones on the sand. There was very little sand, the "beach" area was primarily small rocks. The coast was dotted with what are called stacks- rock formations separated from the mainland by the ocean that were probably once part of the shore, but worn away by the action of the ocean. It makes for a beautiful coastline. After leaving this beach, we drove along the shore onto an Indian Reservation. Here we found a rather rustic appearing restaurant that served great local fish. While dining, we were lucky enough to spot two pair of Bald Eagles, just relaxing on the shore. Apparently, they are local residents.
The next morning we headed south to the entrance to Hoh Rain Forest. We walked the trails among big old trees covered in soft moss, looking like they were wearing fleece jackets. Another type of moss, known as club moss, hung in long fringes from the trees. This particular area of the park can get up to 240 inches of rain annually! We were happy to spot a black-tailed deer, enjoying grazing at the edge of the trail. On a way out of the park, a young elk was in the water, eating pond weeds. He was looking a little nervous at all the activity, so we took a couple of shots and left.
We headed further down the coast, making a couple of stops at the beach areas, each one getting more sandy and less rocky. What a beautiful coast! We will head for the Oregon coast tomorrow.
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