Blogs from Olympic National Park, Washington, United States, North America - page 5

From the driest area in the state to the wettest in a little over two hours, we rounded the east side of the Olympic Peninsula heading towards the Hoh rain forest. I must say, for being one of the few temperate rain forests worldwide, it was remarkably dry on the days we were there. Not that I am complaining, it's just that you don't expect an area that receives over 12 ft (3.6 m) of rain a year to be so....well, sunny. Had I done my research I would have learned that unlike tropical rain forests, temperate rain forests receive most of their water over the winter and spring, and the summer is characterized with mild, foggy days - a nice surprise from what I was expecting. There was definitely was a change in climate as ... read more

Although Mike and I have traveled quite extensively as a couple, I have never really taken any trips with my family, the only two exceptions being a week-long stay in Southern California when I was 13 and traveling to Italy and Greece with my sister in 2006. During Easter of this year, my aunt Stacie and I had discussed the possibility of organizing a family camping trip as we had never done so before. Mike and I are not fans of camping, so I suggested Lake Crescent as I had previously read that in addition to a campground, the Log Cabin Resort also had several different cabins to rent. We had to make sure that we found a place that was dog friendly, as Stacie wanted to bring their dog Chloe and we also wanted our ... read more

This past June, (2007) several members of my family met in Washington to tour the outer edge of Olympic National Park. The park is so vast, that you need to be a dedicated hiker to pierce the interior and really see the park. Our group this year consisted of 3 generations spanning the ages of 12 to the late 60s. We chose to stick together and explore as much as we could all reasonably access. We all met at the exceptional Sunset Marine Resort just about 6 miles east of the small town of Sequim (pronounced Squim) on the northern border of the park, east of Port Angeles. The "resort" is made up of 7 unique cabins filled with vintage furniture. In short, it was paradise. Our family group rented the 3 cabins closest to the ... read more

Rachel & Everyone: Thanks for the info. Lake Crescent is just a little north so I don't think we will stay there since we already did our Lodge nights (but we could camp nearby). But we'd appreciate any suggestions on places to visit or stay on the Oregon coast. We'll be doing several days along the ocean when we turn around later this week. We don't have a book yet but we may buy one. Especially we'd like another nice lodge type deal to hang out a couple of days (2 or 3) so bring on your ideas. ALAN, this seems like the kind of thing you were made for, so where should we go? For a reference, we LOVE the Quinault Lodge. Anything like that farther south? It could even be N. California. We checked ... read more

070823 Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park, Washington After leaving Seattle I drove about 45 minutes south to Sumner Washington where my friend and co-worker Bryan grew up. I crashed at his dad’s apartment which was empty at the moment. While there I waterproofed my tent because it wasn’t very waterproof when it rained in Yellowstone. We pretty much relaxed all day, watched movies, did some laundry (since both of us are nomads we wash laundry when we can), and did general upkeep on our gear, like waterproofing, sharpening knives, whatever. I was thinking about going to Mt Rainer for a day then going to Olympic National Park for a day. Bryan suggested I use both days for Olympic National Park and stressed how cool the Hoh Rainforest on the west side of the park was. I ... read more