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Published: July 10th 2007
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Pacific Northwest
Emily Ponto The Sun woke us up this mornng very early. We were up and out on the town before 8am. Last night, we stayed in Pacific BeachWA on the Olympic Penninsula, which has a population of about 10 people. This morning we had breakfast in a little coffee shop across from our hotel. It was a very cute, modern shop in the middle of this tiny, deserted town. Susan, the lady working at the coffee shop recommended we see Ruby Beach today, so we added that to our list. After stocking the cooler at the local Save n' Shop, we headed out of Pacific Beach. Our first stop was to the Quinault Fish Hatchery in the Olympic National Forest. We toured the tiny museum, and then headed out to the fish tanks. Rick Running Horse gave us a tour of the Steelhead & Cohoe Salmon tanks. Rick also recommended several local attractions to us. Rick was very outgoing, and his personality is being wasted on tiny fish. After another short ride in the car, we made our first stop at the Quinault Rainforest Trail. This was an awesome trail. We got to see a temperate rainforest...it is pretty cool. We hiked
about 3 miles. Next, we headed for Quinault Lake and made a stop to the ranger station. Forest Ranger Miriam helped us pick out our activities for the rest of the day. She was very knowledgible and we apperciated her help. After leaving the station, we drove the road/trail around Lake Quinault. We saw several waterfalls and wonderful view of the lake and river. We stopped for a quick picnic, with our "snack pack" and we were able to wade in Lake Quinault. Our next stop was about 45 minutes away, but it was worth the wait. We saw the largest cedar in the world. The cedar is approximately 1200 years old. We were able to stand inside the trunk of it. AMAZING! We continued North on Route 101 and found Ruby beach. This was beautiful. The only way I can describe it, is to say it looked like the beach in Goonies. We wandered around the beach, and I took some cool photos. After the beach stop, we decided to go to the Hoh Rainforest, and after a very long drive on a one lane road, we found that we had to pay to get in. Mean Ranger Dan
did not really help us out, and since it was already past 4pm, we decided to skip it. Our next stop was in Forks... yes that is right... Forks... Spoons and Knives are the next towns. Anyway, at the Ranger station we met Ranger Paula Dean, or at least her twin sister Sara Dean. Sara "clarified" what Mean Ranger Dan had said and helped us pick some free attractions on our way to Port Angeles. So following her directions, we headed for Maremere Falls. We were surprised when the sign said it would take 45 minutes to hike not even 3/4 of a mile. We headed down the trail and found ourselves at a great waterfall in about 20 minutes. The trail included some cool one lane log bridges and beautiful views of the forest. After this hike(our 2nd hike of the day), we were starving so we headed to Port Angeles, and ate at the Crazy Fish. This great little Mexican place was just right for three hungry hikers. We hit Dairy Queen for a dipped cone and then headed to our hotel for the night.
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