Olympic National Park Day 2

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Twelve hours of touring Olympic National Park today and we just skimmed the surface. You could spend days here exploring the snow capped mountains, rocky beaches, lush rainforests, grand waterfalls and giant trees. We fit everything we could into one day. We stayed at the Lake Quinault Lodge which is on the south end of the park and I would suggest staying at one of the lodges in between. It would cut down on your driving. Phil rode with Kevin and I all day today and Gale rode with Barry and Margaret. Their RV would have had some difficulty making it up one of the roads we ventured on late in the day. Our first stop was the largest Cypress Tree and it lived up to the hype. The tree was massive and even the part that broke off and was on the ground was bigger than any trees I have seen except the Sequoias. We took a short hike through the forest around the Cypress tree and it was amazing with ferns, moss and mammoth trees. Next on the list was the HOH Rainforest and we hiked two lovey trails. The moss was hanging from everything in the forest, the trees were huge and oddly shaped with roots growing up out of the ground arcing and then back into the ground. There were ferns and flowers and prettiest colors of green I have ever seen. This area of the park receives 140-160 inches of rain a year while the eastern side of the park only gets around 40 inches. This is really just a remarkable place and should be on everybody’s list to see. We stopped next at Ruby Beach but it was so foggy that we could not even see the ocean so we decided to stop on the way back to the lodge. We headed on to the northern part of the park and stopped at Lake Crescent. The water was the most beautiful color of turquoise and so clear that you could see the bottom a good way from the shore. Kevin was excited because he saw fish jumping but sad because fishing is not permitted until 6/1/21. From Lake Crescent we travelled on to Hurricane Ridge…a long winding road going up, up, up. The views from the road were nothing short of spectacular but the showcase was at the top! There at the summit the entire mountain range with Mt. Olympus at 7965 ft the highlight was visible. It was breathtaking…looked like Switzerland. We headed on back and stopped at Ruby Beach where the fog had lifted and we were standing on the rocky beach looking at the Pacific Ocean and the huge rock formations left from the tetonic plates colliding. The sun was setting and offering us even more beautiful vistas. It was a great way to end this glorious day.

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Comments

[Jan]

Beautiful!!
Enjoying all the beautiful scenery!

[Linda Staley]

Wow!
Every picture is beautiful!