Back on the Road - Olympic National Park

Greetings! 

We had a good visit to Florida for nearly 2 weeks - it was good to be home and was productive and enjoyable.  We returned to Washington on Wednesday, August 13th and continued our stay at the Washington Land Yacht Harbor - an all Airstream RV Park.  We kept the Airstream here while in Florida and it worked out beautifully.  We really enjoyed Olympia and spent 4 more days in the capital city before we continued the journey.  The weather wasn't great, but we took walks each day and explored downtown Olympia - including 2 more trips to the Farmer's Market where we procured more delicious fruit - peaches, plums, and apples - along with fresh bread and more halibut!  We loved this Farmer's Market and we also had a chance to explore the capital building complex, which is near a cool lake.  We also used the time to get some shopping done while everything was so convenient to our campsite - grocery store, Costco, Trader Joe's - and a few loads of laundry!  Here are a few photos of the capital:

On Sunday morning - after 23 nights - we got the Airstream back on the road and headed to Olympic National Park.  This park covers most of the Olympic Peninsula (west of Seattle) and offers a diverse range of natural beauty - from snow-capped mountains and temperate rain forests to stunning rugged beaches and alpine lakes and rivers.  We stayed at the Log Cabin Resort, located right on Lake Crescent in the national park.  We made our reservation here in January and our site was spectacular - right on the lake!  We stayed 4 nights, but could have stayed for a week or more - there is so much to see and do and it is very spread out - so lots of driving, but truly breathtaking.  

To start - here are a few photos of the campsite - the "resort" had cabins as well as the campground.  We were really lucky to have wonderful neighbors - one couple was from Ft. Myers so we exchanged numbers and hope to connect with them again back in Florida.

The first afternoon we were there, we went hiking on the Spruce Railroad Trail which was right across the lake from our campsite.  As part of the trail, there was a tunnel, which was really cool and the views were lovely!

Our first full day was spent at two stunning - and very different - spots - the Hoh Rain Forest and La Push / Second Beach.  Although the Hoh Rain Forest was only 17 miles from our campsite (as a crow flies), it took nearly 2 hours to drive there, but it was worth it!  We had to wait for about a half hour at the entrance - this is a very popular spot - but we were lucky it was a Monday, so not too bad.  There are 2 trails here - both adding up to about 2 miles and the forest was magical!  One part goes along the Hoh River.

After the Hoh, we headed further west to La Push, which is a beautiful coastal native American village.  We had a nice lunch there, and walked around a bit - the beach is lovely and there were multiple sea stacks adorning the coast.  

We then proceeded to Second Beach (about 5-10 minute drive from La Push), which is part of the national park.  We hiked about a mile through gorgeous "Hoh-like" forest and the beach was magical and rugged, much like the Oregon coast.  

Our second full day was spent at the Sol Duc area.  This was closer to our campsite (45-minute drive) and featured a lovely trail to the Sol Duc falls, as well as a short half mile stroll through the Ancient Groves which was like a fairytale.  Paul mentioned that he was waiting for the gnomes to appear!  

Our third and final full day was spent at Hurricane Ridge, which is probably one of the most famous and iconic parts of the national park.  This was about an hour from our campsite and you drove up to an area that was surrounded by the snow-capped Olympic mountains with views of the Straight of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver island / Victoria - breathtaking views in all directions.  We also saw a buck nestled in the trees along the short hike we took. 

After Hurricane Ridge, we headed into Port Angeles which is a small city and boasts the largest population of about 20,000 on the Olympic Peninsula.  This was about a half hour from our campsite and had a good grocery store and active waterfront with several large ships anchored offshore.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed looking at all of the activity in the harbor as well as views of Canada across the water.

On Thursday morning, we enjoyed our last few hours on "our lake" and then headed over to Port Townsend, Washington (about 90 minutes from our campsite) to stay at Fort Worden State Park.  My cousin John and his wife Betty live 5 minutes from the Fort and we had a wonderful and special evening with them.  More on that in our next blog post to come out soon!

We are in North Cascades National Park now and it's pretty incredible and more to come on that too!

Thanks for following along and for all your love and support - Jen & Paul