August 5th, 2020
It is month six of the global pandemic that is going on, and personally I thought it was going to be over a few months ago. But alas, here we are still rewatching every Netflix show possible, wishing for the first time ever that school starts back up and hoping that this is all a bad dream and we will wake up soon. Since traveling by plane is not the smartest decision at these times, I have been exploring the state of Washington by car quite a bit this summer. Last week I visited Olympic National Park and it was nothing like I expected. I had been to Yellowstone and I was imagining something similar. Boy, was I wrong….
I stayed in a cottage outside of the Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Washington for the four days that I was there. But as soon as I entered the area of Port Angeles I noticed that the towns were tiny. Don’t get me wrong, they were very cute but they had the bare necessities to live and that was about it. But the main attraction was all the nature. I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere for the majority of the trip, which provided for a great break away from the current chaos in our world and breath of fresh air, literally.
Day 1:
On day 1, my family and I were ready for adventure. Our first stop that day was Crescent Lake. The view was incredible. Glass clear waters, green western hemlock and pine trees surrounding the lake. Unfortunately, a day later, a fire broke out on the side of the lake and it got pretty smokey around the lake quickly. Helicopters and planes were flying above trying to contain the fire as quickly as possible. There are still efforts going on to stop the fire. It was the first fire that many of locals had ever seen.
The next stop on the first day was Rialto beach and hole-in-the-wall. Since we didn’t want to have such a hard first day we did a short four-mile walk on Rialto beach to hole-in-the-wall. The beach was very different to what I’m used to. Instead of being lined with palm trees, it was lined with pine and western hemlock trees. The sand was more rocky than normal beaches. There were logs all over the place instead of coconuts. But the beach was amazing in its own way. It opened my eyes to a new kind of beach. But one thing that stayed the same was the ocean. The rolling waves, the sea salt smell and the sound of sea animals.
After walking for two miles we arrived at hole-in-the-wall. And like the name, it is a hole in the middle of a rock formation (aka: wall). The ocean and James Islands could be seen from hole-in-the-wall. Although it was pretty windy, this natural landmark was really cool!
After that, we walked back two miles to our car and went home to rest after our short (not really) walk.
Day 2:
We dedicated day 2 to visiting the famous “Ho Rainforest”. My first thought when I heard rainforest was, “cool we’re finally gonna see some tropical trees, maybe a couple colorful birds, and have some warmer weather”. Like I said in the beginning, I was wrong. Ho Rainforest is one of the only rainforests in the northwestern part of the USA and I was ready to see it. To be honest, it was not too different from a normal forest until I reached about the 1.5 mile marker and started to see some pretty different trees. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The hike we were doing in the rainforest was along the Ho River and we stopped at 2.7 miles where there is a waterfall called Mineral Creek Falls. The hike was 5.4 miles roundtrip.
Now back to the trees that I mentioned. The trail presented many different plants that I had not seen before. I was getting some forbidden forest from Harry Potter vibes. But it was a nice trail that had very few hills.
After some more walking we finally made it to Mineral Creek Falls. For me, it was definitely worth it and the cherry on top of the hike. This waterfall view was a little different because the big drop was up in the mountains so we could see if from afar but we saw the stream that came from the waterfall. I was surprised about how clear the water was and how all the waterways that I saw on the hike were connected somehow.
After, we walked back another 2.7 miles and needless to say we got to the car a little bit sore and tired after the hike.
Day 3:
On the third day of our trip we decided to sleep in a little. By the time we were in our car towards our destination that day it was lunch time. We noticed in that region that a burger and shake shop called “Frugals” was very popular. We decided to stop for some food before driving any further and a burger is exactly what we needed to be good for the day.
The place that was we were set to visit that day was Hurricane Ridge inside of the Olympic National Park. As we drove up the mountain I was already in awe with the views. I was not prepared for the view when we got to the top. Out of all the places that I visited, Hurricane Ridge was definitely my favorite. I couldn’t stop looking at the view. Then we did a small hike around Hurricane Ridge and saw other views and variety of flora and fauna.
Day 4:
Day 4 was our last day so we packed up our belonging, waved goodbye to the cottage and left. There was a bike event that day where bikers rode up 20 miles to Hurricane Ridge ( with the mountain slope, of course) and then back down. One of my family members, being an avid bike rider, participated in this event. After all the excitement and eating we hit the road and get home in about 2.5 hours.
Although this trip was pretty last minute, I got to see many different things that I didn’t know existed in Washington and I didn’t even have to take a plane. I was able to visit a beach, mountains and a rainforest in one park in less than a week. After the trip when I thought back I couldn’t believe how crazy but true that statement was.
I hope I was able to give you another little taste of Washington during this pandemic and a small escape from the chaotic times in which we are living. If you do decide to do a little excursion of your own be sure to look ahead and also be considerate of others by wearing a mask. This was the case for me. Even though I wore a mask everywhere, the views made up for it. Hope you are healthy and being able to enjoy the season (that being summer for me) the most that we are able to in these times.
Sincerely,
The Eternal Traveler