Travel Across US: OLYMPIC N. P., WEEK 10

July 16th - July 18th 2012

Monday (16)
Driving from Kirkland to Olympic Peninsula. Freeway. Tacoma. Bridge and bye, bye densely populated area. Average weather. Driving along Hood Canal (apparently one of the few fjords in US). Pretty. First stop (besides gas station).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hood_Canal http://www.explorehoodcanal.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodsport,_Washington

To get some information, we stopped in Hoodsport. Really nice guy in visitor's center, we got useful information (does not happen all the time) and got on the road again. We visited unnamed waterfall.

Breakfast at Tides Restaurant along the way. Pretty good. With our parents, we do have better luck with eating out, but worse luck with traffic (I guess discovering real Seattle traffic).
We as well decided, that we will stay extra night (it was supposed to be one night trip). With some "monkey business", we did arrange accommodation and were set to spend more time here.
Heading to Port Townsend. Really nice views along the way (the road goes up and down).

Port Townsend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Townsend,_Washington
http://www.cityofpt.us/
Girls: main street and shops.
Boys: wooden boat workshop, marina and coast.
Both pretty (especially with nice weather and sunshine).

Fort Worden. Lighthouse. Some beaches. Buildings.
Really interesting, cooler and pretty.
And ... there was submarine.

And the time was flying ...
We left and were heading towards Port Angeles. Detour to continue along the coast instead of 101 (main road going around the peninsula). Some lavender farms (apparently huge business in the area).

I tried to avoid stopping, but I at some point I had to. We ended up in the park called Dungeness Wildlife Refuge. Partly county park, partly federal land. A lot of picnic places, at the end something called Dungeness spit with lighthouse.

Apparently, it is about 5.5 miles of strip of land in the sea. At the end, there is the lighthouse.
http://www.fws.gov/washingtonmaritime/dungeness/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeness_Spit
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/dungeness-national-wildlife-refuge
You can hike to the lighthouse. It was pretty windy, cold and really interesting.
Just by the coast, there was a house, some signs and couple of viewing platforms.
And some "wildlife".

And ... drive to Port Angeles. Smaller town, port, ferry to Canada. We got our room in the hotel (ok). Then we wonder the town to find place to eat seafood. Without much luck, so we ended up with pizza.

DAY OVER.

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TUESDAY (17)

Slow start in Port Angeles. We had breakfast in the restaurant in the same building as hotel. Pretty good. We got lost a bit (bad navigation). Heading towards Hurricane Ridge of Olympic National Park. Quick stop by visitor's center (some useful information). About 18 miles drive to the visitor's center there. Pretty drive, windy road, nice views and really nice weather (blue sky and sunshine).

A lot of people in there. Big parking lot on the top of the mountain (almost). Really incredible views (the camera just does not capture all the beauty).

Small hike to the Sunrise point (small hill offering 360 degrees view). Couple of deer along the way (not afraid of people at all).

And ... views ...

Still some snow (not really impressive anymore).

Spring pretty much just starting (kind of late).

Lunch - sandwich.

Getting late (1.30 pm).

Driving back. We took gravel road to avoid going through Port Angeles. Just fine.

Lake Crescent (our next destination). Still nice drive. Stopped by Ranger station (big complex containing Lodge, camp and some other stuff). Hike to the Marymere Falls. Nice walk, relatively flat and slower. Our parents "soaking" the scenery (that makes walking pretty slow). Still pretty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marymere_Falls

And actually Lake Crescent:

Stopped by some tiny store (thirsty) and ice cream.

Park ranger stopped some car (looked like speeding).

Driving to Sol Duc (hot springs and resorts). There were some trails, but they were too long, so we skipped those. We walked the old growth trail. After that just drive back. Second attempt for seafood dinner (on the shore), it did not look too great, so we ended up in the same restaurant in the hotel building for really good fish and chips.

NIGHT IN PORT ANGELES.

Wednesday (18)

Breakfast at the same place. So ... a bit late start. Heading towards Forks (Twilight books and movies).
Relatively long and boring drive. Cloudy and grey. Unfortunately. Stop for gasoline in Forks.
Hoh National Rain Forest.
http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-the-hoh.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoh_Rainforest
http://www.hohrainforest.com/
We visited this place two years ago (fall time). This time, there was more people (nice weather). Walked Hall of Moses trail. I have to say, that last time it was more magical (more rain, less people).

Still, really nice and charming walk thru the forest.

Well, with the late start and a lot of "soaking" we were getting close to the departure time. Drive to the main road 101 and heading toward beaches. The weather got slightly better.

http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-kalaloch-and-ruby-beach.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Beach

http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/ruby-beach/