Olympic National Park

May 9 - 11, 2024

As we left Pacific Beach and headed north on 101 around the Olympic Peninsula, we started seeing signs for Olympic National Park. Olympic is more far-reaching than I had realized. We passed a couple of entrances for the rain forest sections. In retrospect, we should have stopped at the Hoh rainforest area. Perhaps we could have seen that elusive banana slug of which we keep hearing. So far, we've only seen the plush toy. 

We stopped at Ruby Beach, thankful for a rest and that we could safely park our RV since it was a weekday and parking was still available. There was plenty of driftwood over which to scramble.

The next day we traveled the Hurricane Ridge Road. We were surprised to learn that we were barely a mile high. It felt higher and there was still snow on the ground. 

The following day we backtracked to the Crescent Lake area. I think that was my favorite area, despite it being somewhat crowded. It was a Saturday. Guess it could be expected. We joined folks for the hike to Marymere Falls, starting and ending at the Lake Crescent Lodge since that's where we found parking. Beautiful, old-growth forest with lots of ferns made the hike rather peaceful.

The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is worth a visit when you're in the area. We enjoyed walking out on the spit. However, we opted out of the sunny five mile hike to the lighthouse.

Ruby Beach

Hurricane Ridge Road

View at the top

Wild orchid

Marymere Falls

Lots of moss-covered trees

Dungeness spit lighthouse (photo taken through public use binoculars)

Where Are We Going Next?