Olympic National Park has 4 regions: alpine, Pacific coast, rainforest and the drier east side. It was designated a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909 then a National Park by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938.
Quinault-Rainforest Olympic NP
Our rainforest hike was beautiful, wet, and rainy.
The Quinault rainforest receives about 150 inches of annual rainfall, one of the wettest areas in the continental United States.
Even though we were wearing Gortex, Jake wasn’t, so he got a drenched on this hike. He was not a happy dog! There were huge slugs everywhere.
Lake Quinault Resort was built in 1926.
A picturesque location overlooking Lake Quinault.
We stayed at the Hoquiam River RV Park. It was a few hour drive from Mt Rainier. They had full service and were satellite friendly. We faced the water. Each day there were plenty of river otter foot prints, but we never saw one.
We went to the beach and enjoyed no parking fees or crowds. Jake had been bathed the day before so we wouldn’t let him in the water. Sad dog.
Pacific Coast of Olympic NP
Rocky and sandy beaches going on for miles strewn with huge pieces of timber. This was Rialto Beach.
Cape Flattery was beautiful. We enjoyed a nice dog friendly hike.
Bald Eagle sightings were frequent.
We stayed at the Quileute Oceanside Resort in La Push, Washington. Beautiful location with full service next to the beach. It’s next to the town of Forks where the television Twilight series was based.
We loved daily beach walks whether day or sunset. The only problem was the incessant fireworks throughout each day and night because the rv park was on an indian reservation and of course, they sell fireworks.
Hurricane Ridge
Hurricane Ridge is the alpine region of Olympic National Park and was easy to get to. Some of the roads and trails were closed partly because of improvements but also because of a scheduled Mountain Goat Capture and relocation program that was taking place. Unfortunately, this prevented us from viewing any mountain goats. Bummer.
The views were incredible.
There were Black-tailed deer with fawns.
The Obstruction Point dirt road was open. Spectacular views from within the clouds.
At higher elevation we came across a few marmots eating grass. Being rodents, Jake wanted to chase them, not appreciating we were in a National Park so they were off limits. He actually had a psychotic break over these very fat marmots. Whining incessantly all the way home!
Wildflowers including: Broadleaf Lupine, Red Columbine, Avalanche Lily, and Alpine Forget-Me-Nots were stunning.
The Elwha road was only open to Madison Falls because of flood damage. We enjoyed a short paved dog friendly walk to the falls.
We stayed at the Elwha Dam RV Park in Port Angeles. The drive past Crescent Lake was gorgeous but very curvy.
The RV park had full hookups, was satellite friendly, but only marginal internet. After a rain, these huge slugs were everywhere. This juvenile woodpecker was posing on a fence.
Harbinger winery was only a couple miles away. There was a very friendly crowd and nice atmosphere.
