This weekend, we drove to the Olympic Peninsula where we were genuinely enthralled by the natural beauty of the Pacific coast and the diverse ecosystems that it supports. It was a great drive (~500 miles) with plenty of rain and ocassional heavy fog for good measure.
We headed north of Seattle to Edmonds where we caught a ferry to Kingston. A shortwhile after we got on the 104 to eventually join the 101 (direction Port Angeles) which loops around Olympic National Park.
After arriving in Port Angeles, we immediately headed south to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. We stopped at the main visitor center and got our orientation - Washington State national parks are very well maintained with visitor centres at all the main landmarks. The drive to hurricane ridge was pretty foggy, curvy and just plain fun although there was no doubt that a little bit of carelessness would take you into the rockface or over the cliff. Reaching Hurricane Ridge was a anti-climactic as it was too foggy to see anything. On a clear day you should be able to see the Olympic mountain range on one side and the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the other.
Jumped back on the 101, passed through Lake Crescent and eventually joined the 112 which we followed along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Clallum Bay and finally to Cape Flattery and Tatoosh island. Cape Flattery is actually located on the Makaw Indian Reservation which we passed through. Cape Flattery is the most north-western point on the Pacific coast and was used by the Macaw indian tribe as a lookout. The first European expeditions to the Pacific were sighted from this location. The view is quite awesome and there are a series of vantage points that you can hike to. The sandstone cliffs that make up the cape have massive caves formed by the pounding of the ocean waves.
We had originally planned to stay at Kalaloch Lodge but it turns out whoever took the reservation booked our cabin for 6/27 not 5/27! Fortunately I learned this while driving returning from Clallum Bay and was able to find the last motel room in Forks (quite literally!).
The next day we went to the Hoh rainforest where we did some brisk hikes. The hoh rainforest, aside from being rainy, is home to an enormous amount of moss, lichens and funky plant life. We saw the "Hall of Mosses" which is an older more stable part of the rainforest that is overun by moss. We also saw some Olympic Elk on the trail.
Other highlights were the ocean beaches at Kalaloch and Lake Quinault. Kalaloch didn't blow me away as much as Big Sur in California but Lake Quinault reminded me of Alkali Lake in the X-men movies.
Once we reached Olympia and got on the I5, I was actually getting tired of driving so we listened to discs 5 and 6 of Bill Clinton's autobiography "My Life". We returned back to Seattle in time to watch X3 but more on that later.
Overall, a great weekend trip which I would recommend to anyone living in the Pacific Northwest. Just make sure you pack food, rain jackets and double check your lodging arrangements :)
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