PNW Road Trip Day 8: Ruby Beach and the Hoh Rain Forest

On day eight of our Pacific Northwest road trip, we headed north from Lake Quinault, first to Kalaloch and Ruby Beach and then to the Hoh Rain Forest. I'd really been looking forward to today. Not a real fast-paced day and not too much driving. I had been wanting to travel to the Hoh for many years. The Hoh is one of the few temperate rain forests in the United States. Taking a few facts from Wikipedia on the Hoh, the dominant species in the Hoh are the Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock; some of which grow to tremendous size. Annual precipitation ranges from 141 to 165 inches! But, more than anything, the place just looked cool! I was excited and ready to go!

Our first stop was Ruby Beach in the Kalaloch area of the Olympic Peninsula. We hiked down a short trail and came upon a lovely beach. It was fairly early in the day, so there were not a lot of people here, although there were a few photographers busy taking photos. We hung out on the beach for probably an hour enjoying the scenery and taking photos.

After we finished at Ruby Beach, we jumped back in the car and headed north again. As you can see from the road sign below, we were nearing Twilight territory. I wonder if we would see any vampires or werewolves?

It drizzled a little bit on and off while we hiked around the Hoh (I just like saying that word, can you tell?), but mostly the weather was kind to us.

The Hoh River.

Off on our hikes!

First we did the Hall of Mosses trail and then the Spruce trail. We really wanted to hike up the Hoh River trail to the quietest square inch in the United States (http://onesquareinch.org/about/), but it was a pretty long hike in (2 hours each way), and we wouldn't have had time for much else. So, we opted for the other two trails. The Hoh Rain Forest, in general, was a very calming and quiet place. 

Hall of Mosses Hike

After the amazing Hall of Mosses Trail, we were off on the Spruce Nature Trail. The Hall of Mosses Trail was a bit more dense, but the Spruce Nature Trail had charms all of it's own, including following the Hoh River for a little ways.

This trail was full of beautiful colors.

We discovered this cool moss-covered phone booth outside the Hoh Visitor/Ranger Center.

Wow, the Hoh Rain Forest is an amazing place. I am grateful that I was able to see it. I cannot recommend visiting here enough. It is a truly magical, mystical place. I hope to see you again someday Hoh! After the rain forest, we headed back down south to our hotel. We needed to pack up our stuff in preparation for the next day. After we got back to Lake Quinault Lodge, I went wandering outside a bit to take a few photos. I was really hoping that we would not experience another evening of yipping dogs next door...and, thankfully, we did not. It was a nice relaxing evening.

Peaceful Lake Quinault with the clouds moving in.

Hummingbirds up near the restaurant at the main lodge building. We actually ate dinner here a bit later, and were able to watch all the busy hummingbirds outside. Pretty cool!

Cool wraparound porch at the Lake Quinault Boathouse, where our room was.

Well, it is time to say goodnight to day 8 of our trip. Early tomorrow morning, we are headed north again...up to Neah Bay, Cape Flattery, Shi Shi Beach, Point of Arches and finally to Crescent Lake, where we will stay our next two nights. 

PNW Road Trip Day 7: Mount Rainier to the Olympic Peninsula

This morning, the seventh day of our PNW road trip, we had to say good-bye to Mount Rainier. We were leaving to head over to the Olympic Peninsula on the coast. While I was sad to leave Mount Rainier and the Paradise Inn, I was also very much looking forward to visiting the rain forest and the many beautiful beaches a little further west. It was still snowing in the morning when we woke up. A good send off to Mount Rainier. After coffee and a little breakfast, we went to check out of the hotel and load up the car with all our stuff (and, when I say, all our stuff, I mean a LOT of stuff!), but I digress. Apparently it had been snowing pretty heavily most of the  night because our car was covered in snow...not just a little snow...quite a lot of snow. After a lot of work (by my travel companion, thank you!) cleaning the windshields of snow, we got on the road. After a few hours of driving, we stopped for an early lunch in Olympia at Old School Pizza. My travel companion HAD to stop here for pizza since apparently the radio station he listens to raves about this place. Old School Pizza was definitely an interesting place...and it did have delicious pizza. Here are a couple of photos taken from my phone. 

 Yummmmm....mushrooms, onions and tomatoes!

Up next...finish our drive to the Olympic Peninsula,  check into our hotel and then head out on a hike (since we'd been driving most of the day). We first came to the Olympic National Forest.

 After turning inland towards Lake Quinault, we came upon our hotel, the Lake Quinault Lodge. Lake Quinault Lodge is supposedly in Olympic National Park (not Olympic National Forest), but we never did pass through a park entrance before coming to our hotel...so I don't know? What we came to learn about the Olympic Peninsula, is that it's not "just" a National Park per se, at least not in the same sense as Yellowstone or Yosemite is, rather, the boundaries sort of go in and out between the National Forest versus the National Park. I think the first time we actually entered the park was when we went to the Hoh Rain Forest. Some places you have to show your park entrance sticker for and other places you don't. It's not just one big National Park, if that makes any sense :). Anyway, here we were at our hotel.

Lake Quinault Lodge looking up from the lake.

Our home for the next two nights...the Boathouse at Lake Quinault Lodge.

Our view from the Boathouse. Nice!

After checking into the lodge, we headed out to hike the Quinault Loop Trail to Cascade Falls. We crossed the street from our hotel and started hiking. This is the hike where I painfully remembered (after having a similar experience on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica a few years back) that I NEEDED to have my hair either up or braided while in a rain forest! By the time we got back from this hike, my hair was one giant frizz ball underneath a beanie...all in all, not a good look for me. Too bad I don't have a picture..ha!

It was a rough angle to get a shot of these falls...so please excuse the not-so-great photos.

When we returned from the hike, we still had plenty of daylight left, so we got back in the car and drove the 31 mile Lake Quinault Loop Drive into the Quinault rain forest. We ran into this old truck that was parked in the rain forest. There was a sign in the window that read, "Rest in Piece." If you click on the photo, you can see a bigger version...not that anyone other than myself if reading this :). Apparently, there is currently a very big debate about land going on in this area (see the Wild Olympics Campaign).

Okay, so we did enter the park briefly during the Lake Quinault Loop drive, but it was late and the rangers weren't there.

We stopped at the Quinault Big Cedar :).

It actually turned into quite the hike....much more than we had anticipated...and it was getting rather dark in that forest!

There it was..the Big Cedar. Pretty impressive.

After the longer than expected hike to the Big Cedar (which was a beautiful hike, by the way), it was time to head back to our hotel for a little dinner and relaxing...little did I know what was in store for me (us) that night. It certainly appears peaceful enough.

I can't recall where we ate dinner that night, but I don't recall going hungry. Anyway, it was a lovely evening and a beautiful sunset over Lake Quinault. I remember coming back to our room and SO looking forward to completely relaxing (hey, I'm on vacation!) and enjoying the evening, when all of a sudden, there was a VERY loud aggressive constant barking coming from the room next door (paper thin walls!). Now, in all fairness, the Boathouse does allow dogs, and we knew this coming in, however, I had never heard anything quite like the frenetic barking that came out of the two little dogs in the room next door for 3 straight hours while the owners were away...probably enjoying a nice relaxing dinner. I thought I would lose my mind...seriously! I finally ended up taking a nice long hot shower where I could barely make out the barking, but, unfortunately, when I emerged, the barking was still there. I was just getting dressed to go up to the lobby to actually complain, when the owners returned and we never heard another peep out of those dogs. We did, however, hear someone say something to the owners outside as they were coming back, and the next evening, the dogs were not left alone...thankfully!

Another wonderful day...minus the 3 hour yipping episode. I guess it's time to get to bed...tomorrow is the Hoh Rain Forest and Ruby Beach!