Trip to PNW seeking advice

I posted this in another section and it got one response, so I'm copying and pasting here.

I'm driving to the Olympics for a week in early August and I'm reaching out for some tips on cool places to visit. I'll be heading into the National Park for an undetermined number of days. I'm hoping to do a couple nights of backpacking (in or out of the Park), some good hikes, and of course some driving. The truck is set up for sleeping in and I plan to be in there any nights I'm not backpacking I'll have a copilot, but only one vehicle - so I'm not looking to push the truck. That said, I live in the mountains of Montana, so I don't consider long rough roads up into the mountains to be "offroading". I know it's a short trip to try and squeeze much in, but I want ideas so I can pick and choose. This will be my first visit to that area.

Thanks!

Dan

 

You are going to love it man. I grew up in Port Townsend which is a super cool little town if you have time to stop in. I always loved going up palo alto road in Sequim and finding places to camp. There are TONS AND TONS of awesome hiking all over the park. The sol-duc hot springs are awesome but I bet there will be a ton of people up there that time of year. Hurricane ridge is always a good place to go, lots of camping and hiking around there. A lot of my friends favorite hike is the 7 lakes basin trail which i think takes 3 days and you have to get a permit for but worth looking into.

 

Sounds interesting. Please post a trip summary when you get back. I'd love to hear which trails you hit while you were there.

 

There are so many epic hikes you cant go wrong. What side of the park are you going to be on?

 

No idea yet. A friend from Seattle is going to be my traveling companion and will be my navigator, but I'm looking for advice because she isn't so good with the N-S-E-W thing .

 

I live close to Glacier National Park and appreciate what the parks offer and preserve, but also understand there are likely plenty of gems outside the park that will be less crowded and just as enjoyable. I'm definitely looking for the rain forest and coastal experience - though those huge PNW mountains are impressive!

Edit: My interest is in the area in general, more than the park per say. So any info is welcome. It will all be new to me.

 

@Digiratus
@m3bassman

 

I live in West Seattle and have messed around on the peninsula a little bit hiking but not much offroading. What area you going to be traveling through? I did some hiking up at Neah Bay out to Shi Shi beach and camped. The Hoh rainforest is always nice and depending how long of a hike you are looking for can do the five mile or hike all the way to the glacier on that trail. Some waterfalls up around Crescent Lake too nothing notable though.

 

I'll be in the area for a week, I definitely want to spend time on/ near the coast and rain forests. My companion and I are both avid hikers accustomed to hiking in the mountains. How far to the glacier?

 

Edit: My interest is in the area in general, more than the park per say. So any info is welcome. It will all be new to me.[/QUOTE]

Awesome man I just did a 10 trip to Glacier, It was pretty epic. Wished we could have stayed longer for sure!

 

https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-the-hoh.htm

If you look at the brochure it shows the trail loops and the hike to 5 mile island wihich is about 10 miles. I believe its around 17-18 miles one way to the glacier.

Beaches. Check out Shi Shi beach up by Neah Bay for sure.

 

@Digiratus

 

Since you have a week I would do a loop around the park. Which is pretty easy to do. That way you can hit a lot of the popular and good spots. Day 1 could be head up towards Port Angelas. Day trip to Port Townsend (nice little town) then continue up there. Hit up Hurricane Ridge the next day. Hurricane Hill is a nice easy hike but good views at the end. Spend the day up around there. next day head over to Shi Shi beach. Maybe do the Ozette Triangle hike. Next day head up to the Hoh Rain forest. Spend a day or two in that area. Then head down to Ocean Shores or Westport to see the ocean.

A hike i enjoy is the Elwha River Trail. Hike to the Elkhorn campsite and its usually a lot less crowded. But its a bit of a hike as its like 10-13 miles (dont remember off the top of my head) one way. There are other campsites earlier though. But that trail really gives you the PNW hiking experience IMO.

O and on your way up you could stop at Fort Warden or Fort Flagler which are cool old forts that still have the bunkers you can go into (bring a flahlight though!)

 

Where are you guys going that the Hoh takes that long? I remember doing the hike and it was 20 minutes with stops for pictures.

Two other tips:
If you find yourself on the west side, don't eat at Forks. Go to the grocery store if you have to.
If you have beach plans, Rialto Beach is really nice

 

There's 4 trails (or more?) That are all from the hoh rainforest ranger station. Two are shorter (1 mile ish). One is another trail I don't remember anything about but is like 11 miles. Then there is the hoh rain forest river trail. Which is like 13 miles? The river trail leads to mt. Olympus.

So easy to spend awhile in the area

 

Bump

Merging a bunch of the above suggestions into a plan. Just wanted to move this to the top in case there are any other good suggestions. Thanks for all the replies!!

Edit: Is the camping pretty much just park campgrounds, or is it possible to get out to more secluded camping.

 

Last night I was educated on the significance of Forks. WTF is wrong with people?