Olympic Peninsula Passages (Sep 2022)

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In all of our exploration, we've done relatively little in our home state of Washington. Partly, this is because the weather window here is relatively short each year; partly, it's due to our desire to explore lands further afield; and partly it's due to the landscape. Western Washington is so wet that finding a route that is more than simply a tunnel through trees can be challenging. Roads are quickly overrun with brush, structures rot away in the blink of an eye, and with much of the land owned or leased by logging companies - the roads gated and locked, "for safety."

Still, I've always wondered if we could find something amazing in the far west of our state. There is - after all - an entire National Park, surrounded by a National Forest, on a peninsula larger than many states.

In the end, both our fears and curiosity were realized. Put bluntly, the driving aspects of this trip were monotonous. While the truck was in motion, there was only one type of terrain - forest - and only one view - forest. Still, there were treasures along the way: hikes through majestic rain forests. along sharp ridges, and to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean. Historic bridges towering above plunging ravines. Here and there, Olympic-sized views that only hint at the wonders that can be found on the Olympic Peninsula if one is willing to tackle the passages to get there. Those are the wonders that made this trip one we'll remember.

 

Hiking Hurricane Ridge | Olympic Peninsula #1​

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Hiking Hurricane Ridge | Olympic Peninsula #1​

 

...It was a little strange to be heading back to the Olympic Peninsula only a few days after having bailed on a trip to the same location, but such is life sometimes. This time - not wanting to retrace our steps through the same terrain to kick off the trip - we decided to pick up the loop around the peninsula at the five-o'clock position, near Skokomish. From there, we'd run the loop clockwise, the opposite direction of our previous attempt.

This meant that rather than take a ferry to kick off the trip, we drove down and around the Puget Sound, eventually transitioning to dirt a little before noon, on our way to the first of two bridges that I'd been itching to see since Mike @mk5 had posted a few photos of them on his trip to the area. Sufficed to say, his photos were more than a smidge better than mine, but we'll get to that in a moment....

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Bridges and Falls | Olympic Peninsula #2​

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Bridges and Falls | Olympic Peninsula #2​

 

...After waiting for a bit of road work along Hoh Road - not the most fortunate of names, we decided - we reached the parking area right around 4:30pm. Unbeknownst to us, this turned out to be perfect timing as it meant that the days crowds were on their way out, and while we wouldn't have the trails to ourselves, they wouldn't be all that crowded, either.

We'd do two loops over the next hour - through the Hall of Mosses and along the Spruce Nature Trail - each one winding through different elements of the same rain forest....

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Rainforests | Olympic Peninsula #3​

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Rainforests | Olympic Peninsula #3​

 

...And with that, we were off. Racing out of the Hoh Rain Forest, we headed west to US-101 where we turned north. And, while the mapped route then dove back inland, we decided that no trip to the Olympic Peninsula would be complete without venturing to the most northwest corner (of the lower 48) and walking out to Cap Flattery. Seriously, how could you miss that experience?...

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End of the Earth | Olympic Peninsula #4​

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End of the Earth | Olympic Peninsula #4​

 

My wife and I are from KY and visited the OP and Vancouver Island about seven years ago for 18 days. The OP was beautiful. We enjoyed staying at the Lake Quinault Lodge and at a house right on Lake Crescent. With the sea stack beaches, forest, and waterfalls it is a tough place to beat.

 

Dude, those are some insane pictures. Unbelievable work!