A blog about travel, photography, and all the life in between
A blog about travel, photography, and all the life in between
From the Mountains to the Rainforest to the Sea
My journey across Olympic National Park in a day (and a half).
Olympic National Park consists of three different areas: the Alpine area, the Hoh Rainforest, and the coastline/beach. Each of these is very different, almost its own park in and of itself. With limited time on our trip out to the Olympic Peninsula at the tail end of a business trip, Steven and I set out to hit all three areas of the park in one (very long) day.
We started out bright and early—very bright and early—at Hurricane Ridge. Hurricane Ridge is probably one of the most famous/popular viewpoints in Olympic National Park. If you Google for sunrises, sunsets, beautiful hikes, etc. it’s always at the top of any list. In fact, there used to be a visitor center at the parking area for Hurricane Ridge, but unfortunately it burned down earlier this year. Because of this, entry is limited to only 345 cars a day due to the limitations of the portable toilets that they’ve installed where the visitor center used to be. So, in order to ensure a visit to Hurricane Ridge before the road closes for the day, you really need to get there before noon on the weekend, possibly even earlier. But the most magnificent views happen at sunrise anyway, which is why we set out to leave our hotel at four in the morning.
It’s worth mentioning that efforts to rebuild the visitor center are in the beginning stages, and at the time of writing Hurricane Ridge is completely closed for demolition of the old site.
We arrived at the Ridge a bit later than expected and set out along the trail up to Hurricane Hill. The trail is fairly easy from a technical perspective because the majority of it is paved, but it will definitely get your lungs pumping, especially first thing in the morning. The trailhead sits at an altitude of 5,085 feet and there is a climb of about 860 feet in just under two miles, so it’s not nothing. But oh man was it worth it. We didn’t make it to the top of the hill before the sunrise (I couldn’t resist stopping every ten feet to take pictures!) but the views were still magnificent in the very early morning light. Gorgeous Alpine mountain scenery in every direction. The trail starts through trees, and the strong scent of pine and wildflowers was really a refreshing start to the day. I love that smell. We made it to the top, and looking out in the distance could see the coastline of the Salish Sea and a beautiful cloud inversion.
It was breathtaking the whole way up and the whole way back down as the light continued to change. Wildflowers of all colors and varieties bloomed all along the trail and across the rolling hills and meadows. July is really a spectacular time to visit the park. My favorite part of the morning was the very deer that hung out and posed for me along the ridge line for some truly incredible photos that I honestly can’t believe came out of my own camera, rather than being postcards from the park gift shop. Another common sight along Hurricane Ridge are marmots, I think I saw one way in the distance but didn’t see any up close or get any photos.
I definitely recommend getting up early for this hike, which means it’s worth staying as close to the park as possible. We were originally going to get a hotel in Olympia because it was quite a bit cheaper—Port Angeles hotels are pretty expensive (not a lot of places to stay near the park, supply and demand, you know how it goes). I think we spent $270 for a Super 8, but it was well worth it and the hotel was great, I would definitely stay there again. It was pretty bare-bones, but who is spending time in the hotel anyway? There’s a whole park to see! When I travel and try to cram so much into a day, hotel location really is key. You don’t want to start your day with a two hour drive to get to your destination, especially at sunrise. Staying in Port Angeles puts you 45 minutes or so from the Hurricane Ridge parking lot, so it was definitely an early wake up call, but not as bad as it would’ve been if we had stayed in Olympia as originally planned!
As we were leaving the trailhead around 7:30 am the parking lot was already completely full and the overflow parking was bustling with people. I know I sound like a broken record, but I really do recommend getting there early, especially if you want a spot at the main trail head. It was chilly in the morning so bring layers. Especially at the top—I can see why it’s called Hurricane Ridge: the winds at the top were pretty ferocious. Gloves and something to cover your ears are a must, even in July, and bring long sleeves for sure.
After the hike, we headed back down the hill and popped back into our hotel to grab some free breakfast (that is my one complaint about the hotel: unless you’re looking for a hotel waffle, which does always hit the spot, the breakfast left something to be desired) and napped for a couple of hours to give us the energy to get through the rest of the day—we had a lot to do! Getting those little naps in where you can can be a big help, and if your goal is photography, it’s better to nap in the afternoon while the light is bad so that you can get up early for sunrise and stay up late for sunset (and Milky Way). By lunchtime we were packing up for the day and headed out on the road.
We stopped and grabbed wraps at this place in downtown Port Angeles called Turnip the Beet (I often pick restaurants that have delightful puns for names). It was really good! All of the burger joints, pizza restaurants, and stuff like that were bustling with people and had lines out the door, but this place wasn’t too busy at all. I had a smoked salmon wrap that was fantastic! I would definitely eat there again in a heartbeat. It was the perfect lunch to fuel a whole day of outdoor adventures.
We headed out on the road along U.S. Highway 101, which is absolutely gorgeous. The afternoon was spent winding through trees with lovely views of the mountains. The highway passes alongside Crescent Lake, which was some of the bluest water I’ve ever seen, and it sparkled in the sunlight. The weather was nice, clouds came and went but cleared up pretty shortly after we got on the road. We also hit the visitor center in Port Angeles to get the park stamp for my passport, of course. The gift shop was kind of disappointing, that is actually one of my main complaints of the trip. I wanted to get some Olympic National Park swag because I loved the park so much, but never really found a good gift shop. I expected Port Angeles to have a whole bunch of little gift shops, as most national park-adjacent towns do, but I only saw one and it was closed on Sundays so we didn’t make it. The National Park gift shop had a few of the usual odds and ends; I was able to get my magnet and stickers and walking stick medallion and all that good stuff I buy at every park, but they only had one T-shirt design that I didn’t really like, a couple, very plain hats, and a few little things for kids. Disappointing for sure. But oh well, I was there for the views.
We drove for a couple hours until we ended up at the Sol Duc Falls parking area. It was packed, we got really lucky and were able to grab a spot just as someone was pulling out. Cars lined the road on both sides and people were having to walk probably half-a-mile to get to the trail head from where they were parking. It was a Saturday in the summer, so not unexpected. I was glad that we were able to get a spot because parking on the side of the road like that always makes me nervous, I’m never quite sure if it’s allowed or not. (If your attitude is, “what are they going to do, ticket all of us?” you should know that they actually do that frequently in some parks.) The trail to Sol Duc Falls was busy but it was really nice. Full shade the whole way with beautiful views of the forest. I got some incredible shots that, again, I am totally shocked came out of my own camera, although some of that was in the post-processing.
I have been to the Amazon rainforest and the rainforest on Maui, but this was very different and very cool to see. Don’t just go to Olympic for the mountains, make sure you see the rainforest. The Hoh Rainforest is the wettest forest in the contiguous United States, which makes it an incredibly lush and biologically diverse place. Sol Duc falls was very crowded, but still beautiful and I was able to get my shot with some patience. I was after a certain photo that I actually saw on the wall in the hotel—I never did find the exact spot, I suspect it might be an old trail down to the river or something that has since washed out, grown over, or been closed off. But I did find a good spot, climbing down on some rocks where most of the tourists were hanging out (and walking in front of my camera…) and was able to get some great stuff. The light coming through the trees was really nice.
The weather that day was absolutely perfect, albeit a little bit humid for my taste coming from the desert. But it was manageable. The hike out to Sol Duc wasn’t nothing, but it was easy. I think it was three or four hundred feet elevation total but pretty flat the whole way. Definitely worth doing if you’re in the mood for a nice, chill nature walk through amazing scenery, and I would recommend it if you’re looking for a good one to do with kids.
Once I got my shot of the falls and the iconic wooden bridge over them, we headed back to the car. By the time we got back to the car the parking lot had pretty much cleared out, it was early evening and peak tourist time in national parks (which, thankfully, aligns with the worst light for photography) was over. The bathrooms at the parking area were kind of gross, but not the worst I’ve seen. They were reasonably clean. I was also super excited to see a couple Stellar’s Jays flitting around the trees in the parking lot, I was able to finally grab a good shot of one of my bucket list birds. They are so pretty. I was hoping for a little bit better of a scene than the fence next to the bathroom, but hey, you can’t really tell from the photo!
We hit the road again and passed through Forks around dinner time. Actually, it was a bit late for dinner, and almost everything was closed. There are not a lot of options between Port Angeles, and, well, anywhere else on the Olympic Peninsula. Forks was really our last opportunity to grab a bite. We ended up stopping at this little hamburger place called Sully’s that was well-rated, it was super, super busy, and closing in less than an hour, but the burgers were really good. Fries too. I would recommend it for sure. We also stopped and got coffee (much needed to get our third wind and finish out the day) at a local place called Bug and Buf’s Espresso. I was impressed with their variety of flavors, especially sugar-free flavors! Not something you find often. They were also like 10 minutes from closing so I appreciated her making me my complicated drink and reading a bunch of flavors to me and being generally friendly. We finished passing through Forks, skipping all of the Twilight tourist stuff, and headed out to the coast, thankful that northern latitudes in the summer grant a heck of a lot of daylight. It was already like 8 pm and the sun wasn’t going to set for another hour and a half or so.
We headed out to Ruby Beach, which is probably the most famous one in Olympic National Park. I would have liked to explore more of them, but we were on a time crunch—sometimes it’s best to go for the one that appears at the top of every list. There’s nothing wrong with tried and true if you’re looking for a sure thing, as much as I love off-the-beaten-path spots. The downside is that it was really crowded. There is a really nice view just from the parking lot, and then the trail down to the beach is easy, although it is a little steep. We walked down to the beach and I tried to get some good shots at sunset without people walking through them, which proved very difficult. I definitely get grumpy at these heavy tourist spots, but what can you do? I am happy that our national parks have gotten so popular in recent years (although not entirely happy…) I do wish people were more polite around photographers, or at least less oblivious. The sunset wasn’t great, it didn’t really pop like I expected it to as some super low clouds rolled in just before the sun hit the horizon. But the light was nice, the weather was nice, and it was still a cool place to be. The sea stacks were really neat. I’ve been in a lot of different beaches and this certainly wasn’t a beach like the ones I was on in Hawaii in February. A lot of pebbles and driftwood.
We went back to the car once the sun went down, the clouds weren’t thick but they were definitely there. It was supposed to clear up. I was a little skeptical, tired, and kind of wanted to give up and go back to the hotel. We had a two-and-a-half hour drive back, and it had been a LONG day! But we toughed it out—I knew the potential to capture a masterpiece would be worth it. I was able to get enough signal to watch Netflix on my phone for a couple hours in the car while we killed time. The downside of northern latitudes in the summer is that, while the sun sets nice and late, it does take forever to set all the way. So the time between sunset and astronomical twilight is much longer than I’m used to here in Arizona. We had about two hours to kill before the sky was dark enough for the stars to come out, which also gave the clouds time to clear. And they did—it was so worth it!
We headed back down to the beach about 11:30 pm, there were quite a few people still milling around with flashlights, shining them in my camera as I tried to take pictures, being snotty when I asked them to please be careful… Other astrophotographers tend to be respectful, though average tourists not so much. It’s frustrating. But by about midnight we had the beach to ourselves, and that’s when the bioluminescence really started to shine! It was SO cool to see. It was pitch black out there, the skies are Bortle 1 out on the coast of Olympic National Park. The stars looked incredible, you could make out details in the Milky Way core with the naked eye. In fact, the stars were so bright that it wasn’t as dark as it would have been because the Milky Way was actually casting some light, almost like a full moon. But the ocean was pitch black, except for the waves breaking on the shore that glowed! It’s really not easy to describe, definitely try to see it for yourself sometime. And to top it all off, there was a minor meteor shower going on too.
By about 1 o’clock in the morning Steven was tired and I was running on pure adrenaline at this point. He dragged me back to the car to head back to Port Angeles for the night. We got back to our hotel at about 3 or 3:30 in the morning, 23 hours after we originally had left to shoot sunrise. I got so many incredible shots—what a day! I was thankful to have Steven along to help with some of the driving, I don’t know that I could’ve done that marathon day on my own. I definitely passed out in the car while he drove back from our Milky Way shoot.
We did still have a second day in the park, so we decided to hike Mount Storm King. Before we headed up the mountain, we also hiked out to Marymere Falls, which is a very easy trail; a few stairs, but not bad. It’s a cool waterfall and worth the little bit of a hike. Then we turned back and headed up Storm King Trail. It was a really cool hike and definitely a good cardio workout! It was about 2,000 feet pretty much straight up switch backs the whole way. There’s a gorgeous view of Crescent Lake towards the top of the “maintained trail”, but then somebody decided, “hey, the peak is only another quarter mile or so, why don’t we go all the way up?” There is a community trail from the end of the official trail to the summit of Mount Storm King, where people (I don’t know who exactly, or how the National Park service actually feels about it) have tied ropes to trees and rocks to help you steady yourself and get to the top. Since I had just had arm surgery five weeks prior and was not supposed to really do any lifting yet, we started the hike fully intending not to do the rope section (which I had read about on AllTrails in advance). But we chatted with people along the way who kept saying that it was absolutely worth it, and, combined with the fact that it was only a little longer, we decided to go for it. I can’t resist. Didn’t bring gloves? That’s okay, there’s a pile of community gloves at the beginning of the rope section that were actually in surprisingly good condition and not gross or anything. I am normally a little squeamish about things like that, but it didn’t put me off enough for me to turn back.
The ropes were really fun, it reminded me of doing Picacho Peak back in Arizona. I love hikes that involve your arms, it makes me feel like I’m really on an adventure. When you get to the end of the ropes (I think there were five or six total) there is a bit of a scramble to get out onto the rocky peak. There’s not a lot of space, really only enough for a few people, and it is not easy to mill around. When we got there, there were three other people at the top hanging out. We snapped some pictures, sat for a short rest, ate a protein bar, and then began to head back down. We wanted to make sure we got back before it got dark—sunset wasn’t for a couple more hours, but it was pretty cloudy and the sun low on the horizon. Plus the whole trail being in the trees meant that it was definitely going to get dark earlier than that. It was kind of dark by the time we got to the bottom, if we had stayed any later it would’ve been much more uncomfortable, so I’m glad we left when we did. I did fall on the ropes once, landed on my back got a little bit of whiplash in my neck—I was feeling that for a few days. The way back down was kind of tough. My legs were pretty shaky, and I ran out of water at the top and had none for the way back down. Thankfully, it wasn’t hot. It was definitely stupid to only bring a liter and a half though: don’t underestimate a hike just because it’s not hot out; I should know better than that.
We were in rough shape by the time we got back to the car but we made it and felt incredibly accomplished. That was the hardest hike I had done in a while, probably since I hiked Mount Wrightson back in May. It definitely kicked our butts, we had to stop a lot on the way up to catch our breath. But I highly recommend it, the views are amazing. The camera just doesn’t do it justice. Standing on the top and looking out over the lake was incredible—the water was so blue! The coolest thing was seeing Marymere Falls from the peak, it looked like barely a tiny squiggle in the trees. I still can’t fathom that my feet can take me that kind of a distance. Every time I drive past Picacho Peak on I-10 here in Tucson, I think, “what, I was at the top of that?” It literally doesn’t seem possible. I don’t think I will ever get over it.
We drove back to Port Angeles to grab some dinner. We were really out of options as it was pretty late, I think it was like 9 o’clock. We grabbed a burger at Frugal’s, a local chain in Washington. The burger hit the spot and the cheese curds were really good, I recommend them (and that’s coming from a Minnesotan). We had a long drive ahead of us—we had hoped to hike earlier in the day, but got a bit of a late start. That night we did decide to stay in Olympia since we had to fly out of SeaTac really early the next morning. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Olympia. It was very nice, I would recommend it. We were only there about four hours. Most importantly, it was conveniently located near a cute little Dutch Bros, very different from the ones in Arizona. I love the Pacific Northwest coffee scene. It was much needed that morning. We flew home, thankful for the direct flight between Seattle and Tucson on Delta. With my new job, I will definitely be taking advantage of that, it is nice not to have to lose a whole day to travel like when I used to go out to DC for work.
If you are in the Seattle area, I definitely recommend visiting Olympic National Park. It has so much to see: so much natural diversity, beautiful hiking trails, amazing mountain views, and seemed less crowded than Rainier. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mount Rainier National Park (definitely want to make it back there, I only have been for like a day). Olympic actually gets more visitors annually than Mount Rainier does, but it’s over three times larger so they are much more spread out.
Now on that note, I don’t necessarily recommend trying to do the whole park in a day. We could’ve easily spent three or four days, if not a week, to really do the park justice, especially if you’re into hiking. But I need to save my PTO to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro in February!
