Olympic National Park, August 3-4, 2020

 

Olympic National Park

August 3-4, 2020

 

In order to beat the heat at home, we decided to take a quick trip up to the Olympic Peninsula and visit Olympic National Park.  The boys and I did backpacking trips there the last two summers, but the girls had not been there in years.  We camped along the Hoh River, where the kids found some cool downed trees to play on in the river. 

Tree fort in the Hoh River

Hoh Rain Forest

            The next morning we got up early and went over to the Hoh Rain Forest, hoping to beat the crowds.  Luckily, there were few people there that early.  We went for a short hike, looking at all the various shades of green.  Every time I come here I am amazed at how lush and beautiful this place is!  When we got back to the parking lot there was a line of cars coming in, so it paid off to get there early.

Hall of Mosses

Rialto Beach

            Next we headed out to Rialto Beach.  With COVID going on, there are a lot of people traveling local, which meant that the park was busy.  We ended up parking almost a ½ mile down the road.  We hiked along the beach and out to Hole in the Rock.  Like most days here, it was very misty, which gives everything a mysterious feel.  Since the tide was in, we couldn’t go through the Hole in the Rock and instead climbed over the headland.  Once we were over there, we had the whole area to ourselves.  The kids played on some logs and threw rocks.  After a while we decided to head back to the car and move on.

Hole in the Wall

Going over a headland

            We drove over to the northside of the peninsula and camped at Heart O’ the Hills campground.  In the evening we took a drive up to Hurricane Ridge to look around.  There were a lot of deer out foraging.  The next morning we got up and finished the loop around the peninsula on highway 101.

Hurricane Ridge