Once again we awoke to the sound of raindrops on yet another travel day. We headed up the coast to Pacific Beach, passing several cranberry bogs along the way. Pacific Beach Washington is a tiny fishing village with a population slightly less than 300. We stayed at the Pacific Beach State Park with a site overlooking the ocean. Our first day we walked down to the beach which is a very wide beach. There were a few people walking on the beach but for the most part it is deserted. In this part of Washington they allow cars to drive on the beach and the we did drive our car down to one of the beach access points and enjoyed the view.
The next day we drove an hour to the Quinault Rain Forest in Olympic National Forest. This rain forest is often called “Valley of Rain Forest Giants” because it is home to some of the state’s largest trees. Here rainfall is measured in feet, not inches!
After visiting the small Visitors Center we walked across the parking lot to the historic Quinault Lodge which has a beautiful view of the Quinault Lake, a glacier carved lake. On October 1, 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt had lunch at this lodge and nine months later signed a bill creating Olympic National Park.
We then drove on a 31 mile loop around the Quinault Lake and Quinault River, stopping at several points along the way. The Quinault River was very wide with large gravel bars.
We hiked a short distance to the World’s Largest Sitka Spruce
and drove past several beautiful waterfalls, including Merriman Falls.
We finished the day by hiking a rather challenging trail to Washington’s largest tree, a 1200 year old Western Red Cedar. 
We were amazed by the epiphytes, which are plants growing upon other plants,
as well as all the moss, lichens and ferns.
We also were in awe of the “nurselogs” in which dead and downed trees support new life in the constant eternal cycle of life and death. 
The Olympic National Forest is 632,324 acres in size and surrounds Olympic National Park which has over 901,800 acres and was created in 1938 to protect and preserve the forests and herds of native Roosevelt elk. The first people to live in this area were Native Americans who came from Asia by way of Alaska. Archaeologists estimate they lived here for many centuries before the white men arrived. Olympic National Park is really three parks in one with its rugged mountainous areas, the 73 mile scenic ocean strip of the Olympic Peninsula which is one of the longest spans of wilderness coast in the lower 48 states, and the lush temperate rain forest which is the only true rain forest in the continental U.S. The rain forest has been recognized internationally as a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. The tree most often associated with the temperate rain forest of North America is the Sitka Spruce.
We had originally planned to stay four days at Pacific Beach, but when we saw all that Olympic National Forest had to offer, we decided to cut short our time in Pacific Beach and head further north to Forks, Washington so we could hike the Hoh Rain Forest before heading even further north as planned.
Fortunately our travel day from Pacific Beach to Forks was sunny and we enjoyed the two hour drive. After arriving at a private campground and setting up we headed over to the Chamber of Commerce where a very helpful lady filled us in on all there is to know about Forks. The town of Forks, population 3,500, is best known as the setting for author Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” book series and five subsequent movies. Evidently Twilight fans come to Forks from all over the world to have their pictures taken at different locations mentioned in the book but the funny thing is the only part of Forks actually filmed in the movie was the town sign! While we were in the Chamber of Commerce several people came in and admitted they were there because of the Twilight book series. The town was quick to use this to their advantage and along Main Street are many small shops and hotels with the word “Twilight” in the name.
The next day we headed to Hoh Rain Forest, also in Olympic National Forest. Along the way we had a view of snow capped Mount Olympus. 
How amazing is it to be headed to a rain forest and see snow capped mountains in the distance! I told you the United States is beautiful!!
The drive from Highway 101 into the park was lengthy but well worth the drive. We visited the small Visitors Center here which was much like the one at Quinault. Due to the mild winters, cool summers and up to 12 feet of annual precipitation, the giant trees in this rain forest are some of the most spectacular examples of old growth temperate rain forests in the world. The trees here can grow to be up to 300 feet tall. We hiked two trails, the Hall of Mosses which led us through an old growth temperate rain forest where the maple trees were draped with moss,
and the Spruce Trail which led us down to the Hoh River. 
The Hoh River is 50 miles long and begins high on glacier capped Mount Olympus and descends 7000 feet to the Pacific Ocean as it is fed by snowmelt and rain along the way. Hoh is a Native American term meaning “fast moving water”. Members of the Hoh Indian tribe still lives in the area. In fact Washington state has more major cities with Native American names than any other state.
We finished the day be doing several geocaches. 
Additional facts about Olympic National Park:
- 60 named glaciers and many many more small ones
- 650 archeological sites
- 130 historical structures
- 3,000 miles of rivers and streams
- Butterflies are found in almost all areas of the park with some unique to this area
This looks so interesting! The ferns, moss and trees are awesome! What a wonderful experience! Just breathtaking 🙂