Day 49-July 13, 2016-Olympic National Rainforest, WA and LaPush sunset
Drove 135 miles in 5-3/4 hours
Sunny, temp almost squeaked up to 70, almost.
Still driving north on Route 101 we got to the Quinault Rain Forest in the Olympic National Park. This area is managed by the Quinault Tribal Nation. Took one of the easier trails up a narrow path, then down the narrow path, always surrounded by giant trees, mosses and ferns. This is called the Valley of Rainforest Giants because it has six of the world’s largest trees in it, the Western Red Cedar, 63’5” circumference, 19’5” diameter, 174’ tall, the Sitka Spruce, 55’7” circum., 17’7” diam. 191’ tall, the Douglas Fir, 40’10” circum., 13’ diam., 302’ tall, the Yellow Cedar, 37’7” circum., 11’9” diam., 129’ tall, Western Hemlock, 27’11” circum., 8’9” diam. 172’ tall and the Mountain Hemlock 6+’ diam., 152’ tall. And thousands of other trees just as amazing. They have an average of 12 feet of rain a year which is why the trees are so huge. We walked up to one of the waterfalls, then came back a different path. Went into the museum and mercantile store then ate lunch in the RV behind the ranger station. We met a few of the rangers back from a hike and they apologized for the sun. They said if you’re in Quinault and it’s not raining you should be disappointed. We weren’t. Back on the road past the beautiful, big Lake Quinault to Forks, home of the “Twilight” vampires where we stopped in a True Value hardware store and bought a mop for the RV floor which desperately needs cleaning. About 15 miles further and west we got to the Pacific Ocean again in LaPush, home of the “Twilight” werewolves. We’re staying at the Quileute Oceanside Resort and RV Park. We’ve been here before, it’s on the Quileute Reservation. It’s right on the ocean, even fiercer this far north, lots of driftwood on the rocky beach. We set up, walked down to the beach and watched the waves for a while. One lone surfer was out there and he looked so small in the huge ocean. After dinner we went to the beach again to wait for the sunset. We met two men from Tacoma who were here on vacation with their families and in-laws. Talked with them for quite a while. Clouds had moved in and we thought we might ruin the sunset but it came out again and gave us a glorious sunset. But it didn’t set until 9:30, and it wasn’t really even dark at 10PM. Came back to site and had a nice fire.