Olympic Peninsula Part II

We then headed to La Push, WA [Thru Forks] and put our feet into the Pacific Ocean. La Push has some incredible rock formations, Twilight was filmed here and the wild and larger beaches make it worth the visit. Pro tip: try and schedule some time here; we didn’t and would have liked to. La Push is an Indian Village of the Quileute Nation that has been hunting and fishing the land in this region for 1,000’s of years on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula that is now surrounded by the National Park.

La Push is known for wild Pacific beaches like First Beach, with its huge waves and we definitely saw some people grabbing for their boards and hitting the trail to the beach. We didn’t make the time but you should pull off and hit the trails from beach to beach as there are forested trails that lead to Second and Third beaches, where you get some great views of the giant offshore rock formations. Continue on down to Rialto Beach, where tide pools surround Hole-in-the-Wall, a natural rock arch.

Back in the car, to drive the 60+ miles along the Hoh River into the West side of Olympic Park where we were off to the Rainforest! If you don’t do anything, you at least have to take the short hike thru the Hoh Rainforest. It was they most enchanting place I have visited. The giant Sitka trees, unique and splendid mosses and the maple groves are along the hike. Even if you aren’t as luck as we were to get to see a giant Bull Elk from 15 feet away you will fall in love with the unique features of this area. So green, with vegetation and plant life I never could have imagined, and in the Pacific NorthWest no less……

Now we need to find a place to sleep! We got pretty luck with finding a camping spot in Kalaloch, WA, which is located right on the ocean. The beach is easily 100-150 yards deep and so clean the whales have returned and are now migrating thru it.

You should definitely walk the beach and check out the tree of life – isn’t it incredible!

The afternoon before we arrived, the ranger informed us that there were several whales playing right in front of the overlook in the campground for over an hour, hopefully you will get a chance to see them. Please note, if you have your pup with you like we did, be sure you keep them on a leash at all times, even on the beach. The evening and even during the day was damp, but then again we were in a rainforest. You set camp up on the bluff over looking the ocean; breathtaking!

Olympic was one of the highlights of our trip for sure. We were able to see so much of the area and drive almost entirely around the Park. It took some time to get there and it wasn’t originally on the list for this journey but I am so glad we were able to get here. It has so much to offer and the scenery was amazing – and we got lucky with perfect weather.

After leaving Olympic we headed South to Ocean Shores. While I hit the beach with the dog, my trip mate needed some wifi – we highly recommend Ocean Shores Coffee Roasters – great coffee, great space, lunch and wifi! Cash love being on the beach as did the Tacoma!

It was a pretty sweet stretch of beach you get to drive on, although it is a bit out of the way a really fun stop!

Off again on to the next pit stop so we could get some work done – we kept hearing about Breakwater Seafoods & Chowder – if you get anywhere near this place stop and get the chowder! They have a killer fish sandwich and chowder like no other… well there is one other place that is pretty spot on but you will have to check back for details on where it’s at.