The beaches of Olympic National Park are beautiful, wild, and rugged. And within a short drive one can be deep into one of the largest temperate rainforests in the United States.
We started by stopping at Kalaloch Beach to visit the Tree of Life, which is beginning to fall down after decades of being seemingly suspended in mid-air. Next stop was Ruby Beach, one of my favorites along the Olympic coastline. Sunshine, waves, ocean birds, seastacks, barefoot walking in the sand… all the things that are healing and restoring to me. This is a place to wander and simply be still and take it all in.
We spent 2 nights in the Hoh Rainforest campground, a beautiful area in the heart of Olympic National Park, and an area said to have some of the most biomass per square acre in the world. It’s also one of the recorded wettest and quietest places in the world. And green, every single shade of green you could possibly imagine. The climate here produces some gigantic trees.
There are several trails that can be enjoyed from the Hoh Campground: The Spruce Trail, the Hall of Mosses Trail, and the Hoh River Trail (which extends over 18 miles one way up to the Blue Glacier). We hiked these trails several times, letting the trees, mosses, lichen, ferns, and birds entertain us. No cell service out here, but it’s not needed when tuned into the incredible web of Mother Nature!! Several times we simply stopped walking to listen to nature because our footsteps seemed so loud.
The beauty and peace of this place is so restoring to me. From gigantic trees, nurse logs, mosses and ferns, to mushrooms, birds, insects, and banana slugs, it’s one of the best places I’ve ever been to see how interconnected everything is.
On our way home we stopped at Beach 4, with a beautiful bridge made from driftwood as an entry to the beach. During low tide there are some perfect rocks that beg to be scrambled on and climbed.
Beach. Forest. Beauty. ONP has all of it.
