Olympic National Park

What a park this is! Of all the parks we’ve visited, this offers the most diversity in its environments to explore. From the mountains, we headed to the coast. Close to ninety miles of Washington’s pristine coast are protected park lands. We camped near the La Push Indian reservation at the gorgeous Mora campground. The old-growth trees in the campground alone made it worth a visit. I felt a bit like a forest nymph or fairy setting up house amongst the mossy trees.

We explored a spectacular beach called Rialto Beach. I am a rock hound, and I was in heaven picking a rainbow array of smooth pebbles. My pockets were weighed down and sagged to mid-thigh in no time.

The beach had a startling amount of driftwood. Huge, sun-bleached trees were stacked willy-nilly all along the beach. I’m not sure what the story is behind the logs, but I think it may have something to do with the timber industry as well as coastal storms and high tides. The driftwood made for fun climbing and interesting photographs.


We made our way down the beach towards the “stacks”, huge rocks out in the water. All around the stacks were tide pools ripe for exploration for us since it was low tide. I was thrilled by the abundant masses of sea stars and anemones in and around the pools. They looked yummy enough to eat. Don’t worry, I didn’t try any.


After a few hours of exploring, we enjoyed the sunset, left our mark with some beach art, and headed to camp for the night.


The next day we headed to the Hoh Rainforest. This is one of the only rainforests in the United States. It receives over 140 inches of rain each year. I had to laugh at the fact that we visited on a glorious day with blue skies and not a cloud in sight. The forest is made up mainly of spruce, Douglas fir, and hemlock, all of which grow at an extremely accelerated pace due to the abundance of water available to them. They are covered by all kinds of mosses and lichens, creating a soft, lush environment. We enjoyed wandering through the forest experiencing what a “real forest” should look like.