Olympic National Park is my favorite park yet. We saw 3 distinct areas of the park: mountain, beach, and rain forest. Each area was amazing on its own.
We started the day hiking on Hurricane Ridge, known for high winds, freezing temperatures, and large snow falls, but on our day, the weather was chilly, dry, and calm; perfect for hiking the ridge line of a mountain. The hike had 360 degree views of snow capped mountains. We cut the hike a few miles short because Danielle was uncomfortable with us walking on some snow with cliffs on both sides… its not like I have our son in a backpack or something.
We then headed down to Marymere Falls and within an hour… BOOM… we are now in a rain forest with moss, ferns, and waterfalls everywhere. On the hike, we met an Australian Nanny (~28 yo), Georgia, who was traveling around the US in a converted 1980s blue school bus with some Church name on the side of it. She was a reminder that in about a month, we will be in the land down under… and there is lots of planning to do. She also volunteer to babysit for us while in Sydney, which could be nice break as long as she doesnt steal our child.
We wrapped up the day with a sunset on Rialto Beach, a rugged pebble beach where the huge pine trees approach the rocks and waves. The pictures never do the scene justice.
The next morning, the three Davis’s embarked on a 7 mile hike through Hoh Rain Forest. I am pushing Danielle and Bryce to see how far we can go before our team falls apart. So far 7 miles is still good. One day, the coolest site in the park might be 9 or 10 miles hike (hint, hint).
It was remarkable that 24 hours earlier, we were on a ridge at 5400 ft and now we are in a rain forest. Bravo Olympic… Bravo.
