163
10-12 August - Annie and I spent the next 3 days exploring the beautiful Olympic National Park. We started our tour with a short drive north to Ruby Beach and enjoyed spectacular views of the beautiful Washington Coast.
As we approached our next destination, it appropriately started to rain and we got soaked while hiking through the Hoh Rain Forest, but the rain only enhanced our visit. I would say it was raining cats and dogs, but Annie said it was raining horses and cows too (Canadian humor). This forest receives an average of 12 inches of rain per month and is the wettest place in the contiguous United States and home to some of the largest trees in the world. We hiked various trails throughout the area and enjoyed the many splendid wonders of this magnificent temperate rainforest.
Our 2nd day of exploring took us to a beach at the mouth of the Quillayute River in the small Quileute Indian community of La Push, where we walked the jagged rocks and giant pieces of driftwood to the warning light at the end of the jetty.
Next, just a couple of miles up the coast on the northern side of the river, we visited Rialto Beach, with its rocky shore, massive drift logs, pounding waves, and intriguing offshore islands, known as seastacks, for more awe-inspiring views along this spectacular coastline.
On day 3, en route to the National Park Visitor Center in Port Angeles, we stopped for a short hike around the beautiful, glacier-carved, deep-blue, Lake Crescent. We had planned to drive to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains for a panoramic view of the surrounding area but, due to heavy cloud cover and poor visibility, we opted for plan B, which took us for a short drive through Port Angeles and on a geohike on the narrow, 3 mile long, peninsula known as Ediz Hook, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The 10 to 20 mile wide strait separates Vancouver Island, Canada from the USA and we were less than 25 miles from Annie’s home on the island in Victoria, British Colombia. On our return trip we stopped at Lake Crescent again for yet another hike. This one took us to the beautiful, 90 foot drop, Marymere Falls.
