We left Seattle mid-morning, and arrived at Lake Quinault around 1pm. We had lunch
and talked to the local cook and travel guide, who suggested an nice drive around the lake. And so we
started out with a drive around Lake Quinault, stopping for short hikes into the woods to see giant trees.
This is the World's Largest Spruce tree, a Sitka Spruce that is about 1000 years old. It is on the south shore of the lake.
Its circumference is 58'11", and it is 191' tall. At least this was true when the sign was written!
This is Falls Creek Falls, a small water fall just off the road.
And another falls...
Incredible ferns...
... and mossy trees.
Vine maples covered in moss, leaning over.
The scale of all the trees is just amazing.
This is an old, giant cedar tree. There is a new tree growing on it, its roots covering the old tree. You could walk around the base... can you find Bruce? Gives you a sense of scale!
It is pretty tall...
This is the inside of the cedar, which rotted from the center out.
It is big enough to stand in, and when you look up you can see daylight!
We continued on to Kalaloch Lodge, on the ocean. I originally booked us a room in the lodge, but we were quite fortunate and were upgraded to this cabin on the bluff.
It was quite cozy, with firewood delivered each day, and a full kitchenette. Later we learned that this was one of their premier cabins. Lucky us!
Our view from the yard. Much more of a panorama than shows here. It was great to open the windows at night and hear the surf.
We had a little yard that felt pretty private, so I could have my ritual morning coffee outside in my bathrobe.
Our cabin, as seen from the beach.
Our first morning on the coast, we took off for the sights. First stop, just off the Highway 101, was this giant cedar tree.
This is Ruby Beach, about 10 miles north of Kalaloch. The sand supposedly has a reddish hue, that is certainly hard to see.
The sea stacks are amazing. They were originally part of the land, but were eroded away over time. We've lost a lot of beach front over the years!
Every rock on the beach was a perfect skipping stone, worn smooth and flat. Lots of logs, too!
The rocks were covered with barnicles, limpets, and mussels. And there were plenty of beautiful anemones, too.
Then on to the Hoh Rain Forest. We took a lot more pics than this, but it really was a lot of mossy, huge trees, so I decided to limit what we posted here. More mossy vine maples...
and huge trees.
Looking out over the Hoh River, it was foggy and lovely. It was raining lightly, on and off, which felt just fine. They don't call it a rain forest for no reason.
Here you can see new trees growing on an old fallen, nursery tree. The new ones grow in a line, described as a colonnade. The trees end up standing on their roots as the nursery tree rots away. Here these 'new' ones are still pretty old!
It stopped raining, and the sun came out, and so we drove on through Forks to Rialto Beach. This is a lovely beach, with lots of sea stacks. It was very empty here - just one other couple out there.
We started the 1.25 mile walk to Hole-in-the-Wall Beach. There were large stones in the sand that were all smooth and almost soft looking.
The rocks and sand gave way as we walked, so we got our exercise.
And here is Hole-in-the-Wall... obviously named for the view here.
And then we headed back, as the tide came in. That always gets things more exciting...
knowing that you have to beat the tide to get around some of the logs...
It's hard to believe the size of some of the logs that are washed up on the beach. That is Bruce standing there, not some three-foot child!
And here is the requisite pic of us on the beach... (actually taken the next morning on the beach by the Kalaloch Lodge.)
It was approaching dusk, and I really hoped to see some Roosevelt Elk, a protected species native to the Olympics. At the Hoh Rain Forest, the ranger had said that you could sometimes see some at dusk and at dawn. Knowing that dawn was not an option for us (!) we drove on up to the Hoh Rain Forest again, hoping for a dusk viewing.
On the road up there, we suddenly saw a huge - I mean, HUGE - elk bound across the road, and meet up with two other elk in the forest,just a little ways in. The three of them stood there a little while, and we just sat in the car watching. (There were NO other cars around!)
We continued on up to the campground and there, in the parking lot was a this young elk... he was watching a couple and their dog, who were all looking a little concerned. Well, the dog wasn't - he was just thrilled, I think. The elk slowly walked toward them, and they took refuge by the ranger building. We just sat in the car, watching, listening to him clomping around in the parking lot. It was too dark for pics, but I kept trying... so here is the best I could do, with help from software.
The next morning we walked up the beach by the Kalaloch Lodge. And then we returned to Lake Quinault, and did a 4 mile hike around there. More beautiful forest... streams,
waterfalls...
new growth amid old...
huge cedars and Sitka spruces...trees growing on dead nursery trees...
lots of soft land and plants...
large trees in soft ground...
creeks...
and huge old trees stradling even older, fallen trees.
