The park is a farther way from Seattle than you would think, but wasn't too crowded on a late June Monday. I started by hiking the three mile Hurricane Ridge Trail after a 20 mile drive up into the Olympic Mountains, named for their tallest point, Mount Olympus. The overlook at the end of the trail offered distant but blurred views of the ocean and Canada on the other side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Next, I snacked up at a fancy organic grocery store in the town of Port Angeles, then sped off towards the park's northwestern corner. After a quick stop at Crescent Lake, I found myself at another trailhead, this time in a whirring, breathing forest within a mountain valley.
About a mile and a half along the trail a wooden bridge spans multi-spigoted Sol Duc Falls. Instead of continuing along the trail into the rainforest, I turned back and soaked temporarily in nearby Sol Duc Hot Springs.
I ended my day by the ocean. Among the numerous national park beaches along the coast, I chose to stop at Ruby Beach. It felt a bit like stepping into a fantasmic dreamscape. The crisp, clear blue skies of the mountains and rainforest had thickened into white fog, limiting visibility to a few hundred yards.
Glassy tidal pools, contorted driftwood logs, and tiny islands (or giant rocks, depending on how you look at it) dotted the strange beach. The dense fog made me feel claustrophobic. I knew a giant ocean was out there, but I could not see it.
I camped that night at South Beach, a little further down the coast. In the morning, I still couldn't see the ocean, but did get to see some more of the Pacific Northwest flora on a short hike into the Hoh Rainforest. From there I turned back east for Mount Rainier.
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