We left Forks to visit First Beach and La Push on the Quileute Reservation because now we were actively chasing “Twilight” for my blog post. First Beach, the real place, was very cool with sea stacks wreathed in mist and low clouds, driftwood and colored stones on the beach, and cold mist falling on us. It’s right in La Push and quite scenic, very upper coastal and fun to wander.
We drove back east out of the reservation to hook up with a road running northeast and back into Olympic National Park. Olympic is divided into several sections, one of which is a coastal section which is subdivided by several different tribal reservations. We went to Rialto Beach which has a coastal hike along the surf and it was still overcast and misty.
The view out to sea and the view directly behind the beach of thick forest. It’s so beautiful!!!
We hiked on down the beach and it was tough on the legs because the ground was completely covered with a deep layer of smooth stones. On the way back we were able to walk more on the packed sand and that was easier.
We got to Split Rock where we took some pictures and had a view of Hole-in-the-Wall further up the beach.
On the way back up the beach, two bald eagles flew right by us along the beach then perched in a tree and that was totally awesome.
Then we drove back through Forks because literally all roads in this area lead to Forks. We must have gone through Forks a dozen times during those couple days. We headed south on 101 then east to the Hoh Rain Forest in another section of Olympic National Park and that was really interesting.
Since the park is divided into three distinct sections, they are very different. We had been to the mountains and the coast and now we were entering the rainforest section. We drove through the primeval forest to get to the actual park section and it was so beautiful. We pulled over and saw a giant Sitka spruce that was 550 years old and 270 feet high.
We hiked the Hall of Mosses trail which was peaceful, fascinating, and gorgeous plus it was really pleasant with the clouds gone and the sun out and the area really shaded. There were so many cool views of the moss when looking up into the trees.
We learned about nurse logs which are fallen trees which support life. Plants and tree seeds get their nutrients from the decaying log and then grow, but as they grow the fallen log eventually disappears and the new trees are left with interlocking root systems above the ground which reminded me of mangroves. We loved that place.
We headed back out onto 101 to the coastal section of the park and farther south than we had been previously. We stopped at Ruby Beach which had a lovely path down between walls of vegetation, including wild raspberries.
The beach was pretty, and although it was cold and cloudy, the view of the sea stacks were awesome. There were rock cairns on the driftwood logs so I left my mark by making one of my own.
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