Olympic National Park (WA) Touring

Day 11 (Saturday, May 27th)

We pulled up stakes at Stub Stewart and moved on to Rainbow’s End RV Park in Sequim WA. Had a really pretty ride up the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway (Highway 101). Just gorgeous…. water on one side and lots of oyster flats, which to us looked like clamming. And patches of mustard yellow bushes. Turns out they’re Scotch Broom and super invasive but pretty for three weeks in the late spring when they bloom. Winding narrow scenic roads. Gary did great… I had clammy palms. Kya snoozed in the back.

Then we landed at Rainbow’s End… lovely people, super tight sights. I was paying at the front desk and a nice gentleman named Peter, one of the worker bees, was going to help Gary get into the site. Gary said to me later “when I saw the size of the sites, I was happy you were inside… we’re fitting into a ‘shoe box.’” A guy from the trailer next door also came out to help… I think (1) to be a good citizen and maybe (2) to be sure we didn’t hit his trailer. The site is so tight that there’s no room for a fire pit, a picnic table or to have the awning out. When Peter learned we were going for RV lessons, he said to Gary “Why? You got into that tight site lickity split.” Of course, we wouldn’t have done that without two people helping 🙂

Since the sites are too tight for individual campfires, they do a community campfire. There were 30 people sitting around the communal campfire on Saturday night… we were among them. Gary said he felt like he was getting a “slice of Americana.” We met the woman who has the trailer next to ours… retired Navy, traveling alone with her dog, in her mid 60s. She had her guitar and two iPads of music so there was a sing along at the campfire. We were chatting with her and learned she had just bought her trailer and her new red truck in New Braunfels, TX while visiting friends. She’s been traveling since March. Has two homes in Florida and is trying to figure out if she’s going to be staying in FL or full timing in her RV or moving elsewhere. In the meantime, she’s visiting friends around the country and seeing the sites. (Mom, we told her about you and Aunt Grace being in the military. She thanked you for your service and said you paved the way for her generation.) A fun evening with all generations present… one four-year old kept requesting Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix tunes be played… he was a hoot! I said in 30 years… that’s our next President!

A super tight campground BUT I can look out the living room window and see the mountains. Amazingly Beautiful.

Days 12 & 13 (Sunday, May 28th & Monday, May 29th)

An awesome couple of days exploring Olympic National Park. First on Sunday we visited Dungeness Recreation Area. A fun walk with Kya on the bluffs with a mountain back drop. Next we traveled on to the Visitor’s Center for Olympic National Park where we bumped into a couple from Mass. as we were walking in. That was funny… we haven’t seen too many folks from the East Coast out here. Then we decided to travel up to Hurricane Ridge… a 17 mile drive up to the top of Olympic National Park which dead ends to a lodge and a parking lot with amazing vistas at approx 5,000 ft. We were in line at the fee station with about 500 other cars on this Memorial Day Weekend. After at least an hour and a half in line (I kid you not), we got through and after that the crowds were much better. They were using the fee station as a way to hold back cars until others had left. It was a gorgeous winding drive up with vantage points to pull off and view the snow capped mountains which were getting bigger as we made our way to the top. You could also see waterfalls made from the melting snow. Once at the top, we had lunch and enjoyed the views again. After lunch we came back down the 17 miles. This time with drops offs of the passenger side and no guard rails. Quite the drop if you misjudged distance.

Then we headed to a county park beach that was dog friendly. A beautiful stone (rather than sand) beach with bluffs on one side. We met a woman who had a part husky (not with her) and she lived in a motor home full time (originally from Iowa) and wintered in the south. I asked her where south was and she said New Mexico. She was an accountant and continued to do that and travel around with her dog and cat. Amazing how many folks you can meet when you’re walking a dog. They are conversation starters!

Monday we traveled to the Visitor’s Center at Port Angeles where I was befriended by “Dave” who gave us some great tips for how to spend the day. First we headed to Ediz Hook, a 3-mile long sand spit with the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the other.

Then we headed to Lake Crescent, part of Olympic National Park. Huge lake with crystal clear water and a mountain back drop, which was Monday’s lunch spot with a tree canopy that was other worldly. Huge evergreens with ferns on the forest floor and moss growing on the trees. After that we traveled on to Rialto Beach. Also part of Olympic National Park. We have never seen such enormous driftwood and the stone beach was awesome. Earlier in the day it was 70s and sunny. At Rialto Beach on the Pacific Ocean it was in the 50’s with a fog bank.

Last stop of the day was La Push, also part of Olympic… with sand beaches, more remarkable driftwood and islands and rock formations off shore. Not your Florida beaches… much more rugged. Similar to Maine but with enormous driftwood. We met a couple from, we thought, Massachusetts at La Push. Turns out they were from Australia and had rented the car in Seattle. They didn’t even know where Massachusetts was. But, he did want a picture of Kya. He has good taste. That capped off our visit to Olympic National Park… unfortunately we missed out on seeing the rainforest area. Not enough time. Tomorrow is chore day and then RV Training starts. Oh boy.

Pics from Olympic National Park and surrounds