The Olympic Peninsular

We left Westport on Monday morning and headed around Gray's Harbour towards Ocean Shores. There is a passenger ferry that runs from Westport to Ocean Shores, which is only a few miles across the harbour, but to take the road trip it is about 45 miles (72 km), or 1.5 hours by car. We travelled around the harbour through Aberdeen and Hoquiam, and had lunch at the mouth to the harbour. It was quite a sunny day, but here was quite a breeze so we sheltered behind a rock groyne and had a picnic lunch.

After lunch we decided to drive north along the coast. We had only travelled a couple of miles when we saw a State Park. We turned in to explore. Most State Parks have camping facilities, and this was no exception. There was no ranger on duty, so we went in to find a vacant site and self-register. This was Ocean City State Park, and it was $19 for a tent site for the night, which we were supposed to put in an envelope and drop in the honesty box. We also made a mistake when we deposited a $20 note to get some 25c shower tokens. Unfortuneately the machine didn't give change, and like the slot machines at the casino, it began spitting out 80 shower tokens. One token gets you 3 minutes in the shower. We now had 4 hours worth of shower tokens that could not be refunded, or used in any other state. We decided to try and get rid of them roaming the campground to see if anyone needed any. We managed to sell about $15 worth before we left.

When we left on Tuesday we were headed for Forks. We turned off the main road to visit Quinault, which is on the shore of Lake Quinault in the Olympic National Forest. This valley is called "The Valley of the Giants" because there are 6 of the world's largest trees here. We stopped at the World's largest Sitka Spruce. They get quite a bit of rain in this part of Washington, and the rainforest conditions here are just right to produce these giants.

We then continued towards the coast again and stopped at Ruby Beach. The sky had been clear with the sun shining until we got to this part of the coast. Here the sea fog seemed to have descended and shrouded the coast in a grey mist. We got out of the car and began the walk down to the beach and the view of the mist covered seastacks, picking berries from the bushes along the way. As the beach came into view we could see some stacks in the water but it was hard to know what the view up the coast would be like because we could only see about 200m. After a walk along the beach to stretch our legs we haeded back to the car.

Forks was one place that Bridget really wanted to see, because this was the setting for the books that she had recently been reading - Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. They also had film sets for the second book, in the forest just down the end of our street, back in May. The first thing we did when we got ot Forks was to pull in to the Information Bureau. There posters and other paraphenlia about Twilight in the windows, but the thing that got most attention was the red truck from the movie, or a replica. We drove in to town and had to drive by the high school. We also called in at a supermarket for supplies, and found Twilight souvenirs everywhere. There was also a mini-bus that was taking people around the town, and surrounding area to scenes used in the movie.

After filling up with gas (petrol), we headed for the La Push on the coast. La Push is on an Indian reservation on the coast. The beach was quite rocky, as was the RV park and campground. None of the campsites were particularly appealing, so we enjoyed the view of the sun setting behind Little James Island and headed for Moro State Park and campground, which was just across the river, but we had to head inland for about six miles to get to a bridge. The campground was pretty full, but we managed to find a reasonable site, and set the tent up for the night. This was in the conifer forest right next to the Quilayute River, and at the beach. The giant trees and berry bushes kept the campsites reasonably private, and you didn't realise how many camper there were in the park.

It was a sunny start to Wednesday and we packed the tent, loaded the bikes onto the rack and drove to the day car park for the beach and walking trails. We spent some time on the beach, and taking in the views of the islands and sea stacks along the coast. I walked along the stony beach towards a point and an island off the beach. There was a really nice beach at the end and along the way there were eagles watching for fish in the river.

We then drove back towards La Push and I suggested that we should stop and walk out to Second Beach. It was only a short walk from the road and the scenery was supposed to be worth the view. The scenery was great, but the walk was a little hilly and it took about 20 minutes each way. The beach was nice and sandy. We stayed for an hour or so, and then again headed north along the coast. We headed for Port Angeles, and had a beautiful scenic drive along the shore of Lake Crescent.

At Port Angeles we found a music performance on the pier at the beach. We stopped and bought Indian take-away food, which we ate at the pier. It was getting on towards 8:00 pm when we decided that we should leave and find a site to camp for the night. The sun doesn't set until about 9:30, so the time gets away from you. We drove to the Dungenesss State Park at the beginning of the Dungeness Spit. There were deer in the park and eagles roosting on the cliffs above the beach. It isn't often that you are able to look down on an eagle.

Great weather again so we decided to go into the Olympic National Park, and go up to Hurricane Ridge. On the way up I asked if anyone would be interested in riding bicycles down from the top. Bridget seemed to think that it could be fun, but Daniel was not interested. We had a picnic up at the top, wnadered around the Information Centre, listened to a ranger talk, watched a short movie, and then got ready to ride down the mountain. Hurricane Ridge is 5225 ft above sea level, and 17 miles (27 km) from Port Angeles. I wouldn't say that we actually pedalled much, it was downhill almost all the way. I think that I need to replace the back brake pads on my bike, because I had the brake on almost all the way down. Quite a thrill!! Bridget and I met Paula and Daniel back at the waterfront where we had eaten the previous night.

After loading the bikes onto the car we were again off looking for a campsite. We headed for Sequim Bay State Park, a distance of about 20 miles. We arrived just after 8:00 pm. and found a site down near the water. In a discussion with a guy from the next campsite, he mentioned that his grandkids had been down at the water disturbing it to see the plankton glow in the darkness. I had read abou this green glow in a book that one of my reading groups had done this past year, so Bridget and I went down to see this phenomena. We shook our hans around in the water, or stirred it with a stick and the plankton in the water gave off a greenish, neon type glow.

On Friday we headed for Poulsbo for 4th of July celebrations. On the way we stopped at Jamestown. I was attracted by the totem poles around the Cultural Centre. We walked around and learned about the S'Klallam Tribe. We also called in at the casino to have a look at the native art and the poles surrounding it. We had lunch at Port Townsend State Park and then headed for the Hood Canal Bridge to get to the Kitsap Peninsular.