2025 Spring Road Trip – Olympic National Park

Wednesday, May 28, 22025

Yesterday afternoon we drove up to Port Angeles, WA, in the far northern area of Washington. We have had wonderful weather since coming out west and our time in Olympic National Park was no different. Really nice. Olympic NP is actually three separate areas of Washington, all in the northern part of the state. We visited the Hurricane Ridge portion of the park on Wednesday morning May 22. We first visited the visitors center (of course). We got our maps and stamps before heading up the Ridge. The drive up the mountain was beautiful. It was short-sleeved weather at the bottom but at the top of Hurricane Ridge it was cold and quite windy. There was still snow on the ground and we were asked to walk only on asphalt or snow but, not to walk in the meadows where the snow had melted. That would cause damage to the fragile plants trying to peek their heads out for the summer. Beautiful scenery. Beautiful mountain view. Unfortunately, there were no hikes open unless you had the recommended snowshoes, which of course we did not. We wandered around on top for a while walking in the snow and then headed back down.

On top of Hurricane Ridge. That snow pole tells us we don’t need to be anywhere around here in the winter.

From Hurricane Ridge we headed to Rialto Beach (also part of Olympic NP) on the recommendation of a volunteer at the visitor center. It is a pebble and rock beach, with a coastal forest and lots of driftwood. Rialto Beach is known for its sea stacks, rock formations and pounding waves. No swimming though. The rocks make for some difficult walking.

Some of the large driftwood on the beach

We had planned to walk along the beach to these sea stacks, but we came to a large creek across the beach and weren’t prepared for a water crossing.

The next day, May 23, we visited the third section of Olympic, the Hoh Rain Forest. Nice for us, it was not raining in the rainforest the day we visited but there was a lot of moisture. The yearly average rainfall in the Hoh is 140 inches. This results in lush green canopy of various trees. Ferns and mosses are everywhere. It is just an enchanting place. We were told that the Hoh Rain Forest is one of the finest remaining examples of temperate rainforest in the USA and is one of Olympic’s most popular destinations. It was definitely our favorite part of the park. We were able to hike two wonderful trails, enjoy all the lush greenery and the peaceful setting and see some large elk along the way. Great park. Would highly recommend. After our morning in the park, we turned BB to the south and drove through some additional beautiful areas of Washington.