My labor day long weekend trip (2015) to Olympic National Park.
Day 1: Started the day early, really early by flying to Seattle, renting a car and driving down to Hoh rain Forest taking the south Route. The closer I got to the coast, rain started getting stronger. Reached the rain forest around 2, covered my camera with a plastic bag, my camera bag with a poncho and started my little hike to the hall of mosses. Funny thing was, I thought this was called Hall of Moses. Was wondering the whole time as to what's the relation between a forest and Moses. When I saw all the moss, it all dawned upon me. I'm glad I didn't say the name Moses in front of anyone, or they'd think i was really stupid.
The little hike was beautiful and was surrounded by lush green trees and mosses. Having seen the Amazon, this was quite a nice little rainforest. I'd no idea the US had a rainforest! A must visit for anyone wanting to see a totally different landscape!
I had lunch at a little cafe by the rainforest (which had a lot of funny passive aggressive signs all over). It's a good place to grab a bite when you're there. I head to Ruby beach right after my late lunch.
Ruby beach has a lot of different rock formations which is quite fascinating. I had a good time walking around the beach taking photos. Too bad it wasn't cloudy enough for good sunsets. A very nice beach, do visit it if you are in the area!
Since I was car camping, I drove to Hurricane Ridge which was about 50 miles away. Found a viewpoint, parked my car, stared at the stars and fell asleep.
Day 2: I was too tired to wake up early for sunrise, so woke up at 7. Started my hike up Hurricane Ridge. It was a short 3 mile round trip hike I think. The views were spectacular. Clouds were beginning to set in as the forecast was for showers. On top of the Hurricane Hill, you could see Canada across the Strait. Brilliant views and being there early gave me enough peace to see the place in calmness! I saw a bunch of fat marmots staring philosophically into the beautiful scenery.
I drove to Port Angeles right after. Walked around the town looking for interesting stuff. It's a nice little town with some really good sea food places.
I drove to SolDuc falls next. The falls is a little hike away (2.5 miles roundtrip). It's a very beautiful falls with 3 different falls in one (see photo). There were a lot of people here as I got here around 3. Come here early if you decide to visit this place, otherwise parking can be a bitch!
I head to Rialto Beach for the sunset. Sadly it was very cloudy and started raining before sunset. But the beach by itself is very interesting. It has a lot of giant driftwood all along the beach. I couldn't walk much on the beach as it was raining and it was high tide. Apparently during low tide, you can walk a mile along the beach and see a rock with a keyhole with a view of the ocean. Anyhow, I couldn't do it.I walked around with an umbrella taking photos.
I figured I couldn't sleep near the beach as it's day use, I drove back to Hurricane Ridge. Parked my car right by the visitor center and fell asleep with the sound of pouring rain on the car.
Day 3: Woke up early to catch the sunrise. It was pretty cloudy and the mountains were covered by fog. It was absolutely surreal (see photos). I had a good time taking photos of the whole valley. I did mess up my panorama shots as the rolling fog made it difficult to stitch different photos, hence a failed panorama. However, I still got some good shots of the said fog!
I drove to Miramere falls right after, did the small hike (1.5 rountrip). Beautiful little falls. Got some photos, then head to Lake Crescent. Had some clam chowder at the lodge, took some photos of the cloudy scenery of the lake.
Now I hadn't showered in 2 days, I just had to. So I went to SolDuc hot springs, took a shower, took a dip into the hot springs (which was overcrowded and felt really gross), took a shower again then stopped by Salmon Cascade. This was a really unique experience for me as I'd never seen Salmon trying to swim up current. I saw a few jump upstream into the falls. A very cool experience (see photo).
I quickly looked up anything else to see in the area, and lo behold, there was Madison falls. A very nice falls (better than Miramere falls). It is right by the road too.
Next I drove to Port Townsend to spend the night. Fort Worden state park is a nice park with views of the strait, has a lighthouse. Unfortunately, I was really hungry, so I drove back to the town, had dinner, asked a gas station guy as to where I could park and sleep in the car without being fined. He suggested to sleep near the pier. Seems to work well :).
Day 4: Had breakfast at Bayview Restaurant (their pies are really delicious). Took a ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville. It was really nice ride with great views of the islands, I highly recommend anyone going to Washington doing a ferry ride ( book ahead in time to make sure you get your spot).
After de-boarding from the ferry, started driving towards Deception pass. The whole drive was very foggy, very much like a horror movie.Reached Deception Pass and the fog was clearing up. I hiked up the pass to get better views, but I suggest people to get on the bridge or by the beach. the views are nicer. My photos from the bridge were all ruined by my nd-filter (still not sure what went wrong).
I started my drive back to Seattle to my friend from engineering days, Jeevan. Jeevan and his wife Sushma were great hosts, let me shower at their place, made amazing Indian food which I hungrily gobbled up! They suggested we could drive to Snoquelme falls as it was closeby. So we did.
Snoquelme falls hike was a 1.5 mile hike one way (i think). The elevation gain was a lot and was a good workout! The views from the viewpoint wasn't great. Sadly they have blocked access to get close to the falls. However I did see a bunch of adventurous (more than me!), jump the barricade and go down. I however decided against it as I had my camera bag, tripod etc.
We ended the day by going to Kerry Park. The views of the city is absolutely stunning. Never have I ever been so happy seeing a city! Sunset was stunning! At dusk, the city lit up! It was wonderful! Also a group of rowdy girls from Colorado gave me company while I was shooting. If any of you happens to see this, it was nice talking to you all!lol
Ended the night at my friends place having some amazing dinner, then flying out in the morning!