Picture 1 - Entering the Quinault Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. Picture 2 and 3 - Moss covered trees on the Maple Glade Trail. Picture 4 - An area with some huge cedar trees. Picture 5 - A huge log on the beach in the Olympic National Park.
Today I headed back to the Olympic National Park but this time to the southwest side and the Quinault Rain Forest. The ride there was on the cool side as usual but the sun peaked out every once in a while. I arrived at the rain forest just before noon and headed right for the ranger station to check out one of the trails through the forest. It only took a few steps into the forest to make me feel that I was in a different world. This place was just amazing. The trees were huge and in many cases completely moss covered. The forest floor was completely green with ferns, moss, and many other types of plants. Being in the rain forest was like stepping back into prehistoric times. I was expecting to see dinosaurs at any minute. There was a creek running the forest in one area and it was absolutely beautiful. The undergrowth in the forest came right up to the banks of the creek and into it as well. Everything was so lush that not even the water would keep the plants from growing. The creek ran into a pond that was just completely engulfed with plant life. It was really beautiful. The water in the creek was absolutely clear. Probably because there were so many plants to filter it. There are two rain forest areas in Olympic Park, but I only visited one of them. I would suggest that if you are ever in this area, put this on your must see list.
After seeing the rain forest I head northwest on US101 toward the coast and the beach areas of the Olympic National Park. Although the highway is right on the coast for several miles, you cannot see the ocean from the highway because there is a small hill full of trees between the ocean and the road. Being short on time I only rode as far as Beach 3. Each of these beaches had only a small parking area by the road and path that led down to the beach. Not seeing much of the ocean, I decided to turn around and go back to South Beach because it had a camping area and you could drive down to the beach area. I was not impressed by the camping area. It was nothing more than a long gravel parking lot with campers parked all along its perimeter. From the parking lot the land dropped off down to the beach. I wasn’t really impressed by the beach itself but what did impress me were the huge driftwood logs that had washed up on the beach. They were massive. You can see one in picture 5 above.
Tomorrow I will be heading up to Seattle and then out on US2 in the general direction of home, but first I will be stopping at my niece Leena’s house in Davenport, WA.
