Olympic Peninsula

Washington atate beach

We left our room at the Aberdeen Travelodge around 7:30 and filled up the rental car. We just can’t get used to paying nearly $4 per gallon when we have been accustomed to paying less than $2 per gallon. Like the past few days, thick fog made driving a challenge. We knew that the fog would persist for most or all the day.

We started driving north on US 101, the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway, when we saw a sign for a state salmon hatchery a short distance off the highway so we had to make a quick stop. There wasn’t much to see at this site. A few tanks had some small salmon that were unidentified. We didn’t stay there long and continued moving up the coast.

near Kalaloch

Our first planned stop was in the Olympic National Forest at Quinalt where we walked a nature trail with a lot of informational signage on the flora and fauna of the area. There were huge trees of Western Red Cedar, Western Hemlock and Douglas Fir. We also looked at a lot of the underbrush vegetation and dense temperate rainforest undergrowth.

We drove northward on Highway 101 and stopped at a few of the Pacific beaches. We were hoping to observe some of the aquatic life in the tidal pools, but the tide was coming in. We didn’t see much life among the rocks on the shore. Several locals were surf fishing, and we walked on the rocky shore and across the driftwood, watching the waves crashing on the rocky beaches. These beaches are not the sandy beach areas where sunbathers, swimmers and surfers like to congregate. These beaches have stones from the size of golf balls all the way to house-sized boulders. The beaches were well below the level of the road, so we had a long and steep walk from our rental car down to the beach.

Small waterfall in Washington

We made a quick stop at Kalaloch Lodge which is where the Cabell County group when we came to the area in July 2007. The group stayed several nights in some of the cabins while we explored the area and took photographs. We didn’t stay there long but continued north on 101 to Kalaloch Beach. After walking the steep path to the beach, we walked around for a bit then worked our way back up to the car and continued driving north toward Ruby Beach.

Ruby Beach sea stack

Like at Kalaloch, I had been here in 2007 when I was with a group of Cabell County educators on a photography trip. We had our Ritz crackers and peanut butter lunch before going to the beach. The path to the beach was steep. We had to climb over huge driftwood logs to get to the beach, but it was beautiful. Part of the beach was coarse sand, but most was cobbles of varying size. There were also some giant sea stacks. A lot of people were walking around since this beach is very well known for beautiful views. We even met a man who grew up in Huntington. He spoke to us because I was wearing a Marshall sweatshirt. We took several snapshots and walked in the warm fall air with the ocean breeze blowing.

We left Ruby Beach for Forks, Washington which is the setting for the Twilight vampire stories that were very popular a few years ago. Mary took a few postcards to the post office, while I went to a stand where members of the Hoh Tribe were selling traditional fry bread tacos. We split a taco which was very good and made a good snack.

Salmon Cascade

Continuing north on Highway 101, we turned off on the road to Sol Duc Falls. My annual senior pass got us into the park and we drove the 13 miles off the highway to the trailhead for the falls. Parking was a premium because the falls are a popular attraction and trails there lead in many directions to several attractions. We had quite a walk to the trailhead then walked about a mile up to the falls. The path had many hikers but passed through a beautiful part of the Pacific temperate rain forest. There were a lot of people at the falls, making photography difficult, so we took a few snapshots then walked back to the car. We drove about halfway back to 101, then we stopped at a place where salmon swim up Sol Duc Creek to spawn. We watched the huge salmon, some of which were two feet or more in length, jumping over rocks to reach ideal spawning locations. We stayed at the cascade for some time, then drove on to Port Angeles where we checked in at the Super 8.

We got carry out Chinese food from Tendy’s Garden, which was one of the best rated restaurants in Port Angeles. We made a quick stop at Safeway for tomorrow’s breakfast. While Mary was in the store, I filled the rental car’s gas tank. We picked up our food and brought it to our room at the Super 8. Mary reports that her beef and broccoli was very good, and I enjoyed my General Tso’s chicken, Neither of us ate even half of our meals and planned to have more of it at breakfast tomorrow.