Forks, WA
Tuesday, October 8
The feeling of the RV shaking back and forth in the wind awoke Andi and I early on Tuesday morning. Our quiet camping spot near the shores of the beautifully uninhibited First Beach in La Push, Washington was wonderful, but the wind whipped wildly across the water. I’m not sure if it’s always windy on the Pacific Coast or if it’s just the weekly weather pattern, but the misty gray skies and whirling wind gave this place a magical feeling.
After the four of us were dressed and ate breakfast, we decided to pack up the RV and drive 20 minutes into the town of Forks so we had better internet to do school. Andi drove in the same spot as yesterday — the parking lot of ACE Hardware & the Thrifty Outfitters Store — and went inside to shop around again (or, more like have a little alone time) while I did school with Tory and Aden.
By 11:30am, we were on the road again to our next destination — Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. Rain falls frequently on the west side of ONP which gave Highway 101 a lush, green canopy as we drove. There’s both deciduous and coniferous trees in the forest, so we saw a lovely mix of green, orange, yellow and brown leaves given it was mid-October. The wet climate are perfect conditions for mosses and ferns to thrive, hanging from tree branches and growing thickly on the forest floor. This type of environment is one of my favorite types of forests to visit! it’s warm (humid) and beautiful.
We drove through the national park’s campground near the Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center and easily found a spot to stay for the night. There were a handful of other campers already parked there, but most spots were empty. Within minutes of setting up, we saw a huge elk wandering around in the campground! It was clearly a resident local because it didn’t seem phased at all by people or RVs.
We setup the RV in our chosen spot and noticed the elk moving closer to us. We all jumped and shouted with excitement as we watched it close-up through the RV windows. Andi cautioned the kids and I to stay in the RV and then grabbed our camera with a zoom lens and tip-toed outside to take a few pictures. Again, the elk continued to eat leaves and grass without much care.
What a view we had while we ate lunch that afternoon! It was like watching an episode of National Geographic, only the “TV” was our window and the subject was a mere 10 feet away from us.
After lunch (and after the elk moved on to another location), we drove over to the Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center. There are two popular family-friendly trail loops that take off from the visitor center, and since it was such a bright, clear day we decided to do both. First, we hiked the Hall of Mosses trail (0.8 miles) and then did the Spruce Nature Trail (1.2 miles). Tory and Aden would have never agreed to do TWO hikes, so we pretended they intersected and only heard a few “are we almost done yet?” whines toward the end.
Listen to Andi being all witty when he commented that “we have to go to the rainforest to find sunshine” … funny, but true! it really was a beautiful fall day in the Pacific Northwest.
Our walk through the forest ended by the river where we perched ourselves on rocks and warmed our faces in the sun.
As we walked back to the parking lot, we saw a familiar RV couple who’d camped next to us the night before. Andi struck up a conversation with them. They were from Sandpoint, Idaho (a place we’d visited in September and loved!) and were making a similar journey as we were through the Olympic Peninsula. They recommended stopping at one of their favorite places in Ocean City, WA on Highway 101, but we still weren't sure what path our adventure would take us home. We were due back in Wisconsin in another week and watching the weather as we’d need to cross the Montana Bitterroot mountain range.
Back at our spot in the Hoh Rainforest campground, we settled in for a slow evening. I blogged about our trip on my computer while Tory and Aden worked together to assemble a pot of chicken noodle soup for lunch. We went for two walks around the campground so the kids could ride their scooters, and stopped for a break along the riverbank to watch a herd of elk grazing.
We ate soup & salad for dinner, read books and watched a few episodes of Cake Boss before bedtime. It was a quiet night in the campground. Tomorrow, we’d head south on the Olympic Peninsula (and maybe east?) as we slowly start our travels back home.
