olympic national park, wa.
we flew up to seattle in september to go check out olympic national park! it was our ninth national park of the year. after we arrived in seattle, we jumped in a rental car and drove about three hours across the olympic peninsula to get to the southwestern part of the park. we were greeted on our way into the park by giant trees and the dreamiest fog.
we arrived in the kalaloch area just before sunset, and it was the most beautiful and welcome sight after our flight and drive.
kalaloch lodge.
tree of life.
the next day we drove up the coast to ruby beach - beautiful forests on the coast, seastacks, tidepools and more dreamy fog.
walking down to ruby beach.
ruby beach.
tide pools.
anemone.
starfish and closed anemone.
pups on the beach.
one last beach we made it to was rialto beach. we were driving there right at sunset, which made for some crazy beautiful god rays. it was later than we would have liked to get to the beach, so we didn't get to hike the beach and see all the sights we wanted, but if we were earlier, we wouldn't have been greeted by the god rays.
god rays on the road to rialto beach.
rialto beach at sunset.
beach logs.
one of the most amazing things about olympic national park is the variety of ecosystems. the beaches are beautiful, but there are also mountains, hot springs, forests and rain forests. hoh rain forest, with it's hall of mosses hike, fulfilled all my moss-loving dreams. and man, this place knows how to make one feel small! can you spot james in the photo below?
hall of mosses in hoh rain forest.
nurse log.
moss moss, everywhere.
the sol duc area is known for its hot springs. we didn't spend too much time here, and didn't get to enjoy the hot springs, but we did a couple hikes through an ancient grove and to sol duc falls.
ancient groves.
sol duc falls.
sol duc falls.
we spent our last night at crescent lake lodge. it was absolutely gorgeous and peaceful, and we even rented kayaks to explore for a couple of hours.
crescent lake lodge.
rentals.
our very last stop before heading back to seattle was hurricane ridge. the drive up was windy and foggy, and we even saw some deer! when we got to the top, we were above the clouds and the views were breathtaking.
deer on hurricane ridge road.
more deer.
views from hurricane ridge.
olympic national park is by far the prettiest national park we've been to this year. i've been in forests before, but the trees here made me feel so small. there were so many different things to see, and it was all so beautiful and inspiring.
