Olympic National Park

Natalie in the Quinault Nature Trail in Olympic National Park.

April 17th - June 25th, 2022

Lush rain forests, tall alpine peaks, and amazing coastal beaches

Olympic National Park is one of the most diverse and beautiful national parks out there. It has so many unique features all in one park, such as lush rain forests, high alpine peaks and amazing coastal beaches.

Our Airbnb was located in Port Angeles, Washington, which is the perfect hub for exploring all the areas of the park.

A few highlights out of the many amazing adventures include backpacking the Ozette Triangle, journeying through the Hoh Rain Forest, hiking up Hurricane Ridge, and taking a ferry over to nearby Vancouver Island.

This is another top contender for Trevor’s favorite place we’ve visited.

Hoh Rain Forest

If you were to only visit one section of Olympic National Park, I'd recommend the Hoh Rain Forest. This is the most lush, green and mossy area of the park. It's truly an incredible experience to walk through here and marvel at all the interesting vegetation.

This trail in the Hoh Rain Forest is called "Hall of Moss" which is extremely fitting.

Trees covered in moss at the Hoh Rain Forest.

The complete immersion of everything covered by fuzzy green vegetation at the Hoh Rain Forest feels other wordly.

An incredibly mossy tree at the Hall of Moses in the Hoh Rain Forest

Delicate small ferns frowing from the floor in the Hoh Rain Forest

Beautiful delicate little ferns growing everywhere on the floor in the Hoh Rain Forest

Giant mushrooms growing up a tree.

Giant mushroom growing on a tree, the technical term for this mushroom is "Polypore shelf mushroom"

The Hoh Rain Forest has a large elk population and while we were enjoying our hike we found ourselves surrounded by about 20+ elk

Quinault Valley

Another amazing section of the park with more lush green rain forests and beautiful lakes.

Natalie holding in umbrella with green moss and trees all around here.

Natalie immersed in green while doing the Quinault Loop.

Trevor standing on wooden board walks surrounded by green ferns and trees.

Trevor on the board walks along the Quinault Rain Forest Nature Trail.

Mushrooms growing on the side of a fallen log

Mushrooms of all varieties are everywhere you look in Olympic National Park

Natalie holding an umbrella standing in front of a small waterfall in Quinault.

Beautiful little waterfall along the Quinault Loop.

Natalie looking over the edge of the Quinault River Pony Bridge with beautiful water and green ferns and moss.

We went on a 5 mile hike called "Quinault River Pony Bridge Trail" that took you into Quinault's "Enchanted Valley", the view's from the bridge were incredible.

An aerial view of the Quinault River with trees and moss on it's sides.

A beautiful view of the Quinault River from the Pony Bridge. This hike took us deep into the forest far away from any crowds.

A vibrant green pool with trees and moss along the Maple Glade Nature Trail.

We did an amazing hike called the Maple Glade Nature Trail, which took you through beautiful sections of rain forests with vibrant green pools of water covering the forest floor.

Lake Quinault, which is the centerpiece of the Quinault valley, on an overcast day.

Sol Duc Falls

This area features the beautiful Sol Duc Falls along with more stunning hikes through rain forests and the Sol Duc Hot Springs.

Sol Doc Falls from the vantage point of the bridge.

The incredible Sol Duc Falls. The water falls sideways into a slot canyon like passageway, surrounded by moss and greenery.

Looking directly down into the Sol Duc Falls passageway from the bridge above.

Trevor on the trail down to Sol Doc Falls surrounded by trees and moss.

The hike down to Sol Doc Falls.

The floor along the Ancient Groves Nature Trail, covered in ferns, clovers and trees.

We did an amazing hike in this area called the "Ancient Groves Nature Trail", which ended up being one of our favorite hikes in the entire park. Unfortunately, we didn't take a lot of pictures of it. The floor of this trail was so covered in green clovers and small vegetation that it was like the entire floor was carpeted.

Natalie in the pool at Sol Duc Hot Springs

Natalie soaking in the natural heat at Sol Duc Hot Springs.

Lake Crescent

Lake Crescent is a gorgeous lake only 15 minutes from Port Angeles that we would come to often. There is a hike called "Mount Storm King" that takes you to a nearby mountain top that gives you amazing views of the lake.

Natalie hanging out at the dock at Lake Crescent.

Natalie sitting on a dock with the beautiful lake crescent in the background.

A yellow kayak floating at Lake Crescent.

Kayaking on Lake Crescent

Trevor and Natalie kayaking in a yellow kayak on Lake Crescent.

The view of Lake Crescent from the top of Mount Storm King.

Natalie standing on a ridge with fog behind her.

When we arrived at top of Mount Storm King, we were completely immersed in fog which obstructed our view of the lake. Fortunately there were a few brief windows where we could get a glimpse of the lake.

Natalie in front of a tunnel along the Mount Storm King trail.

A cool tunnel that you have to go through along the trail up to Mount Storm King.

Mushrooms growing all the way up the length of a tree at Lake Crescent.

Ozette Triangle - Backpacking

The Ozette Triangle (also known as the Cape Alava Loop) is a world renowned 10 mile coastal backpacking trail on the western side of the park. The trail starts at Ozette lake and then takes you to the coast, then comes back to where you started in a big triangle.

Natalie and Trevor taking a selfie in a mirror with their backpacking packs on the their backs.

A living room selfie of us with our backpacks on before heading out into the wilderness.

Trevor backpacking on a coastal beach on the Ozette Triangle trail.

Hiking on the beautiful coast of the Ozette Triangle.

A tent with Trevor sitting next to it on the Ozette Triangle trail.

Our coastal backcountry campsite for the night.

A panorama view from the Sand Point Hill, Ozette Triangle.

Panoramic view from the top of Sand Point hill along the Ozette Triangle, our campsite was nestled in the treeline on the left side.

Trevor backpacking along the Ozette Triangle trail near the coast.

Natalie hiking along the boardwalk section of the Ozette Triangle.

Natalie trekking through the coastal section of the Ozette Triangle.

Sea stacks between Sand Point and Wedding Rocks

The boardwalk section of the Ozette Triangle

Hurricane Ridge

Olympic National Park isn't just rain forests, it also features tall mountain peaks in the center of the park. You can drive up to the mountains where there is an amazing trail called Hurricane Ridge, which positions you in a unique spot where you can look at the mountains towards the south and the ocean towards the north. Unfortunately the day we came was a bit overcast so we couldn't see the views in all their glory, but it was still amazing nonetheless.

Natalie and Trevor standing on Hurricane Ridge with the Olympic mountains in the background obscured by clouds.

Olympic NP Beaches

One of the best parts of Olympic National Park is it's amazing coastal beaches, which feature interesting sea stacks and diverse tide pools. We didn't take too many pictures while we were at the beaches because we were having too much fun.

Natalie walking on Rialto Beach with sea stacks in the background.

Natalie walking on Rialto Beach, one of our favorite Washington beaches we've been to for it's amazing sea stacks and rock formations.

"Hole in the Rock" at Rialto Beach.

Trevor and Natalie at La Push Third Beach.

This is La Push's "Third Beach", the most excluded and our favorite of the three beaches alongside La Push.

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island off the coast of Canada, located directly above the Olympic Peninsula in Washington across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. You can take a one hour ferry ride across the strait from Port Angeles to the city of Victoria, BC. We went on some amazing hikes here and explored the city of Victoria.

On the Black Ball Ferry Line taking us from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC.

We went to Goldsteam Park on Vancouver Island and did the Upper Goldsteam Falls hike, which is one of our favorite hikes ever to date.

Natalie and Trevor in front of the upper goldstream falls

The Upper Goldsteam Falls

The boardwalk down to upper goldsteam falls.

Hiking down to Upper Goldstream Falls.

We did a hike on Vancouver Island called Creyke Point that we loved.

Grass and rocks on the way up to Creyke Point.

Hiking up to the top of the hill at Creyke Point.

A fun rope swing on the beach at Creyke Point

We did a really cool hike on Vancouver Island that takes you to an out of service railroad bridge called the Kinsol Trestle, which was fun to explore.

The Kinsol Trestle from the the other side.

Natalie walking down Fan Tan Alley in downtown Victoria.

Trevor eating a BeaverTail in Victoria, BC.

Our favorite Canadian treat, BeaverTails.

The hotel that we stayed at in Victoria, the Huntingdon Manor, was a cute victorian style building that served us traditional english tea in the morning.

The traditional english tea that was served to us for breakfast at our hotel.

Port Angeles

This section includes pictures from a collection of random activities we did within Port Angeles, the city where our Airbnb was located.

Our Airbnb in Port Angeles, which was really cute and had a great backyard with a fireplace.

We went to a Port Angeles "Lefties" baseball game

Natalie and Trevor standing on the Elwha River with E-bikes

We rented E-bikes in Port Angeles and went on a really fun bike ride to the Elwha River Bridge. One of our favorite things we did!

Natalie in front of the Elwha River Bridge.

Trevor feeding an animal at the Olympic Game Farm

We went to the Olympic Game Farm near Port Angeles where you feed animals from your car.

Animals at the Olympic Game Farm

Natalie in her car with an animal head out the window

"Ya'll have any carrots?"

We went to a fun outdoor art festival in Port Angeles which had a flower crown making station.

A plant weaving loom at an art festival we went to in Port Angeles

Natalie and Trevor laying down on the beach at the Port Angeles wharf

Hanging out at the Port Angeles wharf beach.

Natalie climbing up a ladder at Fort Worden

Near Port Angeles there is a city called Port Townsend which has an abandoned military fort called Fort Worden, which is now a state park that you can roam around and explore. It was a ton of fun!