Friday September 1st
It was sunny again, and I set out for three days on the Olympic Peninsula, a place of beaches, mountains and rainforests, though I didn’t get a chance to get up into the mountains. It was coming into the Labor Day long weekend, which seemed to be celebrated as the last fling people would have going on holidays before the cooler weather, and school, set in, though school was already in session for some people. I had struggled to find campsites for these nights, even booking months in advance, and I was anticipating it might be pretty busy. The Friday wasn’t too bad though.
The first stop was Quinalt Rainforest. The rainforests on the peninsula looked as though there was a lot of rain: everything was very lush, and the trees had a lot of moss hanging from the branches. The trees were spruces I think, almost as tall as the redwoods, and very impressive. I went for a short hike, and admired the beautiful lake next to the forest.
The road had gone inland for quite a while, and now joined the coast again at Kalaloch, which had four beaches to its name. What struck me about beaches on the peninsula were huge tree trunks lying down lining lining the foreshore, sometimes piled up on top of each other. There was thick, lush forest growing right to the edge of the sand, then these huge logs piled up, in front of some beach without logs, and then the sea.
I met a man who had been coming for something like 40 years, who pointed out how much erosion had happened in that time. It was quite surprising, the cliffs had eroded maybe 20 or 30 meters / yards in that time. It seems that during storms the sea washed the soil from under the closest trees, which then fell into the water, and eventually were washed back up onto the beach again.
After lunch I visited Ruby Beach, which was quite popular, with a good many people around, and more of those large rocky islands in the sea, including one large one with trees and vegetation growing lushly on the top and even the sides. I continued my way up the peninsula towards the town of Forks where I was staying, and came to the Hoh Rainforest.
This was a very popular spot, and I think I had figured that it might be better to try it on the Friday, than the weekend proper. It was busy enough for all that, at around 4pm. There was quite a wait to get through the park ranger’s station where they were checking we had passes, and get into the park. There were a number of car parks, but they all looked full, but thank the Lord I found one spot that was free, and went on a bit of a hike through the forest.
The walk was near a river, and I found a track that cut through to the banks. It was a beautiful spot. There was a warning notice about a cougar having been seen along the hiking trail. The trail went for a long way, I think into increasingly remote areas, and solo hiking through there was not advised. I hiked fairly briskly, and the blisters I’d got from the Half Dome hike flared up again, after over a week.
Forks is a town in the centre of the north-western part of the peninsula, probably servicing the tourists as much as anything. The RV park I had booked, the Olympic Adventure Campground, was a little out of town, heading north again. It was fairly open, with some tall trees throughout, with powered sites, and water. Some campsites where I stayed had water, or power, or both and some didn’t. Having water was handy because I could fill up my water bottles without going to the toilet block. Power meant I could charge my devices without needing to do it while the van was going. Neither were essential, just convenient.
I struck up a conversation with a man with a caravan next door who was having trouble with a leaking water hose. There was a little track behind my campsite to the facilities, where there was a shower available, but it was meant to be paid for beforehand, and the office had closed. I think they used the honesty system. So I skipped it for the night.
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