Olympic is a large park with many diverse areas. On our second day at the park we drove to the Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center. This area is a temperate rainforest with lots of giant trees, moss, and ferns everywhere. B was not feeling good so she took the day to sleep in her bed conveniently parked at the visitor center.
We were very surprised as we got closer to the entrance gates and traffic was stopped. As small cars turned around on the two lane road and we inched closer there were signs by the road. Each had an estimated waiting time. Apparently the parking lot at the visitor center fills and they keep people outside the park to wait for others to leave. Being close to noon we took this time (about an hour and a half wait) to make lunch and look at the River nearby. When we final got in we were happy to find lots of open RV only parking.
We did both the Hall of Mosses and the Hoh River hikes. Together they were around 2 miles a super simple afternoon trek. We saw some pretty awesome tree trunks and moss. The River was cold but beautiful. The ferns were large and plentiful. It is an amazing area and very different from the other side of the mountain we saw the day before.
We headed to Bogachiel State Park for the night. It was filled with kids and there was a lot of running around till dark, which is 10pm up here in June. The next morning we were up again headed to Olympic National Park. This time to the coast.
We explored the beach and tide pools until early afternoon. We enjoyed seeing anemones, sea stars, barnacles, mussels, crabs, and little fish in the water. Then watched a bald eagle fly and land on the tree tops nearby. There is something so magical about the ocean. The kids earned an ocean stewardship patch and we said goodby to Olympic as we head south toward Oregon.
Our 6S Full Life 