Mount Rainier, Washington

GOODBYE WASHINGTON!

It was time to say goodbye to Washington State.  Here's one last look at the beautiful mountains out of our plane window as we flew by.  We really enjoyed this adventure!

Ruby Beach, Washington

Since we were just a few miles from the Pacific Coast we decided to leave the Hoh Rainforest and spend a few minutes at Ruby Beach, Washington.  We were not disappointed with our decision.  The view from the look-out just below the parking lot was breath taking as was the beach once we got a closer look.

Cedar Creek empties into the Pacific Ocean at Ruby Beach

Famous for the reddish sand that occasionally gathers and large, rock islands known as sea stacks, Ruby Beach is one of the most well-known and highly anticipated beaches to visit along the Olympic coastline. This beach is the northernmost of the southern beaches in the coastal section of Olympic National Park. It is located on Highway 101, in Jefferson County, 27 miles south of the town of Forks.

Where's the beach?

Beautiful sight after climbing over all that driftwood

Like virtually all beaches on the northern coast, Ruby Beach has a tremendous amount of driftwood which we had to climb over to walk the beach and get closer to the sea stacks. 

Sea stacks on Ruby Beach

Destruction Island (also known historically as Green Island) is a 30-acre island located approximately 3.5 miles of Ruby Beach. Home to seabirds, shorebirds, and marine mammals, it is part of the Quillayute Needles National Wildlife Refuge.

Destruction Island as seen from Ruby Beach

Destruction Island was used as an anchorage by Spanish ships in 1775. A crew of seven men was sent to the mainland to procure supplies of wood and water, but was massacred by the local Indians, leading naval lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra to name it the Isla de Dolores (the Island of Sorrows). Twelve years later, Captain Charles William Barkley, an independent English fur trader, arrived in the ship Imperial Eagle, and sent a party ashore from the island to a similar fate. He named the river where the second massacre took place the Destruction River. Captain George Vancouver later transferred the name to the Isla de Dolores when the river was given its Indian name, the Hoh River.

Three shipwrecks occurred at the island in 1889: Cassanora Adams, Port Gordon, and Wide West. The 94 foot Destruction Island Lighthouse was built on Destruction Island in 1888-91. A US Coast Guard detachment operated the lighthouse from 1939 to the early 1970s. The light was automated in 1968, before it was shut off for good in April 2008. The island itself is accessible only by boat.Jump up

Hoh Rainforest, Washington

On our last day in the Olympic National Park we visited the Hoh Rainforest. It is one of the largest temperate rainforests in the U.S.  Within Olympic National Park, the forest is protected from commercial exploitation. This includes 24 miles of low elevation forest 394 to 2,493 feet along the Hoh River. The Hoh River valley was formed thousands of years ago by glaciers. Between the park boundary and the Pacific Ocean, 48 km of river, much of the forest has been logged within the last century, although many pockets of forest remain.

The beautiful Hoh River flows in and out of Olympic National Park

Forks, Washington welcome sign

It looks like Bella is visiting the Forks Timber Museum! See her red truck on the left?

To get to the Hoh Rainforest we traveled west on Highway 101 and then headed south on the same highway going through Forks, Washington.  Forks may look familiar because it is the setting (and partial filming location) for the Twilight Movies.

After passing through Forks we turned back to the east and traveled on the Upper Hoh Road and back into the Olympic National Park.

Hoh Visitors Center

EVERYTHING in the forest is covered with moss!

The Hoh Rainforest is home to a National Park Service ranger station, from which backcountry trails extend deeper into the national park.

Near the visitor center is the Hall of Mosses Trail, a short trail—0.8 miles - which gives visitors a feel for the local ecosystem and views of maples draped with large growths of spikemoss. There is also the Spruce Nature Trail (1.2 miles), which includes signs that identify various trailside trees and plants.  We enjoyed a hike through the Hall of Mossess but, unfortunately, we didn't have the time or energy to tackle the Spruce Nature Trail before we headed to Ruby Beach and back to home base, Lake Sutherland.

Gman or Hobbit?