Kalaloch (2)

As we head to our first stay in Olympic National Park, we are struck by how huge and spread out it is. Without spending a lot of time driving to do things, it is challenging to figure out how to see the highlights efficiently. On this stretch, we figured out that we could see the Quinault Lake and Rainforest area on the way to the campground.

We took a short detour off Highway 101 to get to a nature loop that goes through the rainforest. The parking area for the trailhead was full, but it had a turnaround so trailer people don’t get stuck. We moved on down the road until we came to the ranger information center. That was perfect because it had ample RV parking in the sun (which is great for solar charging), and it was right on the larger loop trail I had wanted to do. 

The Quinault Loop Trail is around four miles and takes you along the lake for a good portion. You pass by the historic lodge, which is still in operation and aims to provide guests with a rustic, old world experience. You pass underneath 101 to get to the staging area for the nature loop, and you can choose which side of the loop to take. We decided to do the whole thing, which meant a little less than a half mile backtrack, before continuing on the larger counter clockwise circle.

This area is called a rainforest, and you can see draperies of moss hanging from the old growth trees. There are babbling creeks and small waterfalls along the way, making for a very pleasant hike. There are also wild berry bushes lining the trail, which someone told us were blueberries that were not yet blue. We do not believe him though. They might be huckleberries, but we were not brave enough to try them. We ended up at the Quinault Mercantile, where they had an ice cream coffin with Haagen Dazs bars. Got our Activity Rings closed in the middle of the day, which is always a happy achievement.

We proceeded on to the campground, which lies right on the coast. There are some premium sites there where you can see the beach right from your site, but really there are only maybe ten of those. To be honest, we’ve seen a lot of beach on this trip, and I was not feeling any sense of site envy. I was mostly just pleased we fit in our pad with no problem, because the description said it had a “severe” grade. It really was not at all severe, and the site description writers need to calm down.

After getting settled, we hiked the nature loop outside the campground and made a bee line for the Kalaloch store. We remembered getting soft serve there and they still had it. They were out of vanilla, but the chocolate was A+. And because you kind of have to, we walked along another romantic beach to take pictures of the Tree of Life. This is a particularly photogenic tree because of the way its roots cling to the sides of the cliffs, even though the ground beneath it has long since crumbled away. People see it as a metaphor, and it feels very relatable.

The next day’s agenda was all about visiting the other rainforest: Hoh. We decided to drive to the place where the road splits off 101 and park our car. From there, we got out our bikes and rode 12 miles to the National Park entrance. We could have parked closer, but part of the activity was getting in a good ride. Coming up to the entrance kiosk, we certainly felt we were the Smart Party. There was a backup line of cars and signs telling people to expect a wait of up to 2 hours. We simply rolled on through and only had to pause long enough to show our National Park Annual Pass. Someone in one of the waiting cars yelled out as we passed by, “You’re winning the race now!”

From the kiosk, it’s another six miles to the parking area and visitor center. This part of the road is spectacular. You are treated to sustained views of the crisp aqua colored Hoh River, and pass in and out of mixed deciduous and evergreen forest. Just gorgeous. We saw a couple of places where they bolstered the edges of the road with those giant concrete things that look like jacks (*I don’t have service now, or I’d look up what they are called). I can understand how that could work to deflect the water when the river floods, so that it doesn’t wear the foundation of the road away. Clever.

We remembered doing the two nature loops through the Hoh Rainforest. One thing that struck us this time was how hot it was. It may be a rainforest, but it is inland from the coast enough that there was at least a twenty degree difference from the campground. After doing the two loops, we turned around and biked 18 miles back to the car. We wanted to stop for ice cream at one of the two tiny places we spotted along the way, but the few options they had were uninspiring. Instead, we promised ourselves another trip to soft serve.

Sure enough, as we drove closer toward the coast, the temperature plummeted. And then a thick bank of fog rolled in, so dense that we couldn’t tell if the pitter pats we heard on Dory’s roof were rain, or falling droplets of fog collecting on the branches above us. I was having a hard time imagining leaving Dory for any reason, but the draw of soft serve won out, and we went for one last walk before bedtime.

Kalaloch (pronounced CLAY-lock) is a nice campground. It is pretty remote, but is obviously a great place to spend time on the beach. There are not many trails in that area, or services, but the lodge restaurant and store are right there in case you need something or don’t want to cook.

Total miles from Cape Disappointment: 149.0, 15.9 mpg. Site 37 no hookups, no solar, ok cell service for both, but noticed service drops out in the northern loops. Good dump but no rinse water. Potable water fill at dump. Site was small but doable.