I woke to a drizzly morning, the soft raindrops hit the roof of my van and sounded like popping popcorn. Even though I went to bed pretty early the night before I couldn’t seem to drag myself out of bed until 8 am. Once I got up I was quite efficient. I put my dishes away, made some breakfast, took my setup down, and was on the road a little before 9 am. On my drive towards Lake Quinault, I happened upon a herd of Elk in a small vibrantly green field. Most were laying down as the last of the soft droplets fell from the sky. I stopped and watched them for a while and one sat and watched me back. I moved on through this spacious neighborhood and really loved how open, yet cozy, it felt. It was in a bit of a valley, so fog hung out as the sunshine moved in. Parts of the ground steamed as it moved into a new sunny day.
The lake was grey but not dreary. The clouds hung low on the far side of the valley, with mountains peaking out of the thinner parts of the veil hanging in front of them. I parked at the nature trail parking lot and found a map of the trail system. The trails intertwined and looped off from one another so I made a plan for a 4-mile loop. I anticipated going one direction of it until I took a turn that I thought was right and ended up starting it the opposite way. But I went with it and it turned out great. I crossed a bridge at the beginning and the water in the river was so clear and the vegetation crowding the bridge and shore made it look like a movie set or a ride at Busch Gardens. It looked too perfect. I walked through a campground that had sites along the lakeshore and I was catching it at a time when people were out cooking breakfast and enjoying their mornings. It was so quiet and peaceful. I caught the trail again and it took me along the lake shore. It was so beautiful. The clouds had lifted a bit from when I saw the lake earlier. The water was so calm and it mirrored the mountains and sky above it. There was one motor boat in the water and the wake sent smooth rolling waves to the shore. The trail took me to the backyard of the Lake Quinault Lodge, a stunning building with a beautiful manicured yard, a lit up gazebo, and yard games set out. There was a nice beach behind the lodge and I stopped to take in the morning for a little bit.
I continued on the trail and momentarily lost it, but I found it again and went through more tall, imposing forest with moss hanging from branches like it was tinsel. Ferns coated the ground and these yellow tropical flowers that kind of smelled like lilies popped up along the edge of the trail. It was a really nice little hike. I passed a decent sized waterfall called Cascading Falls, went through the Cedar Bog, and passed by a decent amount of other hikers. During the last part of the hike it had started to sprinkle, ever so lightly. By the time I was a minute or two from the trailhead the sprinkle turned into a steady downfall, hail, and then finally a pour. My hair was drenched almost immediately, as was my backpack. I couldn’t help but laugh and feel lucky that I was so close to my van when it happened.
I said goodbye to this rainforest and moved on to the coast again. My first stop was Beach 1. There was a short trail down to the beach that passed by trees that were very oddly shaped. Many had blobs along the trunk that made them look kind of like Harry Potter wands. Once I got down to the beach area I had to climb up logs and fallen trees to get to the beach. Past the trees, flat rocks of various sizes made up the beach until sand took over before the waves. There was a large overturned stomp I used to hold up my phone for self timer photos and I had fun trying to better my skills with that. After spending some time at this beach I climbed back down the tree laden entryway and moved on to Kalaloch Beach to see the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life is a tree growing between two rock/sand walls, it’s roots exposed in the gap. It was cool to see a pretty big tree supporting itself this way. There was a small waterfall behind it and lots of logs and fallen trees lining the beach in front of it and along the cliff of the whole beach. The beach was wide and went for a long time in both directions. I walked for a while, sat on a log for awhile, and talked to my sister on the phone for a little bit. After a while I walked back and started driving towards Beach 4.
In the parking lot it looked like some sort of film crew was setting up. They had a van with equipment, a car with a pretty serious looking camera contraption over the top and front of it, and group of people hanging around it. I checked out the overlook before walking down toward the beach. I crossed a bridge before climbing down a rock formation onto the sandy shore. I really liked this beach. There were smoothed over rock formations poking up from the sand. In the distance down one way of the beach were tall rock formations coming out of the shore and ocean. I walked down that way and through the rocky area. There was a couple with an old dog and the dog kept coming towards me. The woman and I were about the same size and had the same length brown hair so I think the dog was getting confused on who it was supposed to follow. At one point she came right up to me and the lady let me pet the dog, who was very sweet. I started to walk back but wanted to check out the rock formations partly on the shore and in the water. I turned back towards the couple and noticed the dog was kind of near me but on its way back to the people, so she must have gotten confused again. The crevices of the rocks contained sea life like these weird squishy ring creatures that had little soft fleshy fringe when open, shells and barnacles, and seaweed. It was cool to climb the rocks and look into the different tide pools to see what was inside them. I walked back toward the bridge to cross back onto the trail to the parking lot. I noticed a big bird on the shore a little ways up from the bridge and stopped to look. It was a Bald Eagle and it then took flight and swooped above the waves grabbing a small fish before flying up into a tree. After a minute it flew a little ways to another tree where it hung out for awhile.
I talked on the phone with a friend before going back up to my van. It looked like the film crew was doing some filming now since they were messing with a sound system and setting up for filming two people on a motorcycle. My last stop of the day was Ruby Beach. I ate a very late lunch in my van before heading down the few switchbacks to the beach. Littered with more logs and fallen trees, the thing that made this beach stand out was the island like rock formation. Smaller ones that stood around it and in both directions of the beach. A big lake-like body of water and quick creek coming from it split the beach making it difficult to get closer to the largest standing rock formation. I sat on a big smooth and flat rock, which was in front of a tall one with holes and gaps throughout it. The sun was shining brightly on the waves and it was nice to just sit and watch the waves, the people passing by, and the towering rocks. There was a collection of people trying to move logs to make a little bridge over the narrow part of the quick creek. I watched as they tried and failed until finally a few of them got it. They were able to cross without getting wet. I had watched two people cross the creek earlier and it had gone up to their shins. I then walked the beach a bit and got closer to the creek. I walked the length of it and noticed how deep it was where those guys crossed it with their makeshift bridge. I walked a bit of the other side of the beach that had smaller rock formations but a wider beach before sitting on a log for a little while. I then went back up to my van and made a plan for the night. I found a little parking spot close to Hoh Fainforest in the woods. I got ok vibes from it when I got there and decided it’ll be fine for the night. It was very quiet and only heard a few cars passing by. I ate some dinner, played on my phone for a bit, and called it a night.
Comments