Posted by jeff miller on April 13, 2006 at 11:20 PM
Hi, I'm new to the forum. I'm heading to Olympic National Park and Port Angeles area, and wondered if anyone had suggestions for places to stay, place to shoot. We currently have reservations in Sol Duc resort for July. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks jmil
Posted by Marc Adamus on April 13, 2006 at 11:36 PM
Hi Jeff. What do you mean reservations.....you mean your not camping in the rainforest? The Sol Duc trail itself is quite a beauty, particularly the falls about 1/2 mile in where I once spent over a week base-camped (In April before you needed a permit). By continuing several miles into the high country, you can gain amazing views of the Olympic range near the high divide ridge to the South. Backcountry camping is best for photography or a 15+ mile dayhike will take you there and back in a day. Check out some topos! Not into bigger hikes? Drive to Hurricane ridge at sunset or sunrise. Awesome views from the Pacific to Mount Olympus. The Hoh rainforest is the park's feature attraction IMO. Best example of old growth temperate rainforest I've ever seen, and I've hiked thousands of miles in it. It's about two hours from Port Angeles. The Quinalt and Queets are also amazing, but it would be too long a day from Port Angeles and one involves a huge river ford.
Oh yeah...the coast! Must see's are Second Beach (two hours southeast), the Cape Flattery area and possilby 'Point of the Arches' after some hiking to get there. Best rocky beaches in the NW.
Have fun!
Posted by John Lehmkuhl on April 14, 2006 at 3:31 AM
There is a little town called Forks that I like to stay at - I've only been to the Olympics 1 time and it worked well as base camp. Easy access to the beaches/rainforest and a nice drive to get to Hurricane ridge... sunrise at Hurricane would be a stretch because of distance, but Forks is a nice place to stay.
Unfortunately, Second Beach (near LaPush) is still inaccessible. The spat between the Park and the Native Americans has not been resolved, last I checked.... but Ruby, Rialto and many other Beaches are still at your disposal and if you are into hiking in and camping at the beach the far NW corner has ShiShi Beach which is regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, although I have not seen it yet for myself, some of the photos from there are stunning.....
Quinalt area also has awesome waterfalls and rainforests to see.... there is so much in this area that you could spend a very long time and still not see all of it.
Posted by jeff miller on April 14, 2006 at 9:18 AM
Thanks for your feedback, we will spend three days in Fork...so I'm excited. Thanks again for your help!
Posted by Marc Adamus on April 14, 2006 at 11:40 AM
Hey John, good to know! Glad you mentioned that before I drove over there in late June. I'll visit some other spots instead. Any idea what the problem is all about?
Posted by Sean Watson on April 16, 2006 at 9:58 PM
Jeff,
I don't know what you're interested in. July should be a great time for wildflowers at higher elevations. I'm partial to the hikes out of Obstruction Point (short, well maintained dirt road right as you enter the parking lot at Hurricane Ridge). You can also get to them by hiking up from Deer Park, but I haven't tried that. (Several people I know fall all over themselves to recommend Deep Park.)
If you're interested in the rain forest, you have the Hoh and Quinault river valleys to choose from (and the Queets, but I understand you need to do some nontrivial fording to get into that). I perfer the Quinault rainforest because there's a bigger network of trails. The elk are friendlier (or at least more habituated) in Hoh than in Quinault.
As for the beaches, I've been happiest with my results from Ruby beach. If you go to Rialto, be sure to hike up the beach at least as far as Hole In the Wall (and check the tides!). I haven't been to Second beach, but I've seen spectacular results from it. You'll want to think about fog at the beaches,
There're way too many options to enumerate here. (Even if you ignore the South, East, and backcountry parts of the park.)
Last time Inge and I were out on Rialto Beach, we spoke with a ranger who said the Quileute tribe depends a lot on tourisim and that both the NPS and the tribe have strong insentives to reopen access before Memorial day; he obviously couldn't promise anything. The best advice I can offer is try to keep your schedule as flexible as possible.
Sean
Posted by jeff miller on April 17, 2006 at 9:01 AM
Thanks Sean, I'm sorta in a wildflower state of mind right now. I've been doing weddings and portraits all winter, and I'm ready to pull out the 180 macro and takes some shots of subjects that don't talk! We'll definitely do the rainforest and beach, so thanks for the info. Jeff
Discussion
6 repliesOh yeah...the coast! Must see's are Second Beach (two hours southeast), the Cape Flattery area and possilby 'Point of the Arches' after some hiking to get there. Best rocky beaches in the NW.
Have fun!
Unfortunately, Second Beach (near LaPush) is still inaccessible. The spat between the Park and the Native Americans has not been resolved, last I checked.... but Ruby, Rialto and many other Beaches are still at your disposal and if you are into hiking in and camping at the beach the far NW corner has ShiShi Beach which is regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, although I have not seen it yet for myself, some of the photos from there are stunning.....
Quinalt area also has awesome waterfalls and rainforests to see.... there is so much in this area that you could spend a very long time and still not see all of it.
I don't know what you're interested in. July should be a great time for wildflowers at higher elevations. I'm partial to the hikes out of Obstruction Point (short, well maintained dirt road right as you enter the parking lot at Hurricane Ridge). You can also get to them by hiking up from Deer Park, but I haven't tried that. (Several people I know fall all over themselves to recommend Deep Park.)
If you're interested in the rain forest, you have the Hoh and Quinault river valleys to choose from (and the Queets, but I understand you need to do some nontrivial fording to get into that). I perfer the Quinault rainforest because there's a bigger network of trails. The elk are friendlier (or at least more habituated) in Hoh than in Quinault.
As for the beaches, I've been happiest with my results from Ruby beach. If you go to Rialto, be sure to hike up the beach at least as far as Hole In the Wall (and check the tides!). I haven't been to Second beach, but I've seen spectacular results from it. You'll want to think about fog at the beaches,
There're way too many options to enumerate here. (Even if you ignore the South, East, and backcountry parts of the park.)
Marc,
See this article.
Last time Inge and I were out on Rialto Beach, we spoke with a ranger who said the Quileute tribe depends a lot on tourisim and that both the NPS and the tribe have strong insentives to reopen access before Memorial day; he obviously couldn't promise anything. The best advice I can offer is try to keep your schedule as flexible as possible.
Sean