Washington Trip (Oct 2024)

Day1: Mountain top sunrise to Beach sunset

After we landed in Seattle around mid-day, we drove to Port Angeles. It is a bigger city with many amenities and had a small park along the beachside. Our arrival was in time to see the Sunset in Port Angeles beach. So, we loitered around to relax from the long drive, sat down a bit to enjoy the Sunset and checked in to hotel for the night.

Next day morning, left the hotel at 6 to get to the top of Olympic Mountain by 6:45 AM. During the drive up there in the dark, we hardly saw any vehicles in that windy road uphill. When we reached the top where the visitor center was supposed to be, we saw an almost empty parking lot with vehicles slowly trickling in. Apparently, the visitor center was damaged in the wildfire earlier and they had made a makeshift center and bathroom in trailers. 

We roamed around a bit to see where would be get a good view of the sunrise and decided to take Sunrise point trail. The way up was pretty well paved until we approached the top and then the path was a bit rocky. We had almost clear skies with minimal clouds set for a perfect Sunrise. Given the time of the year, it is highly unlikely that there would be a better visibility of the horizon. Chilly a bit with temperature showing 32F. Sunrise provided for a spectacular opportunity in that serene atmosphere. There were only a few people around and we had plenty of space for ourselves to get the view of the rising Sun!

After sunrise, drove from the visitor center parking lot to Hurricane Ridge trailhead. Considering that we already hiked a bit along the ridge at the Sunrise Point and considering that we didn’t have any food yet, we decided to not hike it. Drove back to the town and looked for a potential breakfast place. The first place we went seemed to be a very popular one with lots of crowd that we had to wait for ~45min. Our tummies weren’t ready for that. And, found this place Pink Pony Cafe. It was a neat little place serving sweet and savory crepes! The crepes were bigger than normal and provided an awesome and scrumptious filling!

Our next stop was to Crescent Lake and Marymere Falls. We parked our car near Storm King Ranger’s Station and took the trail to Marymere Falls. The trail takes you through a heavily wooded are with giant trees, probably primary forests! This area also looked like a rain forest, which we later found to be a type of rain forest called ‘Temperate Rainforest’. There were two viewpoints to the falls and you can take the trail as a loop. The trail is a very easy hike for all ages. 

On the way back, we took the trail through the Crescent Lake Lodge. From the lake beach, you can see how the tall hills had locked the lake and it provided for a peaceful setting to relax for some time. Once you leave the lodge area and take the trail to ranger station, it follows along the lakeshore for a while and again we enter the old-growth forest areas with huge trees. There we could see signs of logging industry’s remnants as tree stumps. Logging was once allowed here apparently, centuries ago.

Then, we started our drive to the next stop at Sol-Duc Falls. The road took us along the shore of Crescent lake and as we passed the east end of crescent lake, the clouds were rolling in to provide some drizzle. From the boating ramp at this end of the lake, you can see how clear the water is to see the lake bottom.

Our next stop was Sol-Duc falls. The trail from the parking lot quickly led us into another heavily wooded area with tall trees and mushrooms everywhere. 

Light rain added to the experience of rain forest. Hide and seek played by the sun in the clouds exposed different shades of lush green to that forest. The structures built along the trail and the bridge provided for a good view of the falls in different angles. We spent quite some time there taking in the beauty of the falls nestled inside lush green jungle like atmosphere.

On the way back, we stopped at the Sol-Duc hot springs area but there was a huge wait to get in and it had started raining again. Since we had quite bit of drive further, we decided to continue driving out. Along the road, we stopped at the Salmon Cascade Exhibit parking area. We didn’t have a clue what we would see as we assumed that the Salmon run season would have been over. To our surprise, we saw a bunch of Salmon jumping up the small falls along that Sol-Duc River. While we had been disappointed in Alaska for not having seen a single Salmon in wild, this was an unexpected bonus for us!

After this, we took straight to Route 101 all the way until the La Push Road, headed to the cabins, ordered food to be picked up later and rushed to the Rialto beach to catch the sunset. The beach was a 10 min drive from the cabin we had rented. The beach had good crowd waiting for the sunset on a slightly windy day. This beach was filled with black stones and gravels. Small rocky hills inside the water reminded of the ‘Trolls’ in Iceland’s Black Beach. Driftwoods were everywhere pushed to the far edge apparently during a high tide. The clear skies blushed when the spectacular sunset happened!

Day 2: Beach day!

As the day before was very long and eventful, we started in relaxed manner and headed to Ruby beach. This beach sand reminded of the Black Beach in Iceland again but with calmer ocean. Similar to Rialto, there were trolls but the sand was a bit finer. It was high tide. So, didn’t get a chance to see tidal pools. It was peaceful stroll with perfect blue skies and temperature. 

Then we went to Kalaloch 4th beach. We just took a short hike to the shore and back.

Hoh rain forest! On the way grabbed burgers at the only food store that you can find in the vicinity. Hard Rain Cafe – the hours of operation etched on their door said all about the laid-back style they operated the café!

On the way to visitor center, we saw a freshly downed tall tree that was sawed out to open up the width of the road. Later we found out that this happened only 3 weeks ago and it delayed the visitors by 5-6 hours to get out as the crews worked to chain saw the trunk! Once reaching the Hoh Rain Forest, we saw how packed the parking area was. Luckily, we found one along the roadside on the way out, not far from the visitor center. We took the Hall of Mosses trail and got to join the ranger narrated tour. Quite a bit of interesting information was shared by the young ranger. 3 main types of trees could be found there: Western hemlock, Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce trees and they had 500-700 years life span. And, it takes another 500-700 years to decay after they fall or die naturally. Then they become what you call ‘nursing logs’ where other trees start to grow from seeds. They have enough nutrition for these new trees to grow. The ranger also said that these trees connect/communicate through their root systems and canopies. For such tall trees, it was interesting to note that they had only shallow roots. The ranger was mentioning about a slug called Banana slug – its yellow color giving its name. One of the tourists pointed out to a banana slug along by the side!

Right after the tour, we saw an Elk mother and child wading in a small pond eating what is called ‘water parsley’ in a small pond along the trail. Driving back on the park road, we could see plenty of elks grazing in the grass land behind barbed wire fences.

On the drive back, we took a small detour to go to the Big Cedar Trail. It was a a short trail with hardly any people around. So, we just took quick peak at the giant cedar trees and were on our way back. 

On our way back to La Push, we stopped at Forks, but it was difficult to find any place to grab something to eat. Took some coffee drinks from a shack and headed to First Beach in La Push. First beach seemed to be managed by the local Quileute Tribe people and needed a parking permit. 

It was now low tide time and first beach didn’t seem to have a rocky shore. So, we headed to Second Beach and took the 0.8-mile hike down to the shore from the parking lot. Once we got to the beach, it was an out of the world sight with low tide leaving glistening sand beach with many exposed rocky mounds. In the crevices were plenty of sea anemones and starfishes of different colors. The reflections of rocks on the glassy black sand with sun approaching the horizon, it was an unforgettable scenery. Thin layer of water left behind by the tides with sun on its way to disappear behind the horizon provided for a great visual treat. Our cameras were able to capture only a fraction of that experience! Decided to trek back to car before the sunset so that we didn’t have to scale the hike in darkness. 

Headed back to First Beach to have our dinner at Rivers Edge restaurant. The restaurant setting was little at the edge of Quillayute River, before merging with the ocean. Sunset with pink skies was clearly visible through the restaurant windows. Entire set of diners couldn’t resist the view of the setting sun and headed out to take in the view, including some waiters! The restaurant as this edge of the world did have wonderful vegetarian food. The hostess herself was a vegetarian and the service was great. 

Day 3: Kalaloch beaches

The next day, we checked out of the cabin and drove towards Paradise, for our next visit to Mount Rainier NP. We had to drive back some of the same route as the previous day but made a point to visit beaches in the Kalaloch area that we didn’t get to see the day before. It was an overcast day with occasional drizzle. 

From the Kalaloch Campground entrance, we accessed the beach and saw an interesting tree perched between two mounds of sand hill – ‘Tree of life’!

Another thing that was very interesting here is the plethora of ‘Sand dollars’ in the black sand beach! The beach again had plenty of driftwoods.

On what seemed like a long drive, we stopped in the town of Hoquiam for lunch in a Mexican restaurant. There were quite a lot of Mexican restaurants all along the way!

Passed the Capital of Washington, Olympia, on the way to Paradise Inn, our stay for next 3 days. It was run by Ukrainians.

Day4: Mountain Rainier

Important lesson: Be sure to have a plan to fuel the car and stomach! This might be the case because we visited in late September/ early October which seems to be off-season!

Had a wonderful breakfast at Paradise Inn to start the day which was completely overcast with occasional drizzle. Sun was behind a thick blanket of clouds struggling to show its rays. We started driving and entered the park via the Nisqually entrance hoping that it would clear up as the day grows. We made stops at Cascade Falls and Narada Falls. While the falls were perfect to visit given the overcast weather, we had to take a decision whether to go to Paradise or Sunrise as it didn’t seem likely that we will have good views to hike to Panorama point from Paradise. 

So, we decided to go to Sunrise and on the way to Sunrise, we realized that we might not have enough gas. We checked with a ranger about the nearest gas station and he suggested Packwood is only 15-20min away and it’s better to fill up before going to Sunrise.  We decided so and used the opportunity to pack up some lunch from a Mexican place. On the way back, it seemed like the Sunrise side had relatively clearer skies as the ranger had also indicated that eastern side would normally have clearer skies than western side.

There were several really good viewpoints on the way to Sunrise point. The visitor center was closed for the season. There were many elderly park volunteers some of whom had come all the way from Seattle. We took their suggestion and ventured on the Emmons glacier trail and about halfway into Shadow Lake trail for additional views. 

Then, headed to Tipsoo Lake. This lake provided for amazing views within a short stroll around its beautiful perimeter. It was getting closer to sunset and so we decided to get out of the park before dark to avoid all the winding roads. Google maps led us to a closed road from Packwood and we lost an hour. Luckily, there was someone at the road closure who gave us some directions to get back to Ashford!

Day5: Mt Rainier

Started the next day very relaxed and saw the day had some clear skies. Our first stop was at Reflection Lake. Due to the breezy conditions, the lake was nothing but still and the Mount Rainier didn’t get any reflection. We spent a few minutes and decided to hit the Panorama point to take the Skyline Trail. The parking lot was overflowing with vehicles!

Skyline Trail –

This trail had good amount of traffic and the fall colors were in full bloom. The beauty of the landscape along this trail cannot be fully explained in words. The blue skies, in full contrast to the day before, accentuated the beauty. 

The broad steps at the trailhead were tastefully done with John Muir’s saying and the view of Mount Rainier as the backdrop! The trail began with well paved path but with steep grade. The steepness of the trail pretty much made most visitors to remove layers of clothing as the trail progressed. Sun made it even warmer as you proceeded. After the blacktop paving ended, the unpaved trail continued with the steep grade. The Marmot that we spotted in close proximity was a highlight. A volunteer along the way was showing a black bear that he spotted through his scope to the visitors. It was too far away to even recognize! All along the way, different angles of Mount Rainier kept exhibiting its magnificence. After we reached the Panorama point we decided to take  the High Skyline Trail leading to join the Golden Gate trail for our way back to the visitor center. At the Panorama point and a few other spots until we reached the highest point of the trail along the High Skyline Trail, the silhouette of the mountain ranges was so clear providing clear views of Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens. We suspect that we were even able to see the Mount Hood. As we were walking with the full view of the Mount Rainier, we witnessed a loud cracking of a part of the glacier that fell off creating an icy dust. 

From the Panorama point to the Golden Gate trail, it was quite tricky in many places where you have to scale the path with four limbs. Whatever the path through at us was minimized by the constant 360 views around with mountains and silhouette of mountain ranges. The way down via Golden Gate trail showed us the beauty of the fall colors in a much more vibrant way than the way up the Skyline Trail.

Right before we reached the Myrtle Falls, some of the visitors got lucky to see a Bear and 2 cubs grazing to their heart-full in the hilly meadows. The sun made their furry skin glisten, confusing us on whether its black or brown bear! The Mountain Goat we saw earlier was so far that the bear sighting compensated for.

The stream of glacier water that was trickling all along the trail side became a fall at ‘Myrtle Falls’. The views of the Falls with Mount Rainier in the backdrop with fall-colored bushes everywhere in between provided for a very picturesque setting! By the time we reached the parking lot, our devices showed ~5.5 miles of trek, but we didn’t feel much tired. It was a relatively easy hike but the breathtaking views eased the journey to great extent!

After we reached the parking lot, there was still some daylight left and we decided to head back to the Reflection Lake again to try our luck. It proved to be a good decision as the water was much more still providing for a wonderful reflection of the Mount Rainier. Some photographers were ready with the equipment to capture the pinkish sky that created a pink hue of the glaciers on the Mount Rainier which in turn created a calming reflection in the lake.

After an eventful day, we reached the cabin and decided to have the dinner at the restaurant run by the Cabin owners. The Ukrainian Borsch soup and Galushki (Gnocchi) tasted amazing!

 Day5-6: Leavenworth, Index and Seattle

We checked out of the Paradise Inn, had our breakfast at Copper Creek Inn and headed to Leavenworth. We took the directions via Tacoma & I90 as the other direction was through the park and it would have taken much longer. Majority of the drive was through heavy traffic around the Tacoma area.

Leavenworth is a town artificially made to mimic a Bavarian town to attract tourists. 5-6 blocks of touristy stores are what attracts the crowd. Pretty much all the stores in the town, including Starbucks and Safeway had a façade imitating a Bavarian German style building. In the hindsight, what we thought was this town could have been a ‘filler’ if we had nothing else to do as we would have loved to spend more time in the National Parks. 

As we approached the sunset, we decided leave Leavenworth to get to Index, WA where we planned to stay for the night at Bush House Inn. This is apparently a historic site operating since 1898. It was located in a quaint little village nestled between a river and mountain ranges. 

The drive from Leavenworth to Index started with overcast skies in beautiful roadway on the mountainside. As we moved towards Index, the weather got really wild and stormy. The highway is 6-8 lanes winding through tall mountains. The beauty of the fall colors in the mountains peeped through the foggy and rainy weather in many spots. 

By the time we reached Index, we only had time to check-in and call it a day! Next day, we thought of grabbing breakfast at the Inn before heading to Seattle. But the Chef didn’t show up until 9 a.m. or later. So, we skipped restaurant breakfast and headed out. Since we had quite a bit of time in hand, we decided to trace our way back to Leavenworth to see if we can get a better visibility of fall colors that we missed the day before. The detour was worth it and then we headed to Seattle.

The first stop was at the Kerry Park. The relatively clear skies provided a great view of Seattle with the Space Needle and the brilliant backdrop of Mount Rainier by the side. The weather turned out to be great for outdoors and we decided to venture some time at the Pike Place Market area. The new architecture built recently that includes the waterfront around and the Pike Place in the middle was easily accessible for all visitors and provided a vibrant atmosphere with heavy crown due to the weekend.

We tasted some pastries at the Russian bakery Piroshky Piroshky, outside of which there was a huge line. Similarly, the Hellenika Creamery where we tasted some cultured gelato was also heavily swamped. Both these eateries were very close to the Original Starbucks store where the queue was even bigger that would have taken an hour at least!

After this, we were approaching Sunset and thought Kerry Park would be a nice place to view the sunset and headed there. It was not disappointing at all and made us felt that the decision was worth it!

And, that would be a wrap for this trip!!