Lake Quinault
 

We recently relocated to Bellingham and are planning to take advantage of the VIP special at Lake Quinault Lodge the end of February which is stay 1 night, get the next one free. We're planning on doing some major relaxing, reading books, playing games and hopefully, the weather will cooperate for a bit of hiking. Anything else we should consider at this time of year? Thanks for any information.

Welcome! Be sure to visit Ruby Beach while you're there - maybe stop at Kalaloch for lunch?

Obviously bring rain gear, including maybe some mud-friendly boots if you want to hike into the Quinault rain forest, which you should definitely do.

Agreed! :tu:

Thanks Gardyloo and kja. . Yep, we've made good use of mud/rain boots already in Bellingham! Thanks for the suggestions.

Gardyloo, I've been saving your replies and maps for a couple of years in anticipation of moving here. Thanks in advance for all your suggestion.

Lake Quinault Lodge is wonderful, enjoy! Be sure to check out the totem pole rain gauge on the back deck. The Mercantile across the street is a good place to buy sandwiches to go hike. They will pack them for hiking so they don’t get totally squished. There are a lot of good, but short trails around here. Try to get to the Hoh. It’s very doable from here, but I know the road in to it has been an issue this winter so check first to see if it is accessible. The short Hall of Mosses trail is nice but the Hoh River trail is really nice.

Thanks for the info. We just got back yesterday and had a really nice time. The weather was incredible with lots of sunshine. Ruby Beach was so beautiful.

It was a really quick trip, but we'll be back. We took the ferry over from Coupville to Port Townsend and spent some time walking around and having lunch which was fun and really laid back. We had gotten a later start than planned, so we spent the night in Port Angeles which seemed a lot more hectic than Port Townsend.

The next day, we stopped at Lake Crescent and checked out the lodge for the future since it's closed this time of year. Then we drove on to La Push to check out the beaches and Forks. Since it was starting to get late and the drizzle had started, we skipped the Hoh and drove on to Ruby Beach. The drizzle had stopped and the beach was practically vacant and the waves were tremendous. We stayed until it was almost dark.

We made it to Lake Quinault Lodge around 6pm. We had 1 of the fireplace rooms with a deck overlooking the lake. After unloading our luggage, we went to the bar to find it closed. They said they normally open it only on the w/e during the off season, but we were able to get drinks from the restaurant and sit in the bar area with the roaring wood fireplace which was lovely. Unfortunately, we had dinner in the restaurant which was pretty awful. My husband's NY strip was inedible, but I had a fairly good Caesar salad. I would not recommend except for convenience.

We skipped breakfast at the Lodge the next day and had an early lunch at the Internet cafe. The service and food was really good and they have organic eggs if you make it for breakfast. We went back to the lodge and took a couple of hikes, 1 to see the largest Sitka Spruce and then another 5 mile hike. Again, the weather was perfect if you like cool, sunny days! We then spent sometime exploring the Lodge area and sitting by the lake. We finished the day by making a couple of drinks in our room and sitting on the deck.

For dinner that night, we went to the Salmon House which is about a mile from the Lodge. My husband had the broiled salmon and I had the chicken Parmesan. Both were really good and the tab was much less than the night before at the Lodge. I would highly recommend this place.

We had wanted to go to the Mercantile as mms recommended, however it's closed until March, something to note if you are considering the off season.

All in all, it was a great, short trip and I can see spending longer there as it's just so restful. There are TVs in the room, but I can't imagine turning one on. It's so relaxing to sit in the bar in front of the fireplace and play cards or read....like stepping back in time.

We drove back through Seattle as we needed to pick up a couple of things. We hadn't been through Olympia in about 25 years and the area has drastically changed. We hit some really bad traffic that never let up. The Seattle traffic has come from Seattle all the way down to Olympia! I think it would have been just about perfect if we had been able to backtrack and take the relaxing ferry back rather than I5.

​​​​​​​Thanks for the information. As we explore Washington more, I'll try to update what we find for future explorers!