Olympic National Park (3-4 Days)
 

In case it will help someone, here is our trip report for July trip to Olympic National Park. I visit this forum to get trip planning tips, so wanted to return the favor.

Friday
Left Tacoma area just shortly after 7am, arrived to Quinault River Ranger Station around 10am for Junior Ranger guides and to buy a park pass (don't need this if just staying at LQL). Explored the Lake Quinault Lodge grounds, lake is beautiful, and there are canoe and rowboat rentals on property. Lunch at the lodge. Hiked to Gatton Creek Waterfalls, and Cascade waterfalls. Both were very short, easy hikes - five year old and slightly less mobile adult carrying a three month old were able to complete both. Drove to Merriman falls. Swam in lodge's indoor pools. LQL is great family retreat - bocce ball sets and other lawn games, foosball, pool, and lots of relaxing activities. After dinner at the Lodge we roasted marshmallow's at the Lodge's lakeside campfire. Tip: buy the s'mores ingredients beforehand.

TBC

Saturday
One child in group sworn in as Junior Ranger after breakfast at LQL (sweet potato pancakes were great!). There is a pressed penny machine on property for souvenirs. Drove to Ruby Beach, arrived shortly after 11am. Tip: Download google maps for area to your phone because you will not have reception in the park. We also google mapped all of our locations, and printed directions. And made an itinerary that included travel times (when we needed to leave someplace in order to arrive by a certain time). This helped us maximize what we could see and do. After exploring Ruby Beach (it was rainy and overcast but still beautiful), we drove toward Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center. There was a cafe on the way, where we stopped for lunch. Hall of Mosses Trail. Beautiful. Caught part of a Ranger program, but decided to keep going in order to make Marymere Falls hike (kiddos favorite) and our 7:30pm dinner reservations at Bella Italia. In time it took for kiddos to complete Marymere Falls (they did stop to play in water and gawk at waterfall), an adult in group also completed the trail that looped Crescent Lake. Crescent Lake is gorgeous - crystal clear. Their lodge was booked when we planned our trip. But Red Lion was great, inexpensive albeit barebones room, beautiful view, free bike rental, and close to everything we wanted to see in Port Angeles.

Sunday
Kiddos slept in. Husband brought us coffee then went for a bike ride along the water side Olympic Discovery Trail while I read on the balcony and watched the sunrise. Great spot for breakfast, New Day Eatery, they have Vegan baked goods. Visited Olympic National Park Visitor Center, opted not to watch the video, and instead added Hurricane Ridge to our itinerary after speaking with Ranger. Ride took 45 minutes and was not treacherous at all (I was spooked from driving Rocky Mountain National Park on a prior trip). Incredible views, most of snow had melted (went in late July) and wildflowers were blooming. Loop hike is very quick and entirely paved. Next to Sol Duc Falls. This was my favorite, it was HUGE. Awe inspiring. It makes you a little nervous how steep the drop is (especially with smaller children, keep them close if you have daredevils) The hike was fun for the kiddos, they enjoyed stopping to play along the way. Kokopelli Grill was delicious and worth the wait. Walked along coastline at Port Angeles post dinner. Tip: if you are okay with a long day/night of driving, you could have driven back to Tacoma after Sol Duc but we decided to spend night in Port Angeles.

Oops - I forgot, after Hurricane Ridge on Sunday we stopped for lunch at Granny's Cafe and it was great! They are famous for their soft serve and it was a nice treat.

Monday
Breakfast in Port Angeles (the donut spot we wanted to try was closed on Mondays!) but we enjoyed another breakfast at New day Cafe. Went back to Olympic National Park Visitor Center for souvenirs and to watch video. Drove back toward Tacoma, we stopped along way for lunch. We had to head back because we were going to the Bruno Mars concert - which was AMAZING! Tip: if we didn't have to head back we would have done the whale watching tour in Port Angeles.

Sounds like a great trip. Glad the kids had a good time too. Olympic is on my bucket list.

Thanks for the report.

Thanks for the report! We are hoping to go to Olympic this summer!