Olympic National Park - driving around
 

Planning my next vacation, this time around ONP and with my 11 year old daughter who doesn't like to be in the car too much. So far, our itinerary is roughly:
Day 1: Arrive Port Angeles, look around town (stay in PA)
Day 2: Day trip to Victoria (stay in PA)
Day 3: Hurricane Ridge (stay in PA)
Day 4: Go to Sequim for the lavender festival and Olympic Game Park (stay at Lake Crescent)
Day 5: OPI program (stay at Lake Crescent)
Day 6: OPI program (stay at Forks)
Day 7: Go to Sol Duc (stay at Forks)
Day 8: Go to Hoh Rain Forest (stay at Forks)
Day 9: Go to the beach and head back to PA for flight home

A couple of questions; I'm trying to figure out how much I can do in one day.

1. Is it possible (and desireable) to add Lake Ozette on the Sol Duc day, or would I spend most of my time in the car?

2. I would like to add Quinnault, but how long does it take to drive there from Forks? Could I do that and Hoh Rain Forest in one day, again without spending all day in the car? Is Quinnault a must-see destination?

3. Or if I put my beach visits on the same day as Sol Duc and/or Hoh, any other suggestions for the last day? (We have to be in PA by about 2:00.)

4. Anything I'm missing that I'll be kicking myself about?

5. Any info about how long it takes to drive from one place to another would be great!

Thanks.

Go to www.portangeles.org for driving times from Port Angeles and other helpful information about the area.

Sorry--forgot to tell you you have to click on "Day Trips" to get driving distances and times. I found this site very helpful in planning our stay on ONP.

I would stay at Crescent Lake longer and bypass overnight in Forks--a town that has little to offer tourists. Other options are a night in Port Angeles and a night or two at Lake Quinault Lodge.

Thanks for the points about Forks. My thoughts were that it was a nice central location to see the beaches, rain forests, hot springs (so we won't have to pack and move every day or drive too much), but I'm not planning to spend much time in Forks itself. Am I off-base here?

Yes. Crescent Lake Lodge and Lake Quinault Lodge are delightful and scenic places to stay, whereas Forks is not. Forks is a logging town that has not developed in the way one might imagine considering its location near ONP. It has some older non-chain motels and restaurants that cater to the locals. I had a good lunch at a Mexican restaurant there last year.

you could consider Kalaloch as an option as a base for the Hoh Rain Forest and Sol Duc. We stayed in a cabin with an ocean view and loved it. a beautiful place, and I bet your daughter would enjoy exploring the beach around there. It was about a 40 minute drive to the Hoh Rain forest, I think.

The food at Kalaloch was decidedly mediocre, so we bought picnic stuff in Forks, and ate at the picnic table in front of our cabin and watched the most beautiful sunset over the ocean.

We also stayed at Lake Crescent and loved it. Much better food than we'd had in ONP to that point.

Thanks for the advice! Now I'm thinking of changing my last days --
Day 6: a quick stop for a short hike and soak at Sol Duc and stay in Forks (for convenience, at a little B&B)
Day 7: Hoh Rain Forest and beaches near La Push, satying again at Forks (for convenience)
Day 8: Lake Quinault and Lake Quinault Lodge
Day 9: Lake Quinault, then drive to Seattle for flight home.

Since the drive to PA is almost as long as the drive to SEA, and the flight from PA is 5 hours earlier than the one from SEA, this way we get to play more on the last day!

What do you think?

TravelinMom, when are you taking your trip? I'll be going to ONP and staying at LaPush for a couple of nights over the memorial day weekend. So, if your trip is later, I can give you some info.

BTW, I, like your daughter, don't like spending much time in the car :-) and so chose to split my stay between La Push and Lake Crescent. Kalaloch and Lake Quinault were either sold out or out of by meagre budget, but if they were available, I would have chosen either of them.

i used forks as a similar base of operations and liked the way it worked out, it is tho, not scenic! it still fit the bill just fine. there is a really neat hike at the np which is a series of boardwalks to the ocean thru the forest, the sand point trail, ozette area. this is really neat but slippery only problem it is 6miles round trip completely flat don't know if your daughter would go that far?

More thanks! We're planning our trip for July, which may be why I'm able to book a room at LQ Lodge. FYI, I found a decent rate on travelocity -- boathouse room for $88, then the price goes up from there for other types of rooms.

Justme22, a 6-mile trip is a possibility, especially since it sounds so beautiful. Do you remember where the hike starts out?

there are two website (and more) you can go to and then orient yourself to your hotel. these sites describe a 9 mile loop. if you just hike in and out on one trail as i did, you only do 6 miles you don't have to worry about tides, but you will find beautiful agates (stones) on this beach and drift wood. go to www.windsox.us/COAST/cosand.html (make sure you keep the caps in coast) and www.attrition.ws/3/ these are trail review sites. i also recommend the washington handbook by moon travel handbooks author don pitcher, you can get it a any large book store or on line book site. essentially you drive to ozette lake ranger station.which is sw of the town of seiku. hope you have a great trip