We just spent an amazing week on the Olympic peninsula in Washington state. The campground we stayed at was just across a quiet road from a lovely private beach on the Salish sea at the strait of Juan de Fuca. We saw large ships come in and could see Victoria, British Columbia right across the water, about 20 miles away.

We had wonderful adventures in this past week. Although we stayed in the northern area of the vast Olympic NP and didn’t make it to the western coast, we had some great hiking, biking and kayaking. And we did see 2 waterfalls too.

On one of our first days here we biked for about 20 miles round trip on the Spruce railroad trail, which ran alongside Crescent Lake. This trail had 2 tunnels and climbed gently through forests with some huge old growth trees. A highlight for me was the proliferation of ripe thimbleberries – so yummy! And Crescent Lake was turquoise blue and crystal clear.

Another highlight was just walking the beach at low tide, after all the kelp and driftwood washed up. It surprised me that the wood was bleached so white, and it was so smooth. We saw nice sunsets from our campground’s private beach and enjoyed exploring the tide pools.

One thing I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss was Sol Duc Hot Springs. Their hot springs mineral water pools were awesome.

They limited the number of cars allowed up to hurricane ridge because the visitor center there burned down in May (they’re still investigating whether it was arson) and they have limited facilities now. But we got up early and were able to get through, and had some amazing views of the Olympic mountains on the way to the top. The High Ridge trail we hiked was wonderful.

All in all, this is one place I could spend a whole season. We missed out on the famous beaches, Forks (of Twilight fame) and the Hoh rainforest, since those were all 2 hour drives from our campground. So I’m adding those to the bucket list for next time.