on the road: Olympic National Park and Kalaloch

We followed 101 (we have followed it continuously since Petaluma days) up by Willapa Bay that is huge and beautiful: known for its oysters, which Jim proclaims to be among the best so far. It is also an area that was decimated in a storm in 2009. You see entire swaths of the forest which have been wiped out. They are doing a great job of cleaning this up but it will be ongoing for quite some time. All along the roads up here on the peninsula you see signs indicating that certain sections of the forest were thinned out in 2004 or 2007, etc. This was so reassuring, to know that they are now practicing sustainable forestry. You can also see where that used to not be the case, though, even there, mother nature is doing her job of recovery beautifully.

By Willapa Bay

Where they are clearing

We went in to see Lake Quinault and the Quinault Rain Forest, thinking we might stay there tonight. They have a wonderful, stately old lodge that we were dying to at least get a drink at, but, alas it wasn’t early or late enough to work with our plans. We checked out the campgrounds around the lake. They were beautiful spots, overlooking the lake, in lovely thick lush forests but most were a tad small, a little buggy and claustrophobic so we decided to move on up the coast to our original destination, Kalaloch. We were so glad we did!

Our campsite overlooking the ocean

The magic forest on one side of our campsite

Can't you imagine some weird creatures making this their home?

The view

Kalaloch was on a list of the ten best Washington state campgrounds (Cape Disappointment was another) and you can see at first glance that the designation is well deserved. We found a perfect spot with a view of the ocean, beside a magical forest on one side. The campground sits on a cliff overlooking a gorgeous driftwood-tossed beach. The weather is interesting up here, not what I had expected. So far, it is foggy in the mornings and clears mid-afternoon. When it rains, it is not a downpour but a misty fog-like rain. They say that alot of the moisture accumulation up here stays in the trees in the form of fog. In Maxine, you just hear occasional large drops on the roof as the trees let loose of a little of the moisture they are collecting.

We try to make the sunsets every night we can. This one was exceptional. Jim got me walking into the light! Wonder what that means!

Would be a great set of pictures for a memorial, don't you think?!!

Love watching the birds (mostly gulls) up here

Guess who loves the sunsets, too!

Good night, sun!

We loved our time here. We walked for miles up and down the beach. It was a little too foggy and moist for a day on the beach in our chairs, but it was different and wonderful.