We began our day with a cool rainy drive up the Olympic Peninsula. For us, as desert dwellers, we enjoy rain because it is so different from what we usually have…sunny and hot.
The rain didn’t last very long and we soon had views of Hood Canal, one of the four main basins of Puget Sound.
Soon we arrived at Olympic National Park.
This park has three distinct ecosystems – glacier-capped mountains with subalpine meadows, a rainforest, and the rugged Pacific coastal area. We began our visit with a drive up through the clouds to Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center to see the mountains.
We went on a short hike near the Visitor Center. The trail took us to a viewpoint overlooking Port Angeles. We were told that on a clear day you can see Victoria, BC, from here (sadly, we were not here on a clear day😒).
Driving back down, the clouds weren’t as thick so we were able to take some pictures. There are four tunnels and I was able to capture a couple of them.
We ended our day having only seen one ecosystem in this part of the park. (Spoiler alert: we end up seeing all three on this trip…stay tuned for the next post.)
We stayed at a nice Bed and Breakfast, Sea Cliff Gardens, halfway between Port Angeles and Sequim (pronounced ‘skwim’ by locals). There isn’t much out here except great views and a whole lot of peace and quiet…oh, and some cows and horses.😂
Sequim was a cute town known for its’ beautiful lavender farms (which we should have visited 😬). We ate at a very nice restaurant, Alder Wood Bistro, under a grapevine! Then walked around town. It was First Friday so art galleries and wine tasting rooms were open late. Yay!
Next we’re on to Cape Flattery, the furthest Northwest corner of the US…and two more ecosystems in the park.
[…] Park on our first night down the coast. This was the second ecosystem we experienced at this park (click here to read about the 1st one). Lake Quinault is located in a rainforest and receives an average of 332.92 centimeters (131.07 […]
There is definitely a flow and continuation of beautiful surroundings of these national parks in your journey!
The big bush with elongated purplish/bluish flowers is a butterfly bush (buddleia davidii).
Don’t know what the flowers are called, but they are absolutely beautiful!
Even in the rain it’s beautiful!