Olympic National Forest

A Shade of Green You Can't Describe

The Olympic National Forest covers most of Washington and is unlike anything I've ever seen. The shade of green is one I can't even describe. It's bright like that of an emerald, but dark like a deep forest. And the green covers everything! The trees are covered in moss and drape from the branches in sheets.

The forest includes areas like Quinalt, Queets, and the famous Hoh Rainforest. We were lucky enough to spend almost an entire week in this fascinating place, overlanding from place to place and finding some true treasures.

We started our journey staying the night along the Wynoochee lake. On the east side of the lake is one large fire road with multiple off-shoots that lead you right on the lake. We popped up our James Baroud tent and woke to the stillness of the morning sun on the lake.

We then headed out towards Quinault. Quinault has a stunning lake that's largely used for family summer fun, but is just as beautiful during the cold crisp days. Along the lake sits the historical Quinalt Lodge which I have enjoyed in the past with a glass of wine while sitting next to the fire. On this trip though, we enjoyed summertime lakeside camping and hiking. We hiked five miles starting with the Quinault Rain Forest Trailhead and continued through a cedar bog, crossed over creeks, passed waterfalls, and ended with the lakeshore.

Somehow we lucked out and stayed right on the lake in Quinault. Although every campground in the area was filled and we couldn't find a service road that worked for us to camp on, we stayed in an area for RV overflow. The RV overflow was better than any of the campground spots and somehow it was free. We were able to park right along the lake, watch the sunset with dinner, and drink our morning coffee with the sunrise.

Next stop, the Hoh Rainforest. This was the most crowded area of our trip, so we didn't spend much time hiking as we didn't want to deal with all the people on the trails. Especially with the heat. This was the sunniest and warmest spot we encountered in the Olympic, but it was still a well worth trip. We took a short hike to check out some of the signature moss-filled trees on the Hall of Mosses trail. The trail took us along some beautiful intertwined trees, where the trees were no longer one but paired together. The forest floor was covered in ferns, adding to the lushness. Mixed among the ferns were various types of wild mushrooms, ranging from the color of brown to orange to white. We also made new friends with the many slugs along the trail as they were eating the bright green moss.

We were lucky enough to see more than slugs while in the Hoh Rainforest. We stopped along the main road in a river-view pull off to dip our toes in the ice-cold water. As we looked upstream, we spotted a large family of elk. There were 10-15 of them enjoying their hidden nook in the river. We quietly watched them on the river bank as the rest of the world rushed by.

Our final stop in the Olympic National Forest was Queets. Before we arrived to the area, we hadn't even heard of Queets. It wasn't until we talked to a ranger in Quinault that we discovered this hidden beauty. He explained to us that Queets was his favorite place to camp and the prettiest area in the forest. He was not wrong. Queets felt like our own little private green hideaway. The small primitive campground was exactly what we were in search of. We camped beneath the towering mossy trees with the river as our closest neighbor. Our firepit roared all day as we worked in silence with only the sound of the river.

It was one of those 'out of a dream' kind of days that made me never want to leave. Even with rain in the forecast and thunder rumbling in the background, the day was simply perfect. Part of it was having no cell service, part of it was that fall was slowly making its appearance, and part of it was working and reading by a fire for hours. For me, the humbling nature of the towering trees added to the magic. This was our favorite part of the Olympic National Forest and plan to stay in Queets for a week or two. I'm already looking forward to it.