Hard to talk about this one without hearing Bella Swan’s voice or making vampire jokes. Beyond Twilight though: Hall of Mosses, Sol Duc, Crescent Lake, Ruby Beach, all places synonymous with one place- Olympic National Park! After earning our first Junior Ranger Badge we got the bug! We had to see more! Thankfully, Olympic National Park, Washington’s Largest national park, is only a few hours from home! We booked an AirBnB in Port Angeles for our home base and set out on an adventure that the kids still talk about constantly!
- Day one
- Getting to Olympic National Park
- Sol Duc Waterfall
- Sol Duc Hot Springs
- Day Two
- Madison Falls
- Marymere Falls
- The Beaches
- Ruby Beach
- Rialto Beach
- Departure Day
- Port Townsend
Day One:
Ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend is about 30 minutes. For the kids this was the coolest 30 minutes of all time, they thought this was awesome. Book your tickets in advance to secure your spot on the ferry. The cost will depend on the size of your vehicle but in general you’d be expecting to pay about $16 per vehicle and $6 per person, not bad!
Once you get to Port Angeles stop in at the Ranger Station to pick up your booklets and learn a bit about the park. It was this point that we learned that the road to the Hoh Rainforest was closed for road work and we wouldn’t be able to see Hall of Mosses (!!!). Deep breath, don’t panic. The Ranger gave us some other suggestions to see similar rainforest so we made a pivot and on we go!
Head into the park, first stop Sol Duc! It’s encouraged to make a reservation for the Hot Springs (must be done in person) because the pool is open on a first come first served basis. Reservation secure for our later time, head up to the Sol Duc waterfall hike. This hike is a gentle 1.6 mile out-and-back walk, no major elevation gain or loss, super easy for kids. The Falls are a dramatic, thundering reward for the effort with great lookout points close enough to feel the spray on your face. We got caught in a bit of rain making this a wet walk but there’s so much to see, if you get creative you can distract even the wettest feet! (Tips on Hiking with Kids) And besides, once we’re finished we’re heading to the hot springs!!
The hour in the Hot Springs was a cool experience! There is a fresh water pool which we would have played in more if we had come on a hot day, but for this chilly evening we stuck to the Hot pools. We felt like we were ready to be done soaking after about 45 minutes so we snuck out a little early giving us quick access to showers without the crowds. By the time we made it back to the BnB for the night we were relaxed and warm and ready to hit the sack!
Day Two
Madison Falls
Waterfall hunting! Per the park ranger there are three main waterfalls in the park, the trifecta if you will: Sol Duc Falls, Madison Falls, and Marymere Falls. Madison was the first one on our way which turned out to be a bit of a joke of a “hike”. It only took us a couple minutes to get there from the parking area but what was really cool is you could get right down into the falls. Had we wanted to do more hiking there were other trails branching off from the parking area but our goal was waterfall! Shae promptly fell in and we had to strip down a crying child once we got back to the car, but that’s what extra socks and towels are for!
Marymere Falls
About an hour from Madison is the trailhead to Marymere falls. To be frank, I’m not sure what the official parking situation is for this one. We ended up parking at the Lake Crescent Lodge which was close to the trailhead. From what we could see the other option was parking at the beach area by the Barnes Point trail which was quite a ways from the trailhead. Compared to Madison, this was much more of a hike through some really beautiful rainforest. It’s not Hall of Mosses of course but the magnitude of the trees, the draping moss, the stillness of the woods, is so beautiful. The hike to the Falls is just under a mile each way. Longer than both the hikes we’d done already on this trip but I still wouldn’t call this a challenging hike, the kids handled it well. Only one climb to get to the falls overlook, besides that mostly flat. This would turn out to be the kids favorite falls of the trip.
The Beaches
Waterfalls completed, we wanted to hit the beaches! From Marymere falls it’s about an hour and 45 minutes to get to Ruby Beach. We opted to go through Forks for nostalgia sake. The kids have no idea what I’m so excited about so we cut that a little short. Plus, as Bella would explain there’s not a lot to do in Forks. We did, however, visit an art store that gave the boys a tour of their shop! They got to see the artists at work, the 3-D printers that were working on Twilight souvenirs, and the graphic novels that were being designed for printing! We were very lucky for their hospitality!
Ruby Beach:
Back on the road again, we head off for Ruby Beach. As you pull up to Ruby Beach you nearly get the wind knocked out of you (figuratively). If you’ve never seen THE Pacific Ocean (this was the case for Michael and the kids), it’s quite a sight. The parking lot for Ruby beach is above the beach itself so you get an incredible vantage point of the salt stacks, the driftwood beach, the power of the ocean as it crashes against the shore. The horizon stretched out unrestricted as far as you can see. I admit, I’ve taken this view for granted. Seeing it through their eyes, as if for the first time, was really special. We walked down to the beach where the kids waged war against the waves, laughing and screaming. How great to see your kids filled with so much joy! In hindsight, we could have spent the entire afternoon here. But, rookie mistake, I wanted to get Rialto Beach checked off the list too! So we packed up after a couple of hours and made the 1 hour trek to Rialto in search of infamous Hole-In-The-Wall.
Rialto Beach:
Now, this is my mistake, guys. I knew once we got to Rialto we’d have to walk to Hole In the Wall. What I didn’t know was that that walk would be 3 miles round trip on sand. And this being our final stop of the day, this would be the last 3 miles of ultimately a 7 mile day that these two boys were walking. I’m so impressed that they did this with very minimal fuss. But, learn from my mistake, I would not do all of this in the same day a second time! By the time we reached Hole-in-the-Wall we were pretty over it, especially knowing we had to do that whole walk over again to get back to the car. So… we got our picture (“see! We were there!”) and turned back. *she shakes her head at her own terrible choices*. Between the two, Ruby Beach was our favorite. But my suggestion would be do them both, on two different days. We could have had a completely different experience at Rialto had we given it its due time.
We polished off the day with a large and sleepy meal at a Fiesta Jalisco in Port Angeles, which was just ok, all of us ready for a hot shower and a warm bed.
Departure Day
First stop on our way out of town: Salt Creek Tide Pools. I will admit, we did not get lucky with our tide pooling. We timed it well with the tides (you can get a tide schedule from the ranger station or here) but it was a pretty cold morning, very windy, and Shae is a very accident prone kid so clamoring around on the rocks was not going well. But, a family with more sure feet and a day that’s less cold, this would be a great spot! Although it wasn’t a great day for us, I’d still go back if we were in the area again and would recommend to others.
On our way out of town we made our second stop at the Ranger Station for our oath and our Junior Ranger badges, had lunch at Erickson Park to blow off some energy, then buckle up to head outta town! We got to the ferry terminal in Port Townsend with enough time to walk around town. This little town was so much cuter than I expected! The buildings were beautiful and charming, lots of fun shops to look through, and a great ice cream shop for a sweet treat after a fun vacation. If I were to do it again, I’d allow for more time here. This was a great spot to visit!
We arrived home, all ready for a little space from one another, all satisfied and exhausted from a jam packed and awesome family get away. These are those moments that we work so hard for, moms! The kids have been talking about that time we went to “the Olympics” for weeks and weeks. A simple “lets just go” that turned into a lifelong memory, just like that.
