Washington hiking trip 2025

A few years ago a group of us went on a hiking vacation, and we've continued going each year. This year we headed to Washington.

We flew Detroit to Seattle, and met up with our friends at Ram in Tacoma. Gage, Kris, and I stopped by to see our Aunt Pat and cousin Tuc in Port Angeles, and then we went to our Airbnb in Forks (3.5 hours from airport.) The drive there was really pretty. We quickly got some groceries at the Forks Thrifty Mart, ate at Hood Canal Brewery, and went to bed early.

Day Two
We left the house at 8 and traveled to the trailhead inside Olympic National Park.

There was no service on the way to the park, and there was zero service in the park, so I had to start keeping a list of answers to look up after we left. (Q: What drug did Layne Staley die of? Can you OD on Benadryl? What's the word for the smell of earth after it rains?) (A: Speedball, yes, petrichor.)

First we went on the Hall of Mosses loop, and it was magical. It felt like we were in an enchanted forest, like something out of a fairy tale. The trees were giant, both tall and wide, and they were draped with moss. Everything was so green and alive. The sun was shining through, making everything in a perfect light. We all took pictures and then commented on how pictures didn't do justice, since it didn't show the depth or color or vastness of it all. So we decided they were just reminders of how amazing it all looked. I personally have never seen a place like this, and I loved it so much.

After that two-mile loop, we started on an out and back to 5 Mile Island on the Hoh Trail. We all decided that a 10 mile hike sounded good.

It was along the river, and at one point part of the group went to the river, and at another point some others, and we missed each other. You wouldn't think that you could lose people on an out and back, but one group was together, Gage was alone, and Kris and I were in a group of four. We didn't meet up until we made it to the 5 mile point. But we all saw the same things! Gage, Heidi, and I all separately even took a picture of the same mushroom.

The trail was beautiful. Trees! Moss! Water! Mountains! The trail changed a lot the entire way, and it was continually interesting seeing the different plants, trees, mushrooms, scenery.

On the way back, Gage told me he had climbed the waterfall. So Andrea, Matt and I stopped to climb up it. It was a lot of scrambling and holding onto roots and vines. So pretty to be up close!

Right at the end we saw a herd of elk grazing close to the trail,  which was cool to see.

The 10 mile hike really flew, and we loaded back into our cars at about 3:30. Right then, it started raining, and we were so happy with our timing!

We drove to the Tree of Life, and it stopped raining. We left our cars and...the ocean! It was like a sigh of relief seeing it. We talked about why people always want to look at water. The Tree of Life hung on long enough for us to see it. We were kind of hungry, but Heidi suggested we stop at Ruby Beach, which was about two miles away. I am so glad we did! Ruby Beach was stunning, because it had giant mountainous rocks coming out of the water. They made little tide pools, and Jared showed us some sea anemones. We walked all around it and loved it. The rocks were particularly beautiful on the beach too, and I found one that fit my fingers like a bowling ball, much like Cinderella's slipper.

We went to Blakeslees in Forks to eat and watch the Tigers vs the Mariners. It was lively, the Tigers unfortunately lost, and I had an elk burger that I liked.

Day Three
We were out the door by 8:30 with the destination of Rialto Beach. (Suzie said, "Matt I just learned to read tide maps, but can you doublecheck my work?" It always pays to bring oceanographers on trips. Kate and Matt then left for her sister's house, so we had to find another one.) This meant we drove back into Olympic Park and by Crescent Lake, which is the beautiful mountain and water scene I particularly like.

Rialto Beach was even better than Ruby Beach! First, we walked about a mile to the huge rocks. The beach was lined with giant white driftwood, but not in pieces, like the entire tree. The rocks had multiple tide pools, and we saw super bright and colorful sea anemones, starfish, algae, crabs, and more.

One rock is called Hole in the Wall, and it makes an arch. We scrambled along it to get to the arch. You actually had to climb a part of it, but the rock had good handholds. It wasn't dangerous, just if you fell you'd fall in and get wet. We slipped on the wet rocks but not far. The view from the arch was impressive and showed how giant of a rock wall it was.

We saw some people using a rope to climb down a steep trail up to the top of the arch. Once they were down, we used it to pull ourselves up the very vertical trail. At the top was a tiny path with sheer cliffs on each side to a little spot on the arch. It was really cool, since there was no one coming from the other direction! I wouldn't go on it if I had to share...definitely a single path.  The view from up there was great, and we looked at our friends spread out below.

We walked back to our parking lot, and it started to rain. It was blowing into us and despite wearing rain gear it was a persistent driving range, and we got soaked. My feet were especially wet.

We drove 1.5 hours to Sol Duc Hot Springs, and bought access to the hot springs in the 2-3:30 time slot. The springs were similar to public pools, with a locker room, towel rental, and lots of people. There were 4 pools with temperatures of 59, 98, 102, and 105 degrees.

It smelled strongly of sulfur, and the pools felt great, especially going from the 59 to the 105. It would have been nice if it was just my friends, but there were too many people and it was hard to move around and stay dry in the locker room. Kris and I left and went for a quick walk on the Lovers Lane trail out of the parking lot. The scenery was very similar to our first hike, with moss blanketing everything.

We said goodbye to half of our group, and Andrea, Chris, Kris, and I drove to stay in Seattle for the night due to an early flight. We decided to eat, return the rental car, get an Uber to the hotel, and take the 4:00 a.m. shuttle in the morning. We all wanted pizza and Kris found a good looking place called Ulysses near our hotel. Outside it there was a very official sign that read: "Designated area of high prostitution activity. Vehicles used to further prostitution will be impounded." Don't say I don't take you anywhere nice! We saw no illicit activity and while the service was great, the food was not the gut punch Chris was hoping for.

We slept at the Best Western Seattle Airport, got the shuttle in the morning, and headed home.

As Andrea said, she's never gone to a bad national park. Olympic was unlike any other place I've been, since I've never seen a rainforest quite like that before. The ocean, rocks, difficult vertical climbs, and sea creatures were an added bonus.

That's the travel part of it - the other part of it is that these people are so great to travel with. Always saying funny things, totally up for anything, flexible, cheerful, adventurous, and really appreciative of nature. I laughed out loud so many times. Thank you Heidi, Gage, Kate, Matt, Kris, Andrea, Chris, Suzie, and Jared. I was missing Moriah on this trip, but I know we'll have another one next year - we already started talking about it!