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Fresh off our overnight backpack out to the Olympic Coast we still had plenty of time in the day. The forecast was for clear-ish skies atop Hurricane Ridge so we left the low elevations of the coastal region and headed to the other end of the extremes found at Olympic National Park, the mountains. It was in the low 50’s when we arrived atop Hurricane Ridge, and just clear enough to offer a few glimpses of the impressive Olympic mountains between passing low cloud banks.

We wandered out the Obstruction Point road and met some of the local wildlife between gazes down and across the impressive drainages to the mountains at the heart of the Olympic Range.

The next day was Friday, so we spent some time finding a camp that would serve as a base for the next couple of days so we wouldn’t have to battle any crowds searching for a campsite on a Saturday. That task completed, we had enough of our day left to follow the Hoh River to its mouth. We had the beach to ourselves (no counting the waterfowl) and enjoyed lunch while watching the pelicans searching for a meal of their own.

We didn’t have a big day planned to explore our destination for the next day, the Hoh Rainforest, so we arrived mid-morning. We do try to be informed about the areas we are headed in advance, to be aware of any permits, entrance requirements and the like that the Park Service has to dream up to deal with the millions of people that want to visit these parks. We didn’t ever find in our research that the Hoh Rainforest entrance of Olympic National Park uses a “metered entry” to allow people in. Essentially for each vehicle that wants to come in, a vehicle has to leave to allow space for parking and to reduce crowding. So, we were a bit surprised to see the huge backup of vehicles when we were still about a mile out from the park entrance.

The upshot was we got to wait in traffic inching our way toward the entrance for the next hour and a half. It still isn’t the worst traffic jam we’ve encountered at a National Park (that distinction still falls to Yosemite), but it wasn’t exactly how we hoped to spend our day. You’ve been warned.

Once through the entrance gate we found our way up the Hoh River. The massive trees and moss draped maples are quite impressive.

It seems there is even drought in the wettest place in the lower 48. The photo below illustrates the average rainfall to date (typically 76 inches) compared to the actual 2025 rainfall to date (51 inches).

After our day spent in the Hoh Rainforest it was time to pack our gear and head off to our final destination of this tour – Mt. Rainier. On our way the next day we made our final stop on this tour of the Olympic National Park, Ruby Beach.

It was still pretty early when we arrived so the beach wasn’t too packed with people yet. The morning fog filtered the early sun, and the tide was out, allowing for exploration around the sea stacks.

Our time at Olympic was up. We headed south along the coast, and we had one more stop to make before heading inland to Rainier. August is tuna season, and we swung into Westport hoping to buy a couple fish off the docks. It’s been a few years since our last tuna run, and albacore is just too delicious to pass up. To be this close and not try to pick up a fish would be a crime. Our first stop was sold out – “Come back in about three days” – yeah right, we’d be in Idaho by then. We tried another dock. Bingo. Thirty minutes later 8 tuna loins were slipped into the freezer and we were on our way to the glacier covered slopes of Rainier.