3 Days in Olympic National Park from Seattle: Silent Forest - Hoh Rainforest

Itinerary

Day 1: The Puget Sound, Lake Crescent, Marymere Falls, and the Pacific Coast

Stop At: Bainbridge Island Ferry, Seattle Ferry Terminal, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Starting in Seattle, leave the bustle of the city behind on a morning ferry crossing of the bottomless Puget Sound while you keep lookout for seals, whales, and porpoises.
Duration: 45 minutes

Stop At: Crescent Lake, Lake Crescent Rd, Olympic National Park, WA 98363
Learn the story of the remarkable Elwha river restoration – the largest on-going dam removal project on Planet Earth – as we make our way deeper into the Olympic Peninsula toward sparkling Lake Crescent. After a family-style picnic lunch near the lake, we’ll get our first full immersion in lush forests and babbling streams on our hike to fern-laden Marymere Falls.
Duration: 3 hours

Stop At: Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park, WA
After listening to the crashing water echo through the towering trees we’ll head for the coast and rugged Ruby Beach. Climb haystacks, explore tide pools, or just sit back and contemplate the vastness of the Pacific Ocean as waves crash into the shore.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Kalaloch Beach 3, US-101, Forks, WA 98331, USA
It’s just a short drive to your cozy camp, a beer cooler & charcuterie, a private beachfront, and a warm fire. Enjoy some downtime to wander and unwind. We’ll cook dinner for you tonight as we gather to share our own stories over the pulsing rhythm of the ocean. Tonight, it’s dreams of the rainforest in sleek off-grid, locally-built, mobile tiny-cabins.
Duration: 3 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast: Morning local coffee, tea with pastries and fruit.
• Lunch: Local, organic lunch with local wine! We'll find a quiet spot outside (weather permitting) for a picnic and big views.
• Dinner: We’ll cook dinner for you tonight as we gather near the beach to enjoy the pulsing rhythm of the ocean and a cold drink.
Accommodation included: Sleep soundly in the heart of Olympic National Park in private, comfortable mobile mini-cabins by ROAM Trailers.

Day 2: The famed Hoh Rainforest

Stop At: Hoh Rain Forest, 18118 Upper Hoh Road, Olympic National Park, WA
Our second day is a true highlight. We delve into the Hoh Rainforest with renowned sound recordist Matt Mikkelsen to discover One Square Inch of Silence, likely the quietest place in North America. This perspective-altering exchange with Mikkelsen is a powerful re-orientation to our own roots in the natural world, how we once moved through it, and how we understood our place in it. By engaging the world through sound and taking time to truly listen, we give the forest a whole new life and maybe even find some deeper truths that extend beyond the edge of the trees. Once you dive into the intricate beauty of the ecosystem, you’ll never see the forest quite the same. Our relaxed pace allows us to move a few miles into the park, soaking in the subtle details of the place, the story it tells us, learn a little about the language of the birds, and even step into an ancient time when our presence in the forest was guided by a need to hear but not be heard. There is something powerful about the connections that arise in the quiet and Matt is an insightful, wistful, and fascinating guide on this journey.
Duration: 6 hours

Stop At: Kalaloch Beach 3, US-101, Forks, WA 98331, USA
We’ll return to camp for plenty of laughs and stories over dinner at the nearby lodge.
Duration: 4 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner: We'll enjoy dinner together at nearby coastal gem Kalaloch Lodge or historic Lake Quinault Lodge.
Accommodation included: Sleep soundly in the heart of Olympic National Park in private, comfortable mobile mini-cabins built by ROAM Trailers

Day 3: Hurricane Ridge

Stop At: Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, WA
We’ll enjoy a relaxed morning exploring the beach and taking in the ocean soundscape before we launch into our final day of adventure. After breakfast we’ll say goodbye to our camp and head inland once more. There are a few hidden gems we’ll stop to visit before heading to our main attraction for the day; Hurricane Ridge. We’ll climb up away from the sea, up proud of the towering rain forest canopy to reach the gusting winds of the alpine. After a filling lunch we’ll pack up some water and delve into this unique landscape. The trees here huddle close together to brace against winter storms and wind-swept branches indicate the direction of shelter. We take in the difference in sounds between the rain forest and this alpine ridge, while we let ourselves expand into the vastness of the valleys, rivers, and forests dropping away below us to the coast. We’ll witness the snow-capped Olympic Mountains jagged in the distance, and admire the tiny story of lichen written in the rocks at our feet. When you’re good and tired, we’ll find our way back down the mountain and onto a ferry, and our last crossing together, as we return to the shining Emerald City of Seattle.
Duration: 4 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
No accommodation included on this day.