Quinn's Travel Blog

Olympic National Park Trip ​

Visit 2, Day 4 ​

Sept 3, 2026 ​

Hoh Rainforest ​

Started the day off driving about an hour from Forks to the Hoh Rainforest national park visitor center.

Hall of Mosses ​

First up we did the "Hall of Mosses" trail, which was short and easy, but ridiculously beautiful.

The trail starts with this really cool crystal clear stream with really bright green moss or some other kinda plant growing in it. It really reminds me of the start of the movie 'Solaris'

Crystal clear stream with bright green moss growing in Hoh Rainforest

We saw lots of nurse logs on the trail

Old trees growing from a nurse log in Hoh Rainforest

Green and brown long moss growing off of a rainforest tree

Large cut tree stump revealing numerous tree rings in Hoh Rainforest

Moss-covered trees along Hall of Mosses trailSpring-fed stream flowing through mossy Hall of Mosses trail

Dense moss-covered forest canopy in Hoh RainforestMoss-draped trees in Hall of Mosses trail

Spruce Nature Trail ​

Next up was the Spruce Nature trail (~1.2 miles), a bit longer, but also very easy.

The trail here looks pretty similar to the Hall of Mosses, but it spits out at the Hoh River

Hoh River flowing through Olympic National Park rainforest

We did see lots of slugs though

Pacific Northwest slug on Spruce Nature Trail in Hoh Rainforest

La Push ​

After the rainforest, we went out to see some more beaches at La Push. Rialto beach was not accessible that day, since the road was reported to be affected by flooding.

To access the beaches, you need to buy a parking pass from the Quileute Oceanside Resort and RV Park. It was good for both First and Second Beaches. First Beach and the access to Second Beach are tribal land.

Something that was kind of interesting was that there wasn't really any cell service out there. That's kinda par for the course being so far away from everything, but there also weren't really any radio stations. In some places, there wasn't even one! Make sure to download some songs first!

First Beach ​

We saw several people surfing in the freezing cold water and watched them for quite a while.

There was a sick looking bird hunkered down on the beach, but he wasn't looking too good.

I saw a few new species to me using the Seek app that I'm very fond of:

  • American Lyme Grass
  • American searocket

In keeping with the tribe's photo policy I won't be including any photos of this beach.

Second Beach ​

Unlike First Beach, which was a short few steps from the parking lot, this was more of a trek. It was muddy and slippery, and quite a bit of up and down getting here and back. (But there were bathrooms!)

Bright green trees lining Second Beach at La Push

It was a bummer that Rialto Beach was closed, but we did end up seeing some holes through the rocks after all!

Natural sea arch "hole in the wall" at Second Beach Olympic National Park

Sandy Second Beach with massive sea stack rocks

Closer up view of the sea stack rocks on second beach in olympic national park

California Beach Flea ​

A highlight of the trip was this big sand flea that Lucas spotted under a driftwood log. We saw one hopping around and tried to get a better look at it

Camouflaged sand flea hidden under driftwood log on Second Beach

After a while we realized these guys were actually all over the beach and we didn't have to be crawling around to get a look at one

California beach flea clearly visible on Second Beach sand

Forks ​

Crashed for the night back at Forks. We got take out pizza from a place within walking distance from our AirBNB. Still wish we tried the Longhouse Cafe instead since I haven't really been to a Native American restaurant before.

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National Parks Log

  • ✓Mount Rainier National Park(Washington)
    Rank #1
  • ✓North Cascades National Park(Washington)
    Rank #8
  • ✓Crater Lake National Park(Oregon)
    Rank #10
  • ✓Olympic National Park(Washington)You are here
    Rank #12
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