Arrival in Seattle

The Olympic Peninsula

The Hoh Rain Forest

Hoquiam

The Coast

Mount St. Helens

Portland

Mount Ranier

Friday, September 27 - The Olympic Peninsula.

This morning we tried to get an early start, but it was 9:30 AM before we actually left the motel. Richard had our route plugged into the GPS. We started the day by heading north on I5 to the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry where we crossed Puget Sound for our tour of the Olympic Peninsula. Since it was past rush hour there was no long line at the ferry as we pulled in ten minutes before departure. The ride took about 30 minutes, and it didn't seem long at all before we were heading toward Port Angeles on US 101.

While inside the National Forest boundaries, US 101 picks up the designation "The Olympic Highway." The scenery is very different from Pennsylvania, and varies from seascape to deep forest. We drove along Lake Crescent, which is a 10 mile long, narrow (and crescent-shaped) lake at the northern edge of Olympic National Park. The sun was sparkling on the white caps and on the other side of the road was this dark, dark forest with giant Western Hemlocks and Sitka Spruce. We were soon approaching the road into the Hoh Rain Forest.