Month: May 2026

Today was the last day of our trip around the Olympic Peninsula. But before arriving at home, we had two more state parks to visit. So after breakfast at the hotel, we took off eastward, away from the Pacific beaches. Our first stop was Lake Sylvia State Park next to the town of Montesano. The lake was formed many years ago when loggers dammed Sylvia Creek to form a pond for logs and to produce power. When we visited today, the lake appeared to be quite low, but was evidently stocked with fish because we saw 9 or 10 people fishing from the shore and catching something.

We spent just a few minutes at Lake Sylvia and then drove further east to Schafer State Park that’s located on the Satsop River. We liked this park better and were greeted with a woodpecker loudly drumming on a nearby dead tree. We located it way at the top of the snag and saw it was a male Hairy Woodpecker, probably drumming to attract a mate. We walked along the River trail and into the mostly empty camping area. The Satsop River was quite beautiful and peaceful.

That was our last park of the trip. From there, we drove to the freeway heading east to Olympia and north to the Seattle area. Happily, we avoided rush hour traffic because it was still late morning. By lunchtime, we were back in Dave’s hometown and enjoying a final restaurant meal. Then I retrieved my car from his garage, we said goodbye until next time, and I returned home.

After writing yesterday’s blog entry, we decided to go to Rialto Beach in the afternoon before going to dinner. It’s not far from La Push and Forks. And a spectacular beach it was! The tide and the surf were high, which brought the ocean close. But even better were the flattened rocks under our feet, piled up driftwood thrown up on the shore by storms and tide, and the exposed trees on the shore. The rocks had been worn flat and smooth by the power of the surf and formed a thick, loose layer under our feet. They would have made great skipping rocks if the water had been calm. There were many, many driftwood logs all along the shore, inviting you to sit or explore them. The trees were aged and blown bare at the bottom, but dark green and rugged on top. It was all enchanting and, after walking a ways on the beach, we sat on a log to watch the surf, sky and birds.

Then today, we hit the road after a leisurely breakfast in Forks. Just a few miles south was Bogachiel State Park, a forested and mossy green park dedicated to camping, although it was mostly empty on this Tuesday morning in May. We parked in a very small day use area and listened to the birds singing in the forest around us.

From there it was about a 2-hour drive south, first along Highway 101 that bends inward to Lake Quinalt then returns toward the beach, then down the Moclips highway. From Moclips, the next three parks were fairly close together. First was Pacific Beach State Park, where the tide was out and the beach was long, flat and sandy. We walked out toward the water and worked to identify the various species of shorebirds we saw running on the sand and probing for food. The second was Griffith-Priday State Park, which was simply a parking lot and trails to the beach and Copalis River, with few other facilities. Finally, there was Ocean City State Park, which has nearly 180 camping sites near the beach and is located just a couple of miles north of the city of Ocean Shores. (I didn’t take any photos of these parks.)

After those visits, it was lunchtime. We drove into Ocean Shores and found a small cafe for lunch. We also found a hotel with reasonable prices with breakfast included, the Lighthouse Inn, with ocean-facing rooms. There’s a lighthouse-type observation tower on the top of the hotel that we climbed a spiral staircase to enter, after we had dropped off our bags. The tower gave us a good view over the nearby dunes, beach and ocean.

In the afternoon, we walked along a paved path that weaved through the dunes in front of the beachfront hotels. There weren’t many people out but were quite a few birds in the dunes.

We ate dinner at a fish restaurant on the main drag of Ocean Shores, both of us enjoying Cobb salads with salmon added.

Today Dave and I took off for a trip to the Olympic Peninsula. The first few days of May have enjoyed sunny and warm weather, and today continued the streak. The ride on the Edmonds to Kingston ferry was gorgeous and calm.

Our first stop on the peninsula was Anderson Lake State Park, near Chimacum, which is only open during the summer. It was pretty and somewhat birdy, but the lake was suffering from a toxic algae bloom which made the water brownish green and dangerous to come in contact with. We did a little bird watching and then moved on.

We stopped in Sequim to pick up sandwiches for lunch at a grocery store and then parked at a city park and ate in the car. Next to the parking lot there were several retired people playing pickleball in the sunshine.

As we drove west on Highway 101, we next saw beautiful Lake Crescent. Its clear, very blue water was a big contrast to Lake Anderson’s.

Our next stop was La Push on the Quileute Reservation. I had never been there before. The Quileute Tribe is in the process of moving their town, rebuilding it on higher ground, due to sea level rise from climate change. We stretched our legs in town and viewed the Pacific Ocean from our parking spot. A few Brown Pelicans flew by, as well as lots of gulls, and we saw a few Pelagic Cormorants in the water.

We’re staying in the town of Forks for the night, just inland from La Push, and famous from the Twilight vampire series. If no vampires attack tonight, we’ll move on to see more state parks further down the coast tomorrow.