Hiking out in Forks
Posted 08-19-2007 1:51 pm
by Admin Admin
A couple weekends ago, I spent a great weekend hiking out in the Forks area with a friend.
We stayed at the Brightwater House just outside of Forks on the Sol Duc river, which in addition to having a couple B&B rooms in the main house, also has two cottage-style units with kitchenettes in the property. One of them has two beds so it worked great for my friend and me. It was great to visit again and have a chance to catch up with Richard & Beth, the owners. We arrived around 7 PM on a Friday evening and after checking in, went to the nearby Smokehouse restaurant for dinner. Nothing's changed there since my last visit--the decor is still very basic but in addition to smoked salmon and lots of fried seafood choices, you can get fresh seafood prepared very simply (I had grilled fresh halibut which was fantastic), and delicious pies--my favorite is the blackberry. The next day we drove out to Lake Ozette, just south of Neah Bay, about an hour's drive from Forks. Both my friend and I had done the nine-mile triangle trail before (3 miles out to the beach, 3 miles on the beach, then 3 miles back in) but it had been a while for both of us. The two legs of the trail that go out and back to the beach are fairly easy and flat (much of both legs is on a boardwalk) but the leg that goes along the beach was much more strenuous than either of us remembered it--not sure if that's due to our age or because the beach has eroded some or there are more trees down or what! In any case, we spent a lot of time going over or under full length trees that had fallen across the beach towards the water and completely blocked the beach (even though we did the trail at low tide). And while we were able to scramble around the headlands on the rocks, it was pretty tough going (but still easier than going "up and over" the headlands, using the ropes that have been rigged on the steep trails--I did that last time since the tide was higher and definitely preferred going around). But the beach is beautiful and we saw a deer, a couple eagles and best of all, numerous harbor seals hauled out on the rocks near the southern (Sand Point) end of the beach leg. It took us about 4.5 hours to do the whole thing, with short breaks for water and snacks. For those thinking about doing this trail, definitely go at or close to low tide, and do the northern (Cape Alava) leg first. Doing so means you probably will be heading into the wind when you're out on the beach, but the Sand Point leg is flatter and easier for the trip back. After showers and a short rest back at Brightwater House, we headed to dinner at the Rivers Edge restaurant out in La Push. The restaurant, which was opened a few years ago by the Quileute tribe, is a casual place with a great view and very fresh, locally caught seafood. I had salmon and my friend had halibut and both were excellent--sauteed with some garlic but otherwise the fresh seafood was left to shine on its own. Service was a little haphazard but overall we enjoyed our experience there. The next morning, we got a fairly early start and heading down to the Hoh Rainforest, which my friend hadn't seen before despite years of living in the Seattle area. It took about an hour to drive from Forks to the Visitor's Center. We did both the Hall of Mosses trail and the Spruce Nature trail in about an hour--both were worthwhile and if you just have a short amount of time to visit the Hoh, I'd recommend doing both since they are different enough to make doing both worthwhile (otherwise, it's worth taking more time and doing a portion of the Hoh River trail--I've done that before and hiked about five miles in before turning around--great day hike). We saw an elk just off the Spruce Nature trail--I've seen a whole herd in the past but this time it was just the one. After showering and checking out, we headed back towards Seattle, with a stop at the Lake Crescent Lodge for lunch. As on my previous visits, I thought the food was just ok (not bad, not great) but the view and atmosphere are worth making a stop for. All in all, a great weekend if a little too short. The one thing that really struck us as people who both live in fairly dense neighborhoods in Seattle is how QUIET it is out there! Almost spooky but a nice change of pace.
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