September 6-10, 2023

By Tim Briese

The scenic Pacific Northwest coast is a favorite place for Teresa and I to visit. Over the years we have explored the entire coast from northern California to Vancouver Island, B.C. The coast offers a beautiful combination of mountains, forests, and rocky seacoast. We have typically traveled there in the fall when the weather is usually pleasant and relatively dry. This year we flew into Portland and drove out to the coast at Cannon Beach, OR and worked our way north into Washington around the Olympic Peninsula before flying home from Seattle.

The drive from Portland to the coast takes only about 90 minutes and we arrived in Seaside and checked into our resort with plenty of time to enjoy the views and sounds from the balcony of our oceanfront room. The continuous rolling sound of ocean waves is very peaceful and relaxing to me. Staying in oceanfront lodging is a high priority for us. That evening we drove a few miles south to hike on famous Cannon Beach and enjoy the sunset.

haystack rock and other sea stacks, or  rock columns, at cannon beach

people enjoying the evening at cannon beach

Over the course of our time in the Northwest we went on numerous hikes and beach walks to enjoy the scenery and take photos, covering some 20 miles or so on our rambles.

walking on seaside beach the next morning

flowers in a backyard along seaside beach

The next morning we headed north across the Astoria Bridge over the Columbia River into Washington. Our next destination was the Ocean Crest Resort in Moclips, WA. The resort exuberantly describes its location as "the greatest meeting of forest and ocean in the northwest." We arrived in plenty of time to go down an enchanting wooden boardwalk down through the forest to the beach and hike around and later to enjoy another blissful sunset.

the boardwalk down to the beach has 145 steps

hiking on the beach the next morning

The next morning we drove inland a ways to Lake Quinault and the Quinault rainforest in Olympic National Park. We hiked a loop trail through the rainforest and then a trail along the lake.

on a trail through the quinault rainforest

the trees certainly grow tall here

hiking along the shore of quinault lake

a slug making its way across the trail

We also visited the Lake Quinault Lodge nearby, a venerable national part lodge. It stood on a gentle hill with a commanding and peaceful view of the lake.

lake quinault lodge

Then we drove on to our destination for the next couple of nights, the Kalaloch Lodge in Olympic National Park, a collection of cabins and lodging buildings run by the park service that is perched on a bluff overlooking the mighty Pacific. After checking in we headed down to the beach to hike around and explore the area. That evening we were treated to another spectacular ocean sunset.

the cabins at kalaloch lodge

looking up at the lodge from the beach

kalaloch beach

The following morning we headed a few miles up the coast in the national park and stopped at Ruby Beach, a spectacular and popular place with sea stacks, driftwood logs, and the forest growing right down to the edge of the beach.

an arch at ruby beach

We resolved that we must come back here in the evening for another sunset and photos. We continued a few miles further to the Hoh Rainforest, finding it incredibly busy on this Saturday afternoon. After hiking a short loop in the amazing rainforest we headed back to our lodge to rest a while and have dinner.

in the hoh rainforest

does this mean yellow jackets don't like trails?

That evening we went back to Ruby Beach to enjoy the sunset scenery. We were treated to the most spectacular sunset of the trip.

ruby beach

The next morning we hiked on Kalaloch Beach for a while. 

the "tree of life" on kalaloch beach, named for its obvious tenacity to live

an interesting stump on the beach

Then we reluctantly left the Kalaloch Lodge and headed north on US 101, stopping to hike on nearby Beach 4 for a while.

hiking on beach 4

Later we stopped at beautiful Lake Crescent and walked through another popular national park lodge, the Lake Crescent Lodge.

lake crescent

That night we stayed in Port Angeles. We had planned to take the ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island the next morning, but Teresa was not feeling well and some issues at home caused us to cut our trip a little short so we headed to Seattle and flew home. We once again had a wonderful time along the Pacific Northwest coast, with the special treat of spectacular ocean sunsets every night.