Jump to:

---

This day of our Olympic National Park trip was my second favorite. My first favorite was getting to see the orcas in the ocean on day two.

All four of us grew up in the Midwest, so the ocean and tides and sea creatures are somewhat unfamiliar to us. But after studying the Pacific Northwest tide predictions and doing a little research, we decided one of our adventures on this Olympic National Park trip must be exploring tide pools at low tide.

On this morning, we got up relatively early at our basecamp in Forks, WA, had breakfast, and headed southwest-ish out on Hwy 101, back towards Kalaloch, WA, along the Pacific coast. Our destination was Beach 4, which was about a 45-minute drive from Forks.

Tide Pools at Beach 4

At around 8:00 a.m., we arrived in the parking lot and made our way through the forest, descending the trail to the beach. The trail was primarily a series of saturated (and slippery) wooden stairs surrounded by a canopy of lush green trees and ferns.

None of us had been to tide pools before, so we honestly didn’t know what to expect.

My previous experience with starfish:

We all wore our hiking shoes, but the guys toted their rugged sandals down to the beach. We girls decided to leave our sandals in the vehicle. It wasn’t freezing cold but it wasn’t warm out (I was already dressed in multiple layers); regardless, I was not really interested in getting my feet wet and figured I would do my best to navigate around any water.

We were hoping to see a few more starfish – and closer up than we did on our hike to Point of Arches. As soon as we got near the water’s edge and started looking at all the various rugged rocks, we soon realized there were likely thousands of starfish and even more sea anemones. I couldn’t believe it!

The guys removed their shoes and socks, put on their sandals, and took off roaming the rocks and wading in the shallow pools of water.

I took so many photos at the tide pools, but here are some of my favorites.

My favorite photo from the tide pools ❤️:

With so much to take in, the four of us roamed around the beach for quite a while. At one point, three of us were in the same general area, but Shannon was off on her own. Chad got a text from her alerting us to a fox on the beach headed toward us. The three of us scanned the shoreline, and sure enough – well, it turns out it was a coyote rather than a fox, but as we watched him, it became obvious he was making a beeline for our hiking packs that were stashed on a dry rock.

And wouldn’t you know, that coyote turned out to be quite the little thief. We watched him pick up one of my husband’s merino wool socks, that he had stashed inside his hiking shoe when he changed into his sandals, and that little scoundrel continued on his way, stolen sock in his mouth like a chew toy.

Chad leaned into his many years as a dog owner and chased the coyote until he eventually dropped the sock. Fortunately, we were able to recover it, but what a funny thing for a coyote to do!

After ascending all the stairs from the beach back up to the parking lot, our next destination would be Hurricane Ridge. We’d make the roughly 2-hour drive back up to Port Angeles, WA, stopping at the Olympic National Park visitor center located there before heading up to Hurricane Ridge.

We’ve visited a few national parks, and one thing that surprised me about Olympic is this: Since Olympic is so vast and overlaps with Olympic National Forest and tribal land, entry into “the park” isn’t like other national parks. Most of the national parks we’ve visited have one (or multiple) designated entrances with a manned gate and kiosk with a visitor center and/or gift shop nearby. Additionally, many national parks have moved to a “reservation-only system” to even gain entry.

When it comes to Olympic National Park, however, you more or less drive in and out and around on somewhat rural roads, and you might come across a self-serve kiosk here and there, but we never saw a grand main entrance to Olympic National Park. In fact, I think we paid more fees to access the Native portions of the park than we did for the park itself.

At any rate, we found the visitor center and selected a few souvenirs, had our signature PB&J tailgate lunch, then headed up to scenic Hurricane Ridge.

Hurricane Ridge

From the visitor center, it was about a 30-minute drive to the Hurricane Ridge summit, where we parked and walked around to take in the vast snow-capped views.

Fun Fact: Hurricane Ridge gets its name from the over 75-mile-per-hour wind gusts it is known for.

Madison Creek Falls

About an hour’s drive from Hurricane Ridge is a short hike to Madison Creek Falls, which would be our next destination.

An easy, one-third of a mile (roundtrip) is all the Madison Creek Falls hike requires.

I can’t pass up a big tree…

Devil’s Punchbowl on Lake Crescent

Before we headed back to our basecamp in Forks, WA, we drove to the bridge at Devil’s Punchbowl on Lake Crescent, which was about a 20-minute drive from Madison Creek Falls. Devil’s Punchbowl is a well-known swimming hole, known for its brilliant turquoise blue water (very similar to Lake Tahoe).

I think the best time, however, to catch the ideal blue hues of Lake Crescent beneath the bridge is earlier in the day, but we still enjoyed the short hike out to the bridge before going to dinner.

The historic Spruce Railroad Trail to Devil’s Punchbowl is paved and includes a (👀 really dark!) retired train tunnel, sections of dense forest, and beautiful shoreline views of Lake Crescent.

Devil’s Punchbowl hike
Total Distance	2.51 mi
Total Time	59:59
Total Ascent	203 ft
Max Elevation	683 ft

After taking in the beauty at Devil’s Punchbowl, we took a short drive down to the southern part of the lake, stopping at the Lake Crescent Lodge, hopefully, for dinner. We didn’t have reservations, and we were in hiking clothes, but we arrived early enough before the dinner rush hit, and we were rewarded with an excellent window-side table overlooking Lake Crescent.

Following dinner, before getting back on the road to Forks, we wandered around the grounds and out onto the pier, surrounded by such beauty!