It has been three days in our cozy camp spot by the lake in Olympic National Forest and it was time to move. We had a deadline to meet at this time so we had to plan our itinerary accordingly. More on it Later.
We enjoyed some stunning walks through the Olympic National Forest with no one else on any of the tracks and to be honest, the views were as stunning as the actual Olympic National Park but without the crowd and the hassles. And the camp spot options were great too.
In early morning light, the trees covered in Moss in the dense forests with the sounds of birds and waterfalls and nothing else around is so magical that you don’t want to leave and you don’t want the tracks to ends. We were exploring the tracks as we were getting closer to the National Park. Olympic National Park consists of two areas. The main park boundary is right in the middle of the peninsula and covers almost the entire central part of the peninsula. The second part is a narrow stretch that covers the Pacific Ocean side of the peninsula in the north. For the first day, we entered the main part of the park from the west side. There’s no reserved entry required for this park but we had to stay for quite some time in a queue to enter the park, due to limited parking spots in the park. After entry, we did the famous Hall of Mosses trail. an iconic loop that took us through old growth forest and features a grove of maple trees draped with abundant club moss. The views were stunning especially after few minutes into the trail that the crowd fades away but to be honest, we still prefers the remote tracks in the national forest and the dirt roads with majestic moss covered tree tunnels that were inviting us in their magic world.
Olympic National Park boasts some of the world’s largest trees, including the “World’s Largest Sitka Spruce” near Lake Quinault, and the “Big Cedar Tree” near Kalaloch. We did visit some of these giants too. There’s normally a short nice trail to reach them. We had a day full of short drives, short hikes and magical sceneries.
And just before sun was about to set, we had to find a camp spot! We never had an issue finding an epic camp spot in Washington state since we entered but that day was different. All the potential spots we had in our map were taken. Probably because we were late for setting up camp and also the fact that it was getting closer to a long weekend and in fact the few remaining weekends in the summer so locals were out camping.
After trying few spots, we decided to go to an established campground for the first time in 6 months in Northern America (Except few nights in Vancouver). But there were all booked weeks in advance and also they were way t0o busy and packed!! Finally just before sun sets, we managed to find a spot in the narrow stretch of Olympic national park, with the view of the Pacific ocean and an epic sunset. This killer view helped us forget about all the crowd and noise around us.
The next morning, we had to work again so we left early to check few nice camp spots outside the park boundary to see if they are vacant and we found a great one available and set up camp at 10:00 am!
But before camping we did a quick stop close to a famous spot in Olympic National walk, The Tree of Life!
It was simply stunning and the walk in the early morning at the beach was a great start before having a full working day ahead of us.
After a full working day for both of us and a peaceful night, it was time to move and find a perfect camp spot closer to Seattle for the long weekend that was ahead of us. We were planning to stay in Seattle for few days after the long weekend but we needed a great quiet spot for the weekend. So we started early and found the one just before lunch time. It was funny that a lot of people came to check this spot after lunch and told us that we were lucky to find this favourite spot to camp. So we had our moment of being proud of ourselves for finding the spot.
We had an agenda for our three days of camp in the wild. To finish everything we had in our fridge and all our fresh produce before our next adventure because we were about to take a break from overlanding! Since we started the trip, we always wanted to visit the east coast to meet our family in New York and Montreal but we couldn’t justify the long distances to drive so we finally decided to leave our car in the storage and fly to the East cost for few weeks and then come back and carry on south. We had to do it before it gets too cold on the east coast, so September was our last chance to do it. We already had our flights booked and all we needed to do was cleaning up the car, finding a reliable storage in Seattle and then go on a holiday. After 3 peaceful days eating and drinking too much to finish what we had in the car, it was time to head to Seattle.
Getting into big cities always give me anxiety in this trip. Finding the right place to stay with a secure car park is not easy. Most of the times you can not book them in advance since there is not enough photos to show the parking situation and it is not easy to drive around big cities to check the potential ones, one by one. For Seattle, I already booked one with easy access to public transportation and 24h security on site for the car park!
The first working day after the long weekend, we headed to Seattle. It was raining heavily and the traffic was crazy but we finally managed to get to our spot in the city. After checking in, the first task was finding the storage. Took us few hours to try all the storage places to find one with available spot. It’s crazy to see how many massive storage places were packed with people’s RVs and boats. We were happy to finally secure a place for Chaapaar.
The next day was the fun day. Exploring the City. We went straight to the city center to explore Pike Place Market. That was such a vibrant market to explore.
Once we passed through the sad part of the city center with all the homeless people, getting to the vibrant market and its surrounding was amazing. We started the day in a French bakery, followed by an Ethiopian coffee and Portuguese tart, followed by a Persian and Turkish lunch and a great craft beer in a local brewery.
The market was packed with fresh produce, amazing flower collections, and a lot of handcraft stalls with a great view over the port and the Pacific Ocean.
It’s really nice to visit a new city every once in a while and enjoy what they have to offer despite all the negative sides and the hard work!
The next day, we left Chaapaar in the storage and headed to the airport to try a different kind of travelling for few weeks. Exciting times!! In the next post, we carry on with our journey on the east coast and back. Till then, take care and have fun!
