Olympic National Park, Day 1: Port Angeles, Marymere Falls and Sul Doc Falls

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Since we had flown into Seattle late the night before, we slept in a bit our first morning in Seattle. We stayed at the Ramada Inn & Suites that was about .5 miles from the hotel which was perfect since we were too tired to drive very far. No complaints about the hotel, it was pretty nice and basic- free parking however breakfast is not included. There was a small restaurant in the lobby where you buy breakfast but we opted to find a local place instead.

Breakfast was at the Pancake Chef, just down the street from the hotel. Cute little local place complete with slow service. Pancakes were decent though they took a while and it was all a bit overpriced. I wouldn’t go back again. With full stomachs we headed on to our first destination in Olympic National Park- Hurricane Ridge.

We had a hotel reserved in Port Angeles which is a great sea port town right by the northeast part of the park and the main visitor center. It took us just under 2 1/2 hours to reach from the airport area. If you’re coming from more of downtown Seattle there’s an option to take a ferry over and that saves some time. But for us it was quicker (and cheaper) to just drive straight over. Port Angeles is bigger than I was expecting and there’s plenty of restaurants to choose from. It’s also where you can catch the ferry up to British Columbia, Canada!

We went straight to the visitor just to find out that the weather out in the Hurricane Ridge area was so bad they had closed the road to get there. Major bummer as I was looking forward to doing more of the mountain type hikes in that area and had read that the views were spectacular! But nothing we could do about the weather so we asked for suggestions of alternative hikes to do instead near Port Angeles. We received a few recommendations from the park ranger including hiking Marymere Falls and Sul Doc Falls. Marymere was closer so that’s where we headed first.

We quickly learned that while it may be raining in one part of the park, the difference of just a couple miles can make all the difference when it comes to weather! There was just no way of telling whether it would be hiking conditions where we were headed. But thankfully for all of our hikes we were very blessed with little rain, usually just a light drizzle if anything. We drove through some pretty heavy down pours on our way to Marymere trailhead but by the time we got there it was fine. It was right on Lake Crescent and there is no park permit needed for this area.

The hike was fine, about 2 miles round trip. We walked through mossy forest areas which was beautiful! Even passed a few deer along the way. It was cool going through the forest and the hike was good, not tough at all. But the actual waterfall was rather disappointing in the end. Although the ending was anticlimactic, it was a nice walk through all the eerie looking trees.

From there we headed back out to the road to Sul Doc Falls next. It’s so easy to get around Olympic National Park once you’re in it. There’s really only one main road to go all around which makes navigation a piece of cake. However, the mileage can be deceiving as the roads twist and turn. It may be only a few miles to your destination, but can still take quite a bit of time.

This was the case with Sol Duc. We reached the turn off for it in probably around 20 minutes or so. But then it’s 12 miles of driving to the trailhead and it is slooooooow going. We made it eventually after driving through areas of lots of rain, little rain and no rain. By the time we reached the trailhead we were right about at no rain again.

This hike was also just under 2 miles round trip (1 mile out and then return the same way). But we loved this hike way more than the first one. First of all, we were pretty much the only people on the trail until we reached the end. This was actually the case for much of our time in the park, it was not crowded at all. But along this trail were some really scenic spots, including a bridge going over a brook. The way the water was falling over the rocks and the moss was growing out there made it impossible not to stop and snap a few photos.

While the waterfall on the previous hike had been disappointing, this one was the opposite. It was not the most majestic, or tallest or widest, but it was just really, really pretty with the jungle all around! It was also possible to hike practically right out to the edge of it! There were campsites very close by as well in case anyone was interested in doing the 1 mile hike and staying out there for the night. We saw a few backpackers coming back from this actually.

The falls were great and the forest was great and I was happy that we had found a nice alternative despite the disappointment of missing out on Hurricane Ridge. If we hadn’t had our hotel reservation in Port Angeles, we would have just kept on driving towards the Hoh Rainforest since we were half there already. But the only other small town along the way was Forks and I wasn’t too sure how much accommodation offerings they would have, nor did I want to lose the points we had spent for the hotel. So we drove all the way back to town, probably around 1 1/2 hours. The roads were pretty though and we saw rainbows along the way.

At one point there were a bunch of cars pulled over on the side of the road and people out with cameras. There were around 20 elk all gathered together at the side of the river. I’d never seen that many together all at once and it was really cool to watch them, especially one that was racing along the side of the bank.

We made our way after that to the Port Angeles Inn, which was located right on the water near the ferries for British Columbia. The Inn was small but just fine and we got a recommendation from the receptionist for a pizza place in town. With bellies full we headed to bed at 9:00pm to try to catch up on some sleep we’d been lacking throughout this whole semester and that we had lost from having a late night the evening before.

Summary:

• Port Angeles is 2 1/2 hours driving from Sea-Tac.
• Marymere Falls could definitely be skipped, but Sol Duc Falls was worth it.
• Driving takes longer than expected, but it’s very pretty along the way, especially Crescent Lake.
• There’s no telling if it will be raining at your destination, even if you’re relatively close by and you’re experiencing a down pour.
• Navigation around the park is extremely easy.
• Beginning of April is rainy, in the 40’s and very few crowds.