Olympic National Park - Day 5: Rialto Beach, Hoh Rainforest

I was excited to see the Hoh Rainforest today.  I've seen so many beautiful pictures of the rainforest before, and was really looking forward to experiencing it in person.

Instead of heading straight to the rainforest in the morning, we decided to make a quick stop at Rialto Beach first.  It was only 10 minutes away from our Airbnb, and it made sense to see this beach while we still could -- the access road was closing at 5pm.  We didn't want to rush to make it back in time after the rainforest, so the timing worked out well this way.  It was actually perfect because low tide was at 10:13am, and we got there around 9:30am.

I was so surprised with not only the amount of driftwood, but the size of it.  What huge logs.  It was pretty amazing how much was there.  And, the beach was almost empty!  There were maybe only 10 people spread out across most of it.  We walked to the south, towards a group of seastacks that looked pretty.  Took our time climbing over rocks and getting there.

Everything was so beautiful.  Even looking at the rocks and the mussels and barnacles was really cool.

After the beach, we started the journey to the rainforest.  It took a little over an hour, but it felt like so much longer.  Must've been the anticipation of getting there!

The parking lot was completely full when we got there, which I expected.  It was late morning time, and still holiday weekend.  Surprisingly though, the visitor center was empty.  After some advice from the rangers, we chose to hike the Hoh River Trail to the Mineral Creek waterfall.  Originally, I had thought it'd be great to do the 5 Mile Island hike...but we really did not have it in us to do another 10-mile hike after completing the one yesterday.  The hike to the waterfalls was around 5 miles roundtrip, so this was much more reasonable for our legs.

The trees were beautiful.  This wasn't even the well known Hall of Mosses, and there were some impressive, large, old trees.  I also really liked having the Hoh River to the side of us as we hiked.  The waters looked so clear, and provided nice, relaxing sounds of nature.

We passed countless numbers of backpackers finishing up their trip.  It looked like a popular camping destination.

It's interesting how different the waterfall is compared to Marymere Falls.  Mineral Creek waterfall is covered with a lot of foliage and growth.  It was sometimes hard to photograph the upper falls because of all the leaves.  It had more of a natural feel to it compared to Marymere falls.  Both beautiful and with strong waters.

Lower part of Mineral Creek Falls

After eating and our break time, we hiked back to the visitor center and decided to do the infamous Hall of Mosses.  It was only 0.8 miles of a loop, which seemed like nothing compared to everything else we had done.

What an incredible loop.  The trees and clubmoss were so beautiful.  So mystical and fairy-like.  Especially the Maple Groves area.  It took a while for us to walk through, because we kept taking pictures and just being in awe of what we were seeing.

Maple Groves area

When we were done, the parking lot was only a quarter full.  Most visitors probably started heading home.  I was really happy that we chose to stay an additional night, for a fresh start home in the morning.

Bummed that our trip has come to an end, it went back so quickly!  I really loved my time here.  While we did drive a lot, I would not have cut anything out of the trip.  We encountered such beautiful landscapes, and such diversity of landscapes.  Beautiful, sunny weather everyday, wildlife and nature everywhere, and we didn't have to deal with huge lines or crowds.  It was perfect.  I can't wait until I can explore more again.