Sarah E BourneMay 28, 2025

At Logan waiting to fly to Seattle. The plan is to get out of town and to Olympic National Park ASAP. We will stop at a grocery store and Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge on the way, though.
https://www.nps.gov/olym/index.htm
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/dungeness

#RoadTrip

Olympic National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

With its incredible range of precipitation and elevation, diversity is the hallmark of Olympic National Park. Encompassing nearly a million acres, the park protects a vast wilderness, thousands of years of human history, and several distinctly different ecosystems, including glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rain forests, and over 70 miles of wild coastline. Come explore!

Show threadSarah E BourneMay 28, 2025
Arrived. Waiting on a bright sunny day for a shuttle to the car rental place. We have lots of company!
Show threadSarah E BourneMay 29, 2025

Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge was a very special place. It had been close to too hot in Seattle, but the wind off the Pacific was pretty chilly.

#RoadTrip

Show threadSarah E BourneMay 30, 2025

Yesterday was spent tramping around Olympic National Park. Waterfalls! Mountains! And so much moss, ferns, giant trees, and wildflowers.

#RoadTrip #mosstodon #ferns

Show threadSarah E BourneMay 30, 2025

Yesterday's amusing moment: After hours deep in the park with no cell signal, my phone suddenly pinged that I had a text as we reached Hurricane Ridge. "Welcome to Canada!" my cell provider was telling me. What? ! ?
It apparently just caught a whisper of a signal from across the Salish Sea LOL

#RoadTrip

Show threadSarah E BourneMay 31, 2025

At the Salmon House Restaurant on Lake Quinault ordering salmon. I think we're obligated to if we come to this part of the world. Happy to oblige.

#RoadTrip

Show threadSarah E Bourne

Yesterday at Olympic National Park took us to the Hoh Rain Forest, featuring massive trees and lots of mosses and ferns in old growth forest, and then Ruby Beach with its sea stacks and ferocious Pacific Ocean waves.

Edit to add hashtags. Got excited and hit post because my breakfast was just delivered 😂

#RoadTrip #mosstodon #lichensubscribe #WildStones

May 31, 2025 at 3:01pmWeb
Show threadSarah E BourneJun 1, 2025

We took some rainy walks around Lake Quinault, and a quick walk on the beach at the Seashore Conservation Area State Park. Now heading inland to visit Mt. Rainier. Olympic National Park was really amazing - what an incredible privilege to able to see it in person.

#RoadTrip #mosstodon #ferns #ocean

Show threadJen KramerJun 1, 2025
@sbourne Do not miss Mt St Helens while you're out there. There are 2 entrances. From Mt Rainier, you can get to the Windy Ridge access point without a big drive. There's no visitor center but it's an incredible drive in. The visitor center is worth seeing, but it's out off I-5, a healthy drive from Mt Rainier.
Show threadSarah E BourneJun 1, 2025
@jen4web We really want to, but the clock is running out. We'll see! Hoping for clear skies tonight for the Aurora.
Show threadSarah E BourneJun 1, 2025
@jen4web We may have to come back 😍
Show threadJen KramerJun 1, 2025
@sbourne Another great loop to make is from Eugene, across route 126, pass the Dee Wright Observatory, over to Sisters and Bend OR. Then south on 97 to Crater Lake, stopping at Newberry Natl Volcanic Monument on the way. Phenomenal scenery when it's clear. I am a volcano fan 😀
Show threadScott FrancisJun 1, 2025
@sbourne My lone regret on a family road trip from LA to Seattle a few years ago was that we didn’t visit Olympic National Park and the only temperate rain forest in North America. What a magical place!
Show threadSarah E BourneJun 1, 2025
@darkuncle It was really wonderful. Maybe you'll get another chance!
Show threadScott FrancisJun 1, 2025
@sbourne we’ve done a number of road trips over the years but that one still stands out. (Especially between Eureka, CA and Coos Bay, OR). Trying to do one again maybe 2027.
Show threadHey GusJun 1, 2025

@sbourne such an incredibly beautiful place. Going further north to BC things just get bigger and more wild. Continue further north and the trend continues.

Going from where you are down to Los Angeles via the pacific coast highway things become progressively more tame, not because of people particularly but how the geography and everything else changes.

It’s quite a unique thing to experience.