Highlights:
– Huge diversity of wildlife and landscapes
– Warmer temperatures in the temperate rainforest
– Salmon spawn
– Beautiful mushrooms
– Banana slugs
Let me just start by saying, if you are strapped for time, skip Vancouver Island. Actually, even if you aren’t strapped for time…maybe skip Vancouver Island. We had heard great things about the island, and decided it must be worth it to shell out $65 (one way, with vehicle and two adults) to visit the island. We drove across the border into Vancouver, Canada where we caught the ferry. Admittedly, the ferry was very nice, with a restaurant and great windows for looking for wildlife during the journey. When we arrived on the island, however, we were disappointed at the high costs for camping (we managed to find a spot for $30 in someone’s back yard, but it seemed like the established campgrounds were much more expensive). We expected to explore some parks as we had in the USA, but the parks were much smaller, with fewer hiking trails, and we had to pay for parking!! If you surf, the surfer community seemed very cool, but it just wasn’t for us. We decided to just head back to the USA after 2 days.
On a more positive note, Olympic National Park blew us away! It’s a bit of an anomalous park, in that it is quite spread out into different sections, which means spending a few days there is definitely important. Here, you can find beautiful, lush temperate rainforests full of moss and a rainbow of different mushrooms with beautiful elk wandering by occasionally. You also can walk to the Pacific Ocean and search for marine otters, puffins, tidepool creatures, eagles, and more. The Ozette triangle (a 15 km loop) from Ozette Ranger Station is a nice way to experience the forest and the ocean/shoreline together, especially if you love mushrooms. If you are feeling more adventurous, you could even hike to Mt. Olympus, which is normally an overnight backpacking trip that requires some preparation (and rain-proof gear!). Because this is still bear country, all back country campers must have a bear canister for food storage, a backcountry camping permit (which you can get from any ranger station), and bear spray.
The highlight, and something that only visitors in autumn get the chance to experience, is the salmon run, where salmon swim from the ocean, upstream and inland. It is an astonishing journey, and if you are so lucky as to visit Olympic National Park in September until mid-October, you will almost definitely have a chance to witness the beginning of the salmons’ long journey. The best place to view this feat is the Salmon Cascades. There is a parking area and a very small trail (not even 100 m) before you reach the river where salmon jump up the waterfalls in order to continue onwards. We stayed for ages, cheering with other visitors whenever a salmon made it over a waterfall. It was one of the highlights from our trip.
Finally, there are plenty of great camping areas in and around the park, including some primitive campgrounds on the beach. We stayed for two nights in this park, once in the park and once just outside. On our night in the park, we camped in Hoh Campground, which was lush and green and conveniently located for exploring Hoh Rainforest. On the night outside of the park, we camped at Salt Creek Campground, outside of the park, which was recommended to us by one of the volunteer rangers at the park. This was a beautiful, well-maintained, and spacious campground. For $25 (cash only) we set up our tent on a cliff overlooking the Salish Sea, had great, hot showers, and set up a fire and grilled our dinner. This campground would probably be great in peak season, too, if the park campgrounds are full.
I would definitely love to return to Olympic and spend more time exploring its different regions, especially the mountains.