Travel Tips: Olympic Peninsula & Sol Duc Hot Springs!

This week I am traveling so I thought it would be fun to share one of the coolest places I have been to in the past! I visited my sister when she lived in Portland, Oregon, and we took a road trip up to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State!  It was one of my favorite short trips I have been on and one of the most beautiful places ever to go visit!

 

 

Years ago my sister and I did this trip and it is one of my best memories!  We started off in Portland, Oregon and drove our way up!  A lot of the trip was focused on visiting hot spots for Twilight fans, but there are a lot of other really cool things to do in the area, especially if you love the great outdoors!  The Olympic Peninsula is home to the Olympic National Forest and Hoh Rain Forest which makes for some gorgeous scenery and a great drive!

Drive over on the 101 across the south side of the peninsula.  Soon the road will turn north and you will be heading toward Forks, Washington.

 

What to do in Forks:

Your first stop in Forks should be the visitors center!  Just be sure to keep your eye out for it because if you blink you will miss it!  This is a great place to stretch your legs, take a restroom break and get some information about the area.  Pick up maps of the hiking trails, dining info and information about other activities to do!   You can also see the map of places people have visited Forks from and add your pin to where you are from!  (There are also Twilight cut outs for photo opps, Edward themed bathroom decor and maps to the “Cullen” and “Swan” residents- if you’re into that sort of thing)

Next drive around the small town of Forks and take in the sites.  Follow your Twilight map or just make it up as you go!  It really isn’t that big, so you probably won’t get lost!  Visit one of the local diners for lunch and then walk around the small shops and pick up some souvenirs.

 

Just past town there is a turn off that takes you to the Indian reservation on the coast and La Push beach.  Turn left and drive over to the coast- it’s a 15-20 minute drive and totally worth it!  You can also see the “Treaty Line” marker.

But seriously, the coast is beautiful here and there are some really great hiking trails around this area and down to the cost through the rain forest.

Next, head up to Sol Duc hot springs for some pampering!  The natural hot springs are brought into mineral pools for guest to enjoy, and don’t worry you get used to that smell!  It’s $12.95 for adults or free if you stay there!  Be sure to gas up before you complete this part of the drive, it’s longer than you expect and you don’t want to run out of gas once you get there and have to buy some from the lodge…not that this happened to us or anything…

 

In Forks there were several motel type of places you could stay in but we stayed somewhere else so I can’t really recommend any of them.

 

What I recommend is staying at the cabins at the Sol Duc hot springs!  The cabins were pretty nice and you get to go in the springs for free.  They also have a spa and several restaurants.  There are no TVs in the rooms though, so bring your laptop and some movies if you need something to do at night! (and you will, because it’s very remote and there is nothing else to do!)

To round off your road trip, continue around 101 and make a stop in Port Angeles.  You could walk around, have lunch or just breeze on through.  You can also take the ferry to Victoria from here if you want to go to Canada!  Past Port Angeles, keep driving down 101 to get back to any sort of big city!  It is very scenic along the way and you pass through some cute little villages as well!

 

If we had stayed longer we would have been able to do some amazing hiking!  If you’re into this sort of thing you should definitely get a map and information on it the visitors center.  The weather here can vary and changes drastically, even in the summer, so just be sure you know what you’re doing if you head up into the mountains for camping or hiking!

More info:
Sol Duc Hot Springs
Forks Visitors Center
Olympic National Park