Magical is the word for this trip. We keep talking of fairies, gnomes and mermaids. The scenery of the Pacific Northwest is straight out of a fairytale. The property where we are staying is no different. We are staying in 1 of 4 cabins built right on the Sol Duc River. Our cabin is cozy, well stocked and absolutely home.

We made our way back to our cabin to pack up for day of exploring ONP. Bailey made sure we were making our sandwiches correctly.
Our first stop was Lake Crescent Lodge to hike the Marymere Falls Trail. Again MAGIC! Enormous trees, soft forest floor, river sounds, carpets of ferns and drapes of moss. At one point, I said, “it looked like someone perfectly landscaped all of this.” I then quickly realized Someone did, the master landscape architect Himself: GOD!
More tough uphill and we made it to the falls. This trail was 2.2 miles with 299 feet of elevation gain.
We made our way back down the trail and enjoyed a picnic lunch at the lodge by the lake. My people had to jump into the frigid lake – they are awesome!
Next, we headed to the Sol Duc Valley. We stopped at the Salmon Cascades in hopes of seeing them jumping upstream. While we didn’t see any salmon, this was another beautiful spot. We continued driving to the trailhead and set out on the Sol Duc Falls Nature Trail. Again MAGIC! This trail was 2.1 miles with a 253 feet elevation gain.
We stopped at the Salmon Cascades again just to make sure the salmon didn’t decide to start jumping while we were gone. We sat and watched the rushing water for a bit, then the bugs found us, and we decided to call it a day.
We drove into Forks for dinner. Forks is known for being the town featured in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, which Lily and I have both read. The town (which consists of 1 main road a few blocks long) is filled with Twilight memorabilia. Lily and I were hoping to see some places that were filmed in the movie, but ironically NONE of the movies were filmed near Forks.
Finding somewhere to eat was a bit of a challenge. There are only a handful of dine-in options and Yelp was not recommending any of them. We tried the highest recommended pizza place, only to go in and learn that It was take out only and 1.5 hours to make a pizza. We tried the taproom next door to learn they did not allow anyone under 21 on the premises. We ended up at Pacific Pizza and the food was great. As with many places, it was understaffed, but the guys working were busting their butts to keep things going.
After dinner, we went back to the first pizza place because they had ice cream! We walked down the street to a store dedicated to Twilight fans.
We made our way back to our cabin. The owner, John , brought out some graham crackers for us to feed to the goats, horses and cows.
We went back to our cabin and played a few games on the picnic table and relaxed to the sound of a rushing river. After a while, I wondered out loud where Bailey went. I turned around and she was behind me standing right next to her stick!
Total steps: 18, 281 Distance: 9 miles Flights climbed: 20
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