$150 Trip To The Rainforest

We all have people that are close to us even though they are far away.  People that used to play a bigger role in our lives or maybe would today if they lived closer or circumstances were a bit different.  After texting an old friend and getting a $150 flight to Seattle, we were off to the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.  Let’s call part one of this trip “the best things for free” and we’ll call the second part “turning up the luxurometer.”

Part 1: The Best Things For Free

I lived in Olympia for a year and have always loved the forests of the Pacific Northwest and the waterways of the Puget Sound.  Parts of ONP get 12 feet of rain per year and we figured that camping in the rainforest during the rainy season of late February / early March would be one hell of an adventure.  We would have the place to ourselves as most facilities are closed until later in March when tourism picks up.  However, in some fluke of nature, we happened to get perhaps the only 3 days of consecutive sunshine in the last 3 months!  We still had the back country all to ourselves but with clear blue skies.   A good conversation is free and getting a backcountry pass to camp in the Olympic National Park (ONP) costs $16. Trekking into the forest from the empty parking lot of the ranger station is traveling back in time:

As we walked under a canopy of the largest Western Hemlock and Sitka Spruce trees in the world, halls of moss covered trees damped out all noise except for trickling water.  The wet oxygen rich sea level air was easy breathing and we talked about the late 30s approaching middle age, what matters now and what has changed.  We made camp by the river and then explored further up toward the snow line until the sun left the valley:

Camping was cold but no rain meant we could get just enough semi-dry wood for a small fire with tea, a nice pasta dinner, and even a few pulls from the camp flask.

Upon leaving the forest, that ranger station lot was now chock full of opportunistic Seattleites using the rare sunny day.  We headed to the coast had an epic rock skipping battle and explored a couple of beaches and tide pools. 

We also made a lunch of fish on crackers on the beach logs and watched some sea lions and seals.

Part 2: Turning Up The Luxurometer

Everything I’ve described so far (except plane ticket) was pretty much cost neutral to a weekend at home but we also decided to turn up the luxurometer a bit.  We bought ourselves some time by getting a room at Kalaloch lodge on that first night we had arrived around midnight so that we would have 3-4 more hours of daylight that next day when we headed in camping.  After all, sometimes time is more scarce than cash.  After we had emerged from the woods and checked out the coast we cranked the meter up even more and stayed at a castle hotel and ate a pretty legit local seafood dinner.

The next morning we sailed around Port Townsend and out to the Straight of Juan De Fuca:

There were old military defenses, huge shipping container mega ships, and even one or two dolphin and seal with the snow capped mountains in the background.  We could see Canada from one end of the bay and Mt Rainier imposing over the other end.  Our captain was quite a character having sailed the route of Columbus, built boats, and been a fisherman.  It’s always interesting to hear people’s stories and in some ways more so than the scenery.  

We made our way back to life and I got to share a dinner with my friend’s wife and daughter as well before I had to get back to Seatac and then home here in the Rocky Mountains.  I love checking in with old friends on decisions made, where life has gone and where it is headed.  It is a good chance for getting perspective from someone with whom you have continuity.

I will also call the turning up of the Luxurometer a success. The total trip cost was less than $500pp.  The castle hotel was fine though perhaps a bit much, the sailing was a good use of the opportunity, the meals were nice, and the extra time was used wisely.  After all, when you are using excess capacity outside of peak demand like we were, the extra cash was still at a huge discount to high season and you know I like a bargain 😉  

Feel free to check out others on the list of adventures here