We have been wanting to explore more of Olympic National Park for awhile now and finally got to do it Labor Day Weekend!
We had a campsite reserved for Friday night and one reserved for Sunday night so we needed to find one along the way for Saturday night. Bryan got off work earlier than expected on Friday and decided we should try to get a “first come, first serve” campsite along Lake Crescent for Friday and then we could stay there through Saturday. Unfortunately, all the campsites around there were all booked and we had to keep driving to find somewhere else to stay! We eventually ended up at a campsite near Ozette Lake and it was perfect!
We got all set up and then set the kids free to explore.
Maggie loves to find climbable trees lately!
Hank was pretty excited about the hot dogs for dinner!
And Bryan taught the kids how to play flashlight tag, which kept them all entertained for quite awhile!
The next day we set off for a hike on the Ozette Loop. The whole loop is 9 miles, which we thought was a little far for the kids so we opted to do the first 1/3 of the loop (The Sand Point Trail) to the ocean and then back. The trail was great and a good portion of it was this boardwalk which the kids loved!
The hike was flat and went by pretty fast. Before we knew it we had reached the Ocean!
The views there were stunning and the kids lost no time exploring.
They were especially excited about the anemones we found and loved sticking their fingers in the middle of them to have the anemone give their finger a “hug”.
Maggie and I hiked up this little outcropping and Bryan snapped a picture of us from below.
It was fun to be up there with my oldest girl and to take in the gorgeous views!
All the kids were pretty much lost in their own worlds on this beach. We packed lunches to eat and stayed and played for hours.
Bryan and Maggie had fun making this log cabin style fort out of driftwood.
The sun came out after a little bit and it was such a fun and private place to hang out for the day! (This blurry pic is the only one we got of all of us on this beach!)
Bryan took Wendy and Hank (separately) up the same rocky knoll that Maggie and I had hiked and here are their pictures from the top!
We started the hike back when Reese was too tired to play any longer and she fell asleep in the pack before we even made it back to the trail! This hike was pretty amazing because you were surrounded by trees and forest the whole way until suddenly you landed on a stunning Pacific Ocean beach. Bryan and I would love to come back and do the whole 9 mile loop one day!
That evening we were going to take our canoe out on Ozette Lake but the kids were all too tired after the 6 mile trail and so we had dinner and hung out at the campsite instead. We had some friends end up joining us and the kids had a blast teaching them flashlight tag!
The next morning we packed up our campsite and headed out to do a short hike to Marymere Falls. Bryan and I had a good laugh over Hank’s facial expression while he watched a show in the car on the way! 🙂
Reese is always such a trooper and never minds being in this backpack for all our hiking adventures. She never cries in it and has no problem falling asleep if we are hiking around naptime!
The trail to Marymere falls was short and a fun one for the kids!
Wendy was off exploring for our family pic in front of the falls!
But luckily, she came back for a girl’s picture!
And we don’t know what the boys are doing in their picture but they always keep us entertained! 🙂
Had to post this cute picture of my oldest girl!
After the falls we headed to Rialto beach to meet up with our friends who were camping there. We had a reserved spot right near there so we set up our campsite and then headed straight for the beach. It was super overcast and I was worried that it was going to rain but luckily the clouds cleared away fro a bit and we got some blue skies for about 15 minutes! 🙂 It was a decent walk down the beach to find our friends but once we got there we were glad we did it!
They had this fun tree near their campsite and the kids had a blast hanging on it!
I thought it was too cold to get into the water but my girls didn’t seem to mind!
The kids also made a teeter-totter on the beach and had fun with that! 🙂
Our friends made a campfire on the beach and that helped all the kids warm up after their swim.
Bryan, Maggie, Wendy, and Hank decided to explore further down the beach with some of the friends. They found Hole-in-the-Wall and STARFISH! The girls were really hoping to see some starfish on this trip and they were so excited to see a few!
Rialto beach ended up being beautiful and I’m so glad we ended up going!
We stayed till it was dark and then hiked back down the beach and went to our campsite. We decided that camping ON this beach was going to go on our bucket list!
The next day (our last day) we headed to Ruby beach where we were greeted with blue skies and fantastic views!
The kids lost no time finding us a place to hang out for the day and of course it included a driftwood fort that someone had already made.
It was so fun to explore this beach and to have it be hot enough for us to play in the water too!
All of my girlies love to be in the water. They definitely take after Bryan on that one and had fun watching him fully jump in despite the water’s frigid temperature!
Hank and Bry built another driftwood fort.
Wendy had fun sitting like this on the beach and waiting for the water and waves to come over her. 🙂
Bryan helped them all write their names in the sand.
While I made sure Reese didn’t drown in the ocean. 🙂
Ruby beach was stunning and it was the perfect way to end our trip!
Camping and exploring with this crazy crew is never easy but always worth it!
We were all exhausted when we got home but were all so happy that it worked out for us to explore Olympic National Park. It’s now one of my favorite places and we can’t wait to go back and explore next summer!
