MAILBOX PEAK!

We've been wanting to attempt Mailbox Peak and kick it's tail....we've heard so much about it.  None of the hype was wrong...it's a 3 mile stairmaster from HELL, but so worth it once you get there.  360 degree views and a sense of real accomplishment is what you will find at the top.  Not to mention even more of a sense of accomplishment once you get back to your car as the trip down is as hard as the way up.  It's the mountain that never lets you relax! 


Things to know:  get a discovery pass for this trail as it is a DNR trail.  (Yeah we weren't thrilled either!)  Start early especially on a nice, sunny, cloudless day like we had and bring poles for the way down.  (We didn't need the poles for the way up at all.)  The trail head is up past the gate, some people seemed a little confused.  The start of the trail is a left (that skinny winding path just to the left of the board with very little on it.) and just start heading up! I hope you are in shape if you start up is all I am going to say.....

Hurricane Hill

Almost forgot to add this!  We stopped for a quick trip up Hurricane Hill.  Total round trip is 3 miles so the site says.  We never got to the top.  It was too foggy and cloudy.  Since no view and we wanted to get to our cabin in Forks as it was getting late we decided to turn around.  But it was so beautiful up there, we wanted to share our snaps!  We hope to return on a nicer day as I am sure the views would be breathtaking as we were amazed by what we could see!  Enjoy!  Oh, you'll have to pay $15 to get up here.......but it's worth it.  Easy drive...just put it in low on the way down and watch for other drivers.  Some may be too busy looking at deer and other wildlife to watch where they are driving!

Second Beach

Now this is an amazing beach!  We got there around low tide...making it look like an endless and the widest beach we have ever seen.  It went on forever!  Should you get there for a sunny day, there is no better place on earth.  It's a quick .7 miles down.  You will have to do a lot of log hopping to get to the beach as the is a huge pile of 'driftwood' trees at the mouth of the beach.  We logged in a total of 4 miles here from start to finish most of it obviously on the beach itself.  We went from end to end.  Loads of tide pools and sea stacks to keep you busy.  We had a nice lunch in a quiet corner.  As it was lunch time, there were more people here, but being such a big beach you weren't tripping on one another.  More campers here and the occasional dog...although dogs are not allowed on third or second beach.  They were leashed and caused no problems. 

 

Third Beach

Day 2 at the Olympic Coast was spent at first at Third Beach.  Very well marked, good parking and our arrival at 9:15 AM there were loads of cars in the parking lot. We expected to find it very busy, but just a few campers that were spending the weekend down on the beach.  Great campsite!  The hike down is quite easy on the well maintained trail.  Bathrooms at the trail head.  About 1.4 miles down to the beach.  Got there and the clouds burnt off about an hour later.  We just walked and lazed about for a few hours taking snaps and enjoying the sun before we headed to Second Beach.