Majestic glacier-carved and glacier-fed Lake Quinault is surrounded by mossy old growth trees of the Quinault Rain Forest, one of only three temperate coniferous rain forests in the Western Hemisphere. The Lake Quinault area is home to some of the largest trees in the world. The Quinault Valley hosts the largest known western red cedar, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and mountain hemlock trees. We saw a few of these.
Lake Quinalt Rainforest Hike
First we stopped by the rustic Lake Quinalt lodge. Built in 1926, this place is grand inside and out. My favorite part was the giant back deck and grassy area leading down to the lake. It’s open year round and seems like it would be worth a stay. We were here to hike the Lake Quinalt Loop. Our hike was around 4 miles and packed a lot of magic into it. Amazing lush green plants cover everything except the middle of the trail. This is a rainforest, getting on average 10-12 feet of rain a year so expect some mud. It was misty when we hiked and drizzled a bit. Just be prepared with a good raincoat.
Merriman Falls
After our hike we drove the short distance to Merriman Falls. This is one of the easiest falls to get to other than maybe Vidae Falls in Crater Lake National Park. The falls plummet 40 feet over a mossy and ferny ledge into a mossy mess of jumbled boulders and saturated logs. Definitely worth stopping for.
Tree of Life
The Tree of Life is down on the beach behind Kalaloch Lodge and is unique. Erosion has wiped away the earth below the Sitka Spruce and it dangles between to eroding banks. You can see its entire root system and while that’s neat, it’s also sad. This magical tree has very little time left before it collapses. All the more reason to go see it now.
World’s Largest Sitka Spruce
You read that right. We went and saw the WORLD’S largest Sitka Spruce. This BEAST of a tree is estimated to be about 1,000 years old. It is 58’11” in circumference, and 191′ tall. Simply amazing. The hike to get to this is only about 1/4 a mile and worth it.
Big Cedar
Sticking with the tree theme, we stopped and checked out the big cedar tree on the way back from our Quinalt Hike. This cedar isn’t the world’s biggest but still impressive. It used to stand 175′ tall but a storm in 2014 split the behemoth nearly in half. We kept going on the short trail and came across several other large gnarled cedars. So overwhelming to imagine how long these beasts have been around. This tree is also estimated to be around 1,000 year old. Just think, this tree has been around since the Byzantine Empire ruled Constantinople.
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