THE BOGACHIEL RAINFOREST.
Day 222 – It was supposed to be sunny today and be in the 60’s. Except that it wasn’t. We decided not to go to Hoh Rainforest in the morning when the weather looked bad. After lunch, tired of sitting around doing laundry at the campground, we left to go to Bogachiel Rainforest, a much shorter drive to a much smaller rainforest. Maybe ten minutes inland from the campground, the sun was shining and it was 10 degrees warmer. Surprise!
On the way to the rainforest, we stopped at Bogachiel State Park to check it out for possible future camping if we came back to the area. It was a nice campground but the sites were all for tents and shorter vehicles like Vans and Camper Trucks. Across the road from the State Park was the entrance to the rainforest.
“The beautiful Bogachiel Rainforest is a lush, green wonderland with hanging mosses, old-growth cedar, and spruce trees, along with ferns and wetlands. It can be accessed by a trailhead in Olympic National Forest, but Bogachiel Rainforest Trail #825 wanders into Olympic National Park after 1.6 miles. What’s interesting is this trail is part of the Pacific Northwest Scenic Trail that runs nearly 1,200 miles to Glacier National Park. But no need to hike a thousand miles. The Ira Spring-Wetland Loop is a 2.9-mile loop that takes you thru a fern forest to a wetland overlook. To get to the trailhead from Forks, travel US 101 five miles south to Undi Road which is milepost 186. Turn east and travel five miles to the trailhead. The last two miles is Forest Service Road 2932, a 1.5-lane gravel road.” (Excerpt above from Olympic National Park Trips, Outside Magazine, by Tori Peglar, May 6, 2022.)
We did not follow these directions because Undi Road was closed part way into the rainforest – we’re guessing a mudslide because there was another big mudslide that had previously been cleaned up (and with all this rain……..) We took the Undi Road By-Pass, which was a well-maintained gravel road traveling steeply uphill then just as steeply downhill again, and with undulating switchbacks. When we reached the parking lot for the trail, there were two sections for parking – one for cars and one for horses. The car parking lot was almost full. The trail was narrow and curvy and went straight downhill to the Bogachiel River. I opted not to do a trail that steep (and probably muddy); I took my camera and walked around the parking lot and the woods close by (and on level ground). Rob opted to do the same. It was very pretty, not as mossy as Queets but with nice waterfalls like Quinault, and more flowers than either of them. Also, flowing through Bogachiel was a gorgeous stream with rapids.
When we left the rainforest, we headed back toward La Push and the campground, first driving through the town of Forks. We stopped at a County Park and walked around a little. There was a very nice stream and pretty flowers and trees. A man was walking three big, heavy dogs that were having a great time.
