Olympic National Park - Heart O' The Forest Trail, Washington

Olympic National Park - Heart of the Forest Trail

June 28, 2018

Distance: 5.09 miles

Time: 2 hours, 23 minutes.

Calories: 780.

Entrance Fee: We used our America The Beauty Pass - $20 USD per night for camping.

This was our first visit to the Olympic National Park! After researching online about all the campsites and the hikes, we decided to try the Heart O’ The Hills for this car camping adventure.

Reservations: First-come, first-served.

Sites and Fees: 105 total sites, $20 per night.

Facilities: Flush toilets and potable water.

The campground has 5 different loops (A-E) and has a total of 105 campsites (104 available for guests, one of the sites is reserved for the host). Firewood bundles are available on site for $5 USD, a fire camp is always a nice camping activity, you can simply relax and talk while you enjoy the heat of campfire. 

We camped only for two days and decided to do 2 hikes (Heart of the Forest Trail and Klahhane Ridge Trail.

While this blog is not meant to discuss camping activities, we wanted to mention that car/RV camping has its own advantages, you can travel with many things to make camping more comfortable (comforts of home, away from home) more safety equipment and if you’re a foodie like us, supplies to prepare delicious meals(we do prefer our meals warm); check out this blue corn tortilla with melted mozzarella/cheddar cheese and delicious chicken fajitas with guacamole, uff!

Our first hike was ‘Heart of the Forest Trail’. It is a 4.5 miles round trip, easy hike with good views and multiple opportunities for nice pictures.

To reach the trail, you have to walk to loop E and locate the trailhead.

This trail is very well maintained, it has many wooden bridges and several water  streams, whose sound we find relaxing.

One of the things we liked about this trail was the immensity of the trees, the trunks/stems are very high and thick. You will be able to see many uprooted trees. Several sections of this trails were cleared by trimming trunks of fallen stems.

As you reach the second mile of the hike, you will be able to hear the stream downhill. The sound of moving water is music to ears during a tiring hike (soaking your feet at end of the hike takes away tiredness from legs). You will also be able to observe what we believe, are signs of lighting striking the trees. Fire traces are evident on some of these huge trees.

The end of the trails is not clearly marked, the best way to describe it is: once you reach a huge fallen tree blocking the way (about 2.2 miles). There is a path going around the tree on either side.  We believe that is the official trail end, however, if you wish to, go further to either side of fallen tree (left side is very steep, the right side will force you to climb the trunk) and continue 0.2 miles down, you will reach the stream(visible downhill approximately 1 mile after starting the hike).

If you are driving from the East, North East part of the Puget Sound region, you will have to take Edmonds-Kingston ferry(fare $18.70 USD) to save some time and distance while reaching the peninsula. 

Tips:

The campground is First-come, first-served, so plan to arrive early if it is a busy season.

If you are traveling without a car, there are food storage containers close to the campsite registration in which you can safely store your food.

The visitor center about 5 miles from the campground has some bear canisters available to rent if you wish to use them or if you plan to do wilderness camping.

Please check out our report on the Klahhane Ride Trail a 14-mile hike with amazing views from the top of Mount Angels  for the second hike of this trip.

See you next time!