Lost Mountain Lodge Insider's Guide to Travel in the Pacific Northwest

Make the Olympic Peninsula your Next Vacation Destination

2010-05-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

Looking for an exotic summer destination? One of the best kept travel secrets remains the incredible value that you will find on the Olympic Peninsula. Rocky beaches, magnificent rain forests, organic farm stands and lavender fields framed by snow-capped mountain peaks. Dozens of priceless experiences that cost little or nothing to enjoy!

First, there's the Olympic National Park -- just $15 for a one-week family pass is your ticket to some of the most pristine and unspoiled wilderness on the continent. The Olympic National Park is a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve. With 37 peaks well above 7000-feet, the Olympic Mountains are breathtakingly beautiful, rugged and remote. They remain isolated from development with not a single ski resort to mar spectacular views of the wilderness.

The Olympic National Park is so vast that our guests often remark how surprised they were to have trails and scenic overlooks all to themselves even in the middle of summer! We know all the best trails from secluded rain forest waterfalls to high mountain meadows full of purple lupine. We'll even point out hidden beaches where you can spot gray whales in the kelp beds within a few hundred feet of shore.

Or you can explore the nearby Dungeness Spit and National Wildlife Refuge for a mere $3.00 for your entire group (an all-day entrance fee). If you want to splurge, for just $125 per person we'll set up our registered guests with a memorable Kayak tour out to the historic New Dungeness Lighthouse -- the package includes all your gear and a professional guide plus a tasty box lunch. It's the only way to see some of the Elephant Seal breeding grounds that are off-limits to visitors on foot.

If birds are your thing, the Protection Island Cruise is an amazing experience. Approximately 70-percent of the nesting sea bird population of Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca hatch their young on the island. The island is perhaps better known for one of the largest nesting colonies of Rhinoceros Auklets in the world and one of the last two nesting colonies of Tufted Puffins in the Puget Sound area. In addition to the largest nesting colony of glaucous-winged gulls in Washington, nearly 1,000 harbor seals depend upon the island for a pupping and rest area.

If you're a history buff, there's no charge to explore nearby Port Townsend, a National Historic District that's a short and scenic 30-minutes by car. Once larger than Seattle, Port Townsend boasts turreted mansions built by the timber barons and a bustling waterfront that pre-dates the Civil War.

A pleasant, absolutely free spot for a romantic afternoon picnic can be found in postcard-perfect Port Gamble -- a charming village frozen in time in the 1860's. The streets are bordered by picket fences and its New England style church is one of the most photographed buildings in the state and a popular place for fairytale weddings.

Bring your bikes and pedal for free on the Olympic Discovery Trail that winds its way more through more than 30 miles of picturesque farms, across old wooden bridges and along a scenic coastline from Port Townsend to Port Angeles. Along the way, the Dungeness Railroad Bridge Park is a great place to spot Bald Eagles hunting for salmon in the icy Dungeness River.

Unless you've been sequestered on a different planet, you've no doubt heard of Forks, the home of vampires and werewolves made famous in the Twilight series of books and movies. Forks is an easy 45-minute drive from the Lodge and you can pick up a self-guided Twilight Tour map at the local Visitor Center. While the rain pelts Forks with more than 90-inches of rain each year, you'll be happy to return to sunny Sequim which receives fewer than 16-inches of rain per year making it the driest place in Western Washington.

Sequim's location in the "rain shadow" of the Olympic Mountains is the main reason that it has become the Lavender Capital of North America. It doesn't cost a thing to tour dozens of Lavender farms. Follow our recommended driving loop to snap the best photos of the lavender fields with snow-capped peaks in the distance. For just a few dollars, you can pick an armful of fresh lavender or a bucket full of fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries all summer long at nearby U-pick farms that dot the Sequim countryside.

With so much to see and do, book now for a long weekend getaway in a luxury fireplace suite in the Main Lodge (adults only) or reserve one of our fully equipped, kid-friendly private cottages for your family's summer vacation.

Your Travel Guide at Lost Mountain Lodge

Visit the Olympics after the Games

2010-02-18T11:36:00.001-08:00

It's sunny and 52-degrees this morning with cloudless blue skies -- so clear that you can see Whistler Mountain, the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics -- shimmering in the distance to the north across the deep blue Straits of Juan de Fuca.

If you're intrigued by the news coverage on our corner of the world and are possibly contemplating the Pacific Northwest as your next vacation destination, you don't want to miss the spectacular Olympics that host visitors from around the world every day of the year -- the Olympic Mountains, the Olympic National Park and the Olympic Peninsula.

The Olympic National Park is a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve. With 37 peaks well above 7000-feet, the Olympic Mountains are breathtakingly beautiful, rugged and remote. They remain isolated from development with not a single ski resort to mar pristine views of the wilderness.

Be sure to check out our December 2009 Blog below where we provide Insider Tips on the Olympic Explorer Loop that will take you from the rain forest and waterfall trails here on the Olympic Peninsula, to the charming city of Victoria B.C., followed by a magnificent ferry crossing to Horseshoe Bay and finally up the Sea-to-Sky Highway to Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park.

Of course, it is inspiring to watch the 2010 Winter Olympics. Congratulations to all the athletes and their families for the years of sacrifice, dedication and hard work that have led to their Olympic moments.

This year come to the amazing Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Park and make some Olympic memories of your own to treasure for a lifetime.

Your Travel Guide at
Lost Mountain Lodge

The Olympic Explorer Loop to 2010 Olympics

2009-12-03T22:45:00.000-08:00

Very soon the TV news crews will be focused on the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia. People from around the world will decide that the Pacific Northwest with its rocky slopes, soaring pines and picturesque coastline is a place worth exploring.

What you may not know is that on a clear day you can actually see the peaks of Garibaldi and Whistler-Blackcomb shimmering in the distance from a ridge high in the Olympic Mountains in Washington State. Perhaps it’s prophetic that Mount Olympus in Washington State was named after the home of the gods in Greece. On July 4, 1778, British explorer John Meares gave the mountain its present name—Olympus—because he believed it to be the most heavenly and tallest of all the mountains they had seen on their long voyage up the Pacific Coast. The Olympic Mountains actually have 37 peaks over 7000-ft. and while Mount Olympus is the tallest at 7,965-feet -- it seems much higher because you can actually view the mountain from sea level.

Beginning in 776 BC, the Olympic Games were held in Olympia, a village approximately 500km southwest of Mount Olympus, located in the Pindars, the highest mountain range in Greece in a region known as Thessaly. The Games were held there every four years for the next 12 centuries.

So perhaps the fact that the 2010 Winter Olympics are once again in the shadow of a mountain called Mount Olympus -- in a state whose capital city is called Olympia -- is poetic. In fact, Whistler-Blackcomb is less than 220 miles from the Lost Mountain Lodge where we write this Blog, so in fact, the 2010 Games are closer to “our” Mount Olympus than they were to the original Mount Olympus in Greece.

When you bookmark Whistler or Vancouver, B.C. as your next winter or summer vacation destination, the best kept secret is our Olympic Explorer Loop. This is a scenic route that will take you from the primeval rain forests on the west side of the Olympic National Park where you will pass through the misty town of Forks -- home to the Twilight series vampires -- to the old British fur trading outpost of Victoria, B.C. where the Olympic Torch began its 28,000 mile (45,000 km) odyssey on October 30, 2009.

Rather than waiting in a long line of cars at the border crossing on Interstate 5 north of Bellingham, you’ll venture “up island” to Nanaimo -- where Captain Cook once traded beaver fur pelts with native tribes. There you’ll board a ferry and cross the Straits of Georgia to Horseshoe Bay, bypassing all that tangled traffic in downtown Vancouver.

From there it’s a magnificent drive along the sparkling shores of Howe Sound all the way to Squamish where the road turns east and begins its climb past Garibaldi Park to Whistler-Blackcomb.

I skied the slopes at Whistler in 1976 -- long before there was a Blackcomb and when there was no Whistler Village or boutique hotels or 5-star restaurants. There was one gondola ride to get on the mountain and an amazing 7-mile run at the end of the day to get off the mountain through the "back side" wilderness. We stayed in rustic cabins on Alta Lake and made a big pot of homemade chili. Nightlife consisted of a cutthroat game of Scrabble or Spades.

Those news crews and athletes will find a more cosmopolitan experience in Whistler, but our Olympic Explorer Loop will help you discover places that thankfully are still undeveloped and pristine including the Olympic National Park, a World Heritage Site. For more information, see our earlier December 3, 2009 Blog regarding the World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve distinctions bestowed upon the Olympic National Park -- a destination that should not be missed when traveling to Vancouver or Whistler, B.C.

Your Travel Guide at
Lost Mountain Lodge

Olympic National Park World Heritage Site

2009-12-03T19:52:00.001-08:00

The Olympic National Park is a World Heritage Site. It earned this designation based on the diversity of its ecosystems. The Olympic National Park features 37 peaks over 7000-ft. in elevation, including the citadel of Mount Olympus at 7,965 feet. These peaks are cloaked year-round in more than 60 pristine glaciers and surrounded by alpine meadows and thousands of acres of old growth forest. The Park includes one of only three temperate rainforests left on the planet and the largest example of virgin temperate rain forest in the Western Hemisphere.

Twelve major river systems (and 200 smaller streams) drain the Olympic mountains, offering some of the best habitat for fish species in the country (and the best hope for restoring native salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest).

The park also includes 57 miles (100 km) of wilderness coastline, the longest undeveloped coast in the contiguous United States, and is rich in native and endemic animal and plant species.

The Park contains more than 1,200 plants, 300 species of birds, and 70 species of mammals. Some species are unique to the Olympic Peninsula and are found no where else in the world. Attributed to geographic isolation in the last ice age, these species include the Olympic marmot, the Olympic torrent salamander, the Beardslee rainbow trout and Lake Crescent cutthroat trout, Flett’s violet, Piper’s bellflower and Olympic Mountain milkvetch.

The American Forestry Association has recognized more than 9 trees within the borders of the Olympic National Park as the largest living specimens of the species in the United States including Douglas Fir (298-ft.), Grand Fir (251-ft.) and Western Hemlock (241-ft)—making all these trees taller than a 20-story building!

Since its rugged terrain had virtually precluded any development in the Park, in 1988 Congress designated 95-percent of the Olympic National Park (or 876,669 acres) as federal wilderness.

The Olympic National Park was named a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1967 for its scientific value as a major reserve of temperate rain forests and a large, protected and virtually “un-manipulated” ecosystem.

The Olympic National Park was further recognized as a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981. Based on the notion of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, nations have agreed by special treaty to give special recognition—and protection—to important natural and cultural areas. Other World Heritage Sites include ancient Thebes and the pyramids of Egypt, the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and Yellowstone, the world’s first national park.

Your Travel Guide at
Lost Mountain Lodge

Fall Hikes & Foliage in the Olympic Mountains

2009-09-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

This time of year, the Straits of Juan de Fuca are luminescent, a pale turquoise color that reflects the light. At times, it does not seem entirely real as though some landscape painter imagined the perfect pastel shade on canvas. The water's hue can be attributed to crisp, cool evenings that translate into crystal clear conditions with no fog or clouds on the horizon. A weather phenomenon which is actually the norm for September and October here in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Today, they are forecasting a balmy 68-degrees. Perfect weather for a hike.

Now, most people don't necessarily think of Washington State when it comes to fall foliage. They make pilgrimages to places like Vermont, New Hampshire or the Blue Ridge Mountains. But there's more to the Olympic Mountains than Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir and verdant rain forests. There is in fact a kaleidoscope of fall color.

You'll find Black Cottonwoods that turn a golden yellow, Douglas Maples that flame red-orange in the fall, and vibrant red Pacific Dogwoods. Even the leaves atop the 100-foot tall Red Alders rustle in hues of ochre and amber. Flourishing in the woodland forests and acidic soils created by towering evergreens, Vine Maples turn a brilliant burgundy about the time the first snows start dusting the 7000-ft. peaks of the Olympic Mountains in early October. There’s a record specimen Vine Maple recognized by the American Forestry Association as the largest in the country (height 62 feet with an amazing spread of 31 feet) on the South Fork Hoh River Trail.

You will also find the granddaddy of fall color—the Big-Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)—with brilliant yellow leaves that contrast sharply with a bark often layered with mosses and lichens on the north side of these giants in the river canyons. These hardy trees often reach a height of 65-feet with a diameter of 30-inches. The Hall of Mosses Trail on the Hoh River has a well-developed stand of these Big-Leaf Maples—something most people are surprised to find in the heart of a temperate rain forest.

All these leaf-shedding species love old river terraces, so you'll find an abundance of fall color along many of the river trails: the Hoh, the Dungeness, the Dosewallips, the Quinault, the Bogachiel, the Skokomish and the Elwha.

While not as celebrated as fall foliage on the East Coast, it is perhaps the contrast of these deciduous stands amidst the evergreen groves of towering Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and Mountain Hemlock that makes the change of seasons more striking. As though the artist took pains to sprinkle the color precisely on the green hillsides to catch the sunlight, however briefly, before the rains of winter return.

So pick a hike (or two), drive a winding country lane to a road-side pumpkin patch, sip some fresh-pressed apple cider and soak in the warmth of autumn on the Olympic Peninsula.

Your Travel Guide at
Lost Mountain Lodge

Olympic National Park Marymere Falls

2009-08-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

The Pacific Northwest's weather made national news this past week by breaking the all time heat records since they began keeping records. We could almost predict the first question every caller was going to ask: "Do you have air-conditioning?" It happens that we do and as most tourists discovered—small inns with air-conditioning are as rare here as temperatures above 80-degrees.

With breezes every evening off the Straits of Juan de Fuca and cool winds snaking down the valleys of those 6000-foot high peaks in our backyard, air conditioning is something we have rarely needed. Even when the thermometer hits the high 80s, there’s no humidity so it never feels that hot. Children here grow up without any concept of “muggy.” At night, we just open the windows and listen to the sounds of the creek that borders our property.

In fact, there are many wonderful walks in the Olympic National Park that are just perfect for cooling off on a hot summer day. One of our favorite walks is Marymere Falls on Lake Crescent—an easy 2-mile loop. Many people never take the turn off and just keep speeding by on Highway 101 on their rush to Forks and the Pacific Beaches. They are missing a true hidden gem.

The road along Lake Crescent was not created until the 1920s. Prior to construction of the narrow 2-lane road that hugs the shoreline of the lake, people took ferries from Seattle to Port Angeles and then traveled by wagon (later by car) to East Beach on Lake Crescent. There they boarded the side-wheel steamer Storm King for the journey to Fairholm on the West end of Lake Crescent. In fact, the Storm King ran tourist excursions on the lake until the late 1960s.

It was this relative isolation that saved several amazing groves of old-growth Douglas fir trees from the rampant logging that had been going on since the 1860s elsewhere on the Olympic Peninsula. When the Olympic National Park was created in 1938, the trees became treasured heirlooms that anyone can visit and enjoy.

The first thing you notice is how dark the forest is—even on a bright summer’s day. The stands of Douglas fir are like rows of tall colonnades stretching skyward. The high canopy of the trees blocks so much light that there is very little understory growth. Here the trail is carpeted in pine needles.

This is a woodland trail—one of five (5) very different ecosystems in the Olympic National Park (a World Heritage site). The woodland forest differs from the rain forest—trees here are taller and closer together. The vegetation is less varied—mostly lichens and mosses and fiddlehead ferns. The rain forest has more Western Red Cedar which is susceptible to “blow down” which opens up pockets of light in the forest. You’ll find more salal, salmon berry and other understory species in the rain forest trails at Sol Duc, the Hoh, and Quinault.

But here in the hush of the Marymere Falls trail one marvels at what the entire Olympic Peninsula must have looked like to the first European explorers (first the Spanish and later the British). The trail meanders across several log bridges before it reaches the base of the falls—a graceful 90-ft. ribbon of water that tumbles into a dark, mysterious pool. From the bottom, there’s a zig-zag stairway across tree roots to the top of the falls (this is the only real steep or challenging part of the trail and you might want to take toddlers and young children by the hand so they don’t venture off).

We especially love this trail in late fall or early spring when there is more water and fewer hikers (it's open all year). There's a lovely little rough hewn bench midway up the final climb where we love to sit a while. Be sure to stop here and take in the sighing of the wind, the creaking of the tree branches, the dripping of miniature water cascades over mossy rocks—the smell of the forest.

On the way back to the trailhead, you’ll pass a marker that explains tree rings on giants that were growing here when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel. As you look up, there is a sense of standing in an outdoor cathedral—with an architecture more stunning than any constructed by man.

Your Travel Guide at
Lost Mountain Lodge

Cape Flattery Trail

2009-06-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

Last week, Lee Cowan of NBC and The Today Show did a very nice piece on Cape Flattery -- with a few exceptions.

First, he stated not to expect fine hotels or nice restaurants anywhere "out here." Now we understand that the hosts and correspondents of The Today Show are probably accustomed to room service and valet parking. Maybe Lee didn't realize that once you veer off-the-beaten-path you have to know where to stay and where to eat. So with all due respect, we're here to set the record straight.

As for places to stay, we'll put our suites up against fine luxury hotels anywhere -- and we're right here on the Olympic Peninsula just 1.5 to 2 hours from the Cape Flattery Trail depending on how fast you want to drive the winding coast road that is one of America's newest Scenic Byways. The Lodge is located on a 9-acre National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat of idyllic ponds, sunny meadows and mountain views. There are no street lights, no telephone poles, no sirens wailing all night long. Just a babbling brook and a symphony of frogs. But secluded does not equal rustic. In fact, every suite here at the Lodge features a fireplace, vaulted ceilings, King-size pillow-top bed with European linens and down comforters, 32-inch widescreen, flat-panel HDTV-DVD, CD player, air-conditioning (that's rarely needed), microfiber resort robes, luggage racks, built-in hair dryers, fine botanical toiletries and free Wi-Fi.

All those things that you expect to find in a fine hotel -- and then some. For example, we wondered if luxury resorts in those other places line-dry and iron their 600-threadcount sheets by hand? You just can't duplicate that fresh smell of sheets that have hung out in the sun to dry! Do those fine hotels back in civilization bring a welcome tray of free wine & hors d'oeuvres to your room at check-in? Do they include full hot gourmet breakfasts with complimentary lattes, mochas and cappuccino in their room rate? How about free movies (do they by chance provide the popcorn)? Evening turn-downs with fresh-baked treats on the bedside table? How about free hot & cold beverages anytime? Unlike those fancy resort hotels, we don't charge $4.00 for a bottled water or soft drink. Beverages from pomegranate green tea to Diet Pepsi are FREE for our guests to help themselves anytime just as though they were a guest (imagine that). That's how we spell hospitality here in this remote corner of the Pacific Northwest.

Now for food. We could have sent Lee and his NBC crew to some amazing farm-to-table bistros featuring fresh Olympic Coast cuisine. We're talking line-caught Halibut broiled to perfection and served with a citrus salsa on the side, or fresh wild Pacific Chinook salmon roasted on an alder plank in the coals of a wood-fired grill, or tasty Quilcene oysters delicately pan-fried in a tempura batter and served with an aioli-pesto. We're talking fresh organic beet salad on wild greens (with three different colors of beets) drizzled with a champagne & toasted walnut dressing. Oh, and then there are the incredible berries -- starting with strawberries in June, followed by raspberries, huckleberries, blueberries, marionberries, olallaberries and blackberries. Yes, we could teach you a thing or two about how we use those berries for everything from Lemon Ricotta pancakes with fresh raspberries for breakfast to melt-in-your-mouth blackberry & nectarine cobbler for dessert. Mr. Cowan, there are restaurants here that would knock your socks off . . . but they are not the tourist places and they are not on the beaten path.

Which brings us back to Cape Flattery and that exquisite ends-of-the-earth trail. In fact, the signature photo at the top of our Blog is one we took from Cape Flattery. We were standing at the end of the boardwalk trail above rugged cliffs and sea caves looking across the Straits of Juan de Fuca toward the mountains on west Vancouver Island. Yes, those are clear, bright blue skies in that photo taken on a typical sunny day that you find here on the Olympic Peninsula throughout July and August. [The photo at left was taken at dusk on the same day looking South toward the headlands of Shi Shi Beach.] What many of our guests find most surprising is that fewer than a dozen cars might be found at the trail head on a beautiful summer day. In fact, it is precisely that remoteness, that unspoiled wilderness which makes the Cape Flattery Trail so exhilarating.

Finally, Lee failed to mention the Makah Museum at Neah Bay (on the entrance road to Cape Flattery). Most people drive right by the museum without stopping. But inside the museum, you'll find amazing artifacts from the most prolific archaeological dig in North America. In fact, it's a bit of a Pompeii story -- without the volcano -- but with an entire "city" buried for centuries. We'll save that story for another Blog.

So Lee, we beg to differ with your opinion on the subject of fine lodging and dining on the North Olympic Peninsula. However, it was wonderful to see the genuine surprise and wonder on your face when that big gray whale broke the surface and spouted right in front of your small skiff.

The sound of the largest mammal on earth taking a breath is indescribable. It's a sound guaranteed to take even the most travel-jaded human's breath away! And that's only a glimpse of the wonders in this place we call home.

Your Travel Guide at
Lost Mountain Lodge

Hood Canal Bridge Closure - Take the Road Less Traveled

2009-05-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the best kept secret on the Olympic Peninsula is that you do NOT need the Hood Canal Bridge to get here. Faced with a 6-week closure for installation of a new span, the Washington State Department of Transportation and local Chambers of Commerce focused on alerts to area residents who use the Bridge every day to commute to Seattle to work and delivery truck drivers who make hundreds of daily runs to & fro. Unfortunately, their message inadvertently brought tourism to a screeching halt during the peak Spring travel season of May 1 to June 11, 2009.

In fact, if you’re planning a weekend getaway or spring vacation, our scenic "road less traveled" only adds about 45-minutes to one-hour to your overall travel time. Are we all in such a hurry that we can’t take time to enjoy one of the most beautiful scenic drives in the entire country? A good friend once said: It's all about enjoying life's little detours along the way. So here’s our updated Travel Advisory on the best route to get here from there.

You might enjoy “the road less traveled” so much that you'll decide to avoid the Hood Canal Bridge even after it re-opens. If you are traveling from Seattle and the Eastside suburbs, take the Bremerton Ferry. Grab your camera and go on deck as the ferry threads its way through tranquil Sinclair Inlet around the south end of Bainbridge Island—close enough to enjoy dreaming about owning one those beautiful waterfront homes.

Once off the Bremerton ferry, follow Highway 3 to Belfair. (It’s a bit industrial on this short stretch, but we promise the rest of the trip makes up for it.) If you’re traveling from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Tacoma or the south Puget Sound suburbs, you’ll want to take I-5 to Highway 16 across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. This bridge crosses the southern reaches of Puget Sound and connects the “mainland” to the Kitsap Peninsula where you link up with Highway 3 to Belfair.

In Belfair, you will turn onto Highway 106 to Union. This road meanders along the very tip of the Hood Canal which is not a man-made "canal" as its name implies. Instead, the Hood Canal is a natural saltwater fjord that is one of the longest—and deepest—in North America. In fact, the Hood Canal is actually a "dead-end" -- the tideflats at the end of the Hood Canal are separated by a narrow delta of land from the waters in south Puget Sound. In the 1940s, avid boaters talked about dredging the delta to connect Case Inlet to the Hood Canal—a plan that both environmentalists and fishermen are thankful never materialized.

The drive along Highway 106 passes right by the Bill Gates’ family summer compound, and as you take in the amazing views of snow-capped mountains and shimmering blue water, you’ll start to understand why one of the richest men in the world enjoyed spending his childhood summers in this protected inlet. If you have time for lunch, you might drop by The Oyster Bar at the Alderbrook Resort, a landmark on the Hood Canal since the 1920s. In 2004, former Microsoft- exec Jeff Raikes acquired the Resort and spent millions transforming a run-down cluster of cottages and motel units into a quintessentially Northwest lodge, Spa, golf course and corporate retreat center. Hiring world-class chef Christopher Schwarz to run the restaurant helped put Alderbrook on the culinary map. In fact, if you’re arriving from the Airport after a long flight, you might want to bed down here for the night and continue your journey the next morning so you travel the whole scenic length of the Hood Canal in daylight.

After leaving the Alderbrook Resort, Highway 106 meanders through a stretch of picturesque salt marshes known as The Great Bend because the Hood Canal makes a huge horseshoe turn around an outcrop of the Kitsap Peninsula. While the Hood Canal, San Juan Islands and Puget Sound were all carved by glaciers during the last ice age, the Olympic Mountains in the rugged interior of the Olympic Peninsula were NOT under ice--one reason several dozen species of birds, plants, mammals, and marine life are found here and nowhere else on the continent.

As you cross the Skokomish River valley, you will link up with Highway 101 North. The road hugs the coastline through the small towns of Hoodsport, Lilliwaup, Hamma Hamma, Duckabush and Dosewalips crossing bridges over rivers and creeks with the same unusual names. You’ll gaze across the narrow Canal to an opposite shore that is steep and heavily forested with few signs of civilization. We drove this route last week on a rainy, overcast day. Wisps of mist floating in the tree tops and small boats bobbing at anchor in foggy coves lent a mystical quality to our journey. On our return trip the very next day, bright pink cherry blossoms in seaside cottage gardens danced in a gentle breeze and the sun sparkled so brightly that sunglasses were required while gazing at those inspiring views.

Just past Brinnon, the highway begins its climb over Mount Walker through almost pristine stretches of the Olympic National Forest where the moss seems to have been draped on tree trunks by a Hollywood set designer. The Mount Walker Viewpoint is worth a stop to enjoy vistas that include Quilcene Bay, the snow-capped Olympics, and even the skyline of Seattle in the distance. Quilcene, of course, is world famous for its oysters (packed on ice and flown to trendy restaurants from Manhattan to Laguna Beach). As you drive along the outskirts of town, you’ll see huge mountains of oyster shells. Once past Quilcene, the road traverses fertile farmland dotted with dozens of small fishing lakes and bucolic old barns.

Finally, in Discovery Bay, you'll connect with Highway 101 West to Sequim and the Olympic National Park. This is the point where the 2-lane Highway 101 converges with the 2-lane Highway 104 and meets up with the standard route taken via the Hood Canal Bridge. Perhaps after taking the “road less traveled,” you won't feel deprived by the bridge's temporary closure.

After a few days of relaxation here at the Lodge, you can return using the same route or you might like to book passage on the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry—one the few Washington State Ferries where you can actually make a reservation 888-808-7977 or 206-464-6400 (you can also reserve a space for your car online). From Keystone, you would drive up Whidbey Island and across the Deception Pass Bridge back to the mainland. This is the route that our guests from Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., Bellingham, and north Puget Sound suburbs travel in reverse to get to our beautiful corner of the country.

All in all, the "road less traveled" makes for a scenic and unforgettable loop. If you really want to take time to stop and smell the roses along the way, we'll make suggestions for an overnight stay on Whidbey Island or in LaConner on your way back to "civilization."

SPRING is definitely one of the best times to visit the Olympic National Park—the trillium are blooming in the rain forest, the waterfalls are overflowing, and the Cape Flattery beach trails are strewn with tiny fiddlehead ferns. Since most schools in Washington State are still in session until mid-June, this is the ideal time for a quiet getaway where you’ll have 1.8 million acres of wilderness all to yourselves!

Your Travel Guide at
Lost Mountain Lodge