Washington, Oregon - Day 12: Lake Quinault - South Shore Road

It felt good not to have to get up this morning, pack up our gear and hit the road.  We spent a leisurely morning walking around the lodge grounds and then eating a late breakfast.  The lodge was built in 1926 and is listed as one of the Great Lodges of the National Parks (of PBS fame).  Another nice thing about this morning was there was sunshine, a rare thing on this trip.

The Lake Quinault Lodge

Val at breakfast.

Lake Quinault

The fireplace in the great room.

The view from our deck.

After breakfast we decided to drive up the South Shore Road which follows the south side of Lake Quinault and the East Fork of the Quinault River into the rain forest and Olympic National Park.  The clouds were moving in which was not surprising considering we are in a rain forest.  It was a beautiful drive along the lake and river with lots of fall color, moss covered trees and foliage, some waterfalls and even a rainbow.  We spent the whole afternoon driving the road.  When the pavement ended the road became a dirt and gravel road, our favorite!  We stopped many, many times for photos and to admire the scenery.  The best way to describe the day is through pictures so here is a sampling of what we saw (considering the number of pictures we took, a very small sampling ;-)  ).

Brightly colored fungi growing on a log.

The end of the road.

It was a great day and a great drive.  The thick, lush foliage of the rain forest is quite a change from what we are used to on the Central Coast of California.  Tomorrow we plan on exploring the north side of the lake, but it will be hard to top today.