We live in Seattle and love to take weekend trips to different spots around us at least once a month. This time we chose to visit the Quinault Rainforest at the south west end of the Olympic National Park. We stayed at the Lake Quinault Resort (LQR) for two nights in July. This lovely place should not be confused with the Lake Quinault Lodge (LQL). Lake Quinault Lodge is more well known, a sprawling building on the South Shore of Lake Quinault. But from reviews on Tripadvisor.com, we decided that the Lake Quinault Resort, on the North Shore sounded better. After staying there, and also visiting the Lodge, I think we made the right choice. LQR is much more tranquil, a bit more off the beaten path, more privacy, less people. I would, however, recommend the Lodge for a super breakfast! We had breakfast there on Sunday and it was fabulous, and also had a fantastic view from our window side table. We also had one dinner out at the Salmon House Restaurant, and that was very tasty with a great view as well! Salmon House is less fancy than LQL's restaurant, and less expensive for dinner. The people at LQR recommended our dining for both meals, and both could not have been better. Salmon House Restaurant is located at the Rainforest Village, which has the world's biggest spruce. I love the beautiful grounds there.
We arrived on Friday night and just relaxed in our room for the evening, although there were a couple options we could have taken - a nightly bonfire hosted by the owner/manager of the Resort, and there's also a sunset cruise around the lake (for $10 per person). But since hubby was still dealing with his cold, we opted to not participate in these events.
There's a fairly good size mini-fridge in the rooms, as well as a microwave, toaster, and coffee maker (with supplies to make coffee). My husband was his usual wonderful self and went grocery shopping, so we had supplies for our dinner on Friday, and also bagels and creamcheese for breakfast on Saturday. There is no food available at the Lake Quinault Resort, except for maybe the marshmallows available if you attend the nightly bonfire. I really enjoyed LQR, but this is one thing that would make it even better, if there was some food available for purchase, even if it was just continental breakfast items. There is, however, a nice BBQ pit area if people want to bring their own stuff.
After eating our bagels on Saturday, we headed to the trailhead on the South side of the Lake. From there we did a loop through several short trails, about 4 miles total. Beautiful hike through the rainforest with waterfalls, a bog, a stream, and really big trees! We though it was wild how there were lots of trees with roots that had grown over other fallen trees. Really neat looking. Also virtually everything was covered in moss. This place gets a lot of rain! After about 3 miles of hiking, we arrived at the Lake Quinault Lodge, where we took a short break, took some pics, ate some kudos bars, and powdered our noses. The lawn and lobby there are impressive. They had a fire going in the huge stone fireplace, even though it was a hot sunny July day! Nice big comfy chairs all around the expansive lobby. I'm sure it would be a nice place to relax on a cold rainy day.
Then we hiked another mile or so to get back to where we began the hike. Then we did a driving loop around the lake, and saw a couple more falls on the side of the road, as well as a little bambi lookalike. I was hoping to see some elk, but we weren't that lucky. Lovely drive through the rainforest!
Back at the tranquil Lake Quinault Resort, Hubby took a nap while I took a shower, and read my book for a while. There was a back door to our room that opened onto the back patio which overlooks the beautiful grounds and the Lake. There must be someone out there daily taking care of the grounds of LQR, because it was absolutely beautiful and perfect, hanging plants and potted plants everywhere, beautifully manicured lawn, and of course, this is added to the gorgeous view of the lake! What a perfectly charming spot to sit and read a book! There are short fences and hanging plants that somewhat isolate each area of the patio for each room. Not really a private deck, but some seclusion if you sit out there. There is a wood table and two wood adirondack chairs for each room out here. I sat out here several times while hubby was resting, and enjoyed the tranquility while reading or writing in my journal.
After hubby's nap, we asked at the front desk for a restaurant recommendation, then headed to the Salmon House for dinner. Did I mention it was delicious, and beautifully situated? After dinner we took the short walk to the world's largest spruce, right behind the restaurant. I think the grounds here would be a very nice place to watch the sunset. Plenty of room, beautiful huge manicured lawn with lovely trees sporadically throughout. Looks like they had small sailboats available possibly for rent as well.
On Sunday, I woke up fairly early, so after getting ready for the day, I sat out on the back deck again while hubby was sleeping. When I sat down on the chair, a beautiful maine coon kitty came over, started purring and jumped in my lap and started kneading. She then settled down eventually and took a short nap, right on my lap! She reminded me so much of my old kitty, except that mine would have never done this to a stranger! She was much too much of a fraidy cat. Not this one! Very friendly and sweet! The owners/managers of the place i believe have 3 dogs and 2 cats. I never saw the cats until Sunday a.m. when one appeared at the back door and one at the front door of our room. Apparently we weren't the only ones who had met them that morning though. Another lady came out of her room and mentioned she had seen and heard them that morning as well. Then my napping "visitor" scampered off to visit with the other lady for a while.
After hubby awoke, we packed up all our stuff and checked out. We asked where they recommended for breakfast and the owner/manager said the Lake Quinault Lodge. So we went, and as I mentioned, it was really, really yummy! And a great view. Would have been really tranquil too, except for the noisy table of 4 too close to our table.
After breakfast we went to the gas station (yes, THE gas station, the one and only in the town) and the pump was broken. We stopped at the general store and found out the next one was 15 miles away. So instead of taking in some more hikes that day (which we would have had to drive to since we did the nearby ones the day before) we took off toward home and eventually got some gas. I was very bummed about having to leave early though! Hubby cheered me up by taking a side trip (after we filled up on gas) to Ocean Shores on the Washington Coast. A few miles out of our way. We both agreed it was pretty there, but we like the Oregon Coast better, which seems to have more diverse scenery (dunes, rocks, etc.) This was just a HUGE flat beach. The town of Ocean Shores does not seem to be very exciting either.
All in all, a fantastic weekend and Lake Quinault Resort is wonderful!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
