We had so much fun with J’s family visiting this summer – we hiked to Snoqualmie Falls and Rattlesnake Ledge on their first few days in Seattle. But no trip to Washington is complete without a visit to the Olympic Peninsula, so that is where we headed next! We hopped on a ferry to Bainbridge Island first thing in the morning and headed off to see some Olympic Peninsula waterfalls.
*heart melting*
Our first waterfall on the list was Marymere Falls, near Crescent Lake. We decided to stop for lunch by the lake and enjoy the gorgeous view!
Had to allow plenty of time for rock-throwing too 🙂
And then we set off to visit Marymere Falls, a great 1.8 mile roundtrip hike that is perfect for kids! It has 500 feet of elevation gain, most of which is in the last little bit up to the falls. The hike out there is through a gorgeous old-growth forest with lots of amazing trees!
Marymere Falls is an impressive 90 foot waterfall on the Olympic Peninsula. Just before you reach the falls, the trail splits and makes a loop to several viewpoints. I recommend taking the left loop and heading up to the falls first, then continuing around to get the higher viewpoints before circling back.
Here we are heading back down to finish off the loop.
And no trip is complete without a stop to throw rocks into the river!
Seriously can’t get over how tall the trees are and how green everything is out on the Peninsula!
Loved this little spot by Lake Crescent on our way back to the car.
Our next stop was Sol Duc Falls, about a 45 minute drive from Lake Crescent. This is one of my favorite hikes that we’ve done on the Peninsula. (Check out another recap of this hike here)
Hurricane Ridge is another one of my favorite places on the Olympic Peninsula. We stopped for a quick dinner in Port Angeles and then drove the 17 mile road up to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center just in time to catch the sunset.
And then we had about a two hour drive back to Bainbridge Island to catch the midnight ferry home. It made for a long day, but we loved getting to see so many sights on the Peninsula! Check out the map below for the locations of the waterfalls:
And here are some more posts on things to do on the Olympic Peninsula if you’re planning your own trip!
Lake Quinault
Washington Coast
Salt Creek and Cape Flattery
Hurricane Ridge
And check out my full Washington travel guide here!
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