It was our first night away from the water, so we didn’t bother getting up for the sunrise. We slept until about 7:00 before beginning our self-guided tour of Forks. The tours (that charge $40!) cover a lot of unnecessary ground, so I was happy to pick out a few stops and do them on our own. We began at the Forks Visitor Center—the location of the infamous “Welcome to Forks” sign shown in the first Twilight movie. The sign drew such attention that they moved it from the roadside and into a parking lot for fans to take photos with. We wandered back into town and made a quick stop at Forks High School—I was sure to get a photo there, too. While we were in town, we stopped at the Dazzled by Twilight store (and tour company)—it was intense. The entire place was decorated with a forest theme (including turf to look like grass)—with New Moon playing throughout. We looked and looked for cute Twilight souvenirs, but found nothing—it was pretty disappointing. We wandered the gift shops across the street, determined to find something Twilight—but were unsuccessful. We did, however, pick up matching La Push t-shirts. We decided that we were hungry enough for breakfast, and to make it our “big” meal of the day, so we stopped at a local diner. We had a true lumberjack breakfast (in the logging capital) and headed on our way. We found the last item on the Twilight tour list (Bella’s truck) and took a few photos as we headed out of town and south to the Hoh Rainforest.
As we made our way back into the National Park, we spotted several “Aggressive Elk” warnings, reminding us to keep our distance at all times. As we began the first trail (The Hall of Mossses) a ranger reminded us: “bobcat—stand still; bear—stand still; elk—run like hell.” We made a mental note and took off up the trail. Again, it was incredible. The trees were massive, some growing out of the stumps and roots of others. Moss was growing on any and everything. We made it up and around the first trail, and decided to try another. The Spruce Trail was even more beautiful. About half way through we heard a low growling/snort—we froze and looked at each other with wide eyes before taking off down the trail. We decided to arm ourselves, since the forest was too dense to give us much warning if something was near. We grabbed two big sticks and kept moving at a slightly faster pace.
Shortly after, we came across a river. It was just a short jump down to the rocky riverbed, so we decided to explore it and get out of the woods for a few minutes. We sat along the fast-moving river enjoying the mountains and blue skies above.
Eventually, we got back on the trail, sticks in hand. As we approached the end of the trail we came across three deer grazing in the forest next to us. There weren’t nearly as socialized as the deer at hurricane Ridge, but they stood their ground—allowing for some great photos.
We reached the end of the trail and after a long day of hiking, decided to head to our next destination: Ruby Beach. Ruby Beach was just as impressive as the beaches we’d seen the day before. Although a little disappointed that the “ruby” part of ruby beach was exaggerated, the sea stacks, tide pools, and caves made this beach well worth the effort. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the shoreline.
After Ruby Beach, we decided to make our way back east to Lake Quinault, where we had reservations for that night. The Lake Quinault Lodge turned out to be a bit more posh than the previous few nights, but we really enjoyed it. The lodge itself is beautiful, and it’s set right on the shore of Lake Quinault, surrounded by mountains. 
We got checked in, and headed down to the Roosevelt Room—named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who frequented the lodge in the 1930’s and 40’s. The restaurant was nice, and we had a relaxing dinner while enjoying a bottle of Lake Quinault Riesling. Our table overlooked the lakeside sunset, but we were anxious to get out to the lush lawn filled with Adirondack chairs and explore the dock as the sky changed. Our waitress invited us to step outside (with the wine!) and enjoy the sunset. We came back in after dark and had our dessert before heading in for the night.
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