Washington in Spring

Washington in March might not be the most simple to navigate if you're wanting to hike and be outdoors, but with some research and flexibility, we had an incredible week in this beautiful state.

We flew into Seattle mid-march of this year, and landed late in the evening, so we decided to book a hotel near the Seahawks stadium, slightly away from downtown but close enough to pop in when we woke up the next morning. For full transparency, staying closer to the downtown Seattle area can be pricey (especially when paying for hotel parking)! There are options closer to the airport/in the Tacoma area for those that want to avoid downtown.

When we woke up the next morning we were excited to pop into Pike Place Market to check out the scenery and grab some coffee! We opted for Ghost Alley Coffee located right next to the famous gum wall. It was a chilly spring morning, which was very nice because we experienced no crowds and got to see the market vendors opening up for the day.

From downtown Seattle, our adventure began! We knew we wanted to do some hiking and see the sights that Washington has to offer, but did not come with a plan set in place due to hearing about parks and trails being closed or unsafe this time of year.

In some of our prior research, we read that parts of Olympic National Park/Forest were slightly warmer in late winter/early spring, due to there being so much rainforest area. We additionally had seen beautiful pictures and knew that it would be a great place to start! From Seattle, we drove our rental car on the Edmonds Ferry to Kingston, hopped off and drove to the city of Port Angeles, located in the northern tip of the state. The ferry and drive took just about two hours total. In Port Angeles we stopped at the local grocery store and grabbed a few snacks and items for lunch.

Frozen Lake Angeles

Within Olympic National Park we discovered the Lake Angeles Trail. The hike was 7.2 miles round trip and featured the STUNNING Lake Angeles. In mid March the lake was snow covered and beautiful, but we looked up pictures that have us wanting to return in summer!

Once we finished up our hike (it was only snowy for a mile or so at the top near the

lake), we went back into the city of Port Angeles and checked into the Quality Inn, which was very affordable and the staff was so helpful with local suggestions! We will admit, these areas of Washington during "off season" can feel more isolated and we walked to a few restaurants from our hotel that had incredibly long waits due to short staffing. We ended up eating a quick meal at a restaurant called The Rail and walked a few of the quaint city streets.

During warmer months or if you had more time in the area, we recommend checking out the farmer's market and cute shops in Port Angeles! There is a small wharf right on the water and the city is full of culture and history worth exploring.

Waking up to our second full day in Washington, we ate breakfast provided by the hotel and got ready for the day ahead. Some quick research of the area pointed us in the direction of highway 101 in search of another hike. When driving we had to make some adjustments due to road closings, but the drive itself was beautiful!

We made our way to the Spruce Railroad Trailhead. This is a paved trail great for biking, running, or walking, so

Devil's Punchbowl, Spruce Railroad Trail

We can assume that there are many access points to parking for this specific area, but our directions took us down a dirt/gravel road that was pretty manageable and to a short dirt trail that connected to the paved, main trail. Here, we had an incredibly scenic run/walk with gorgeous views of the lake just about the entire time.

Seeing signs for an area called Devil's Punchbowl a few miles in, we turned down a small dirt path and reached this gorgeous little pocket looking out at Lake Crescent.

After returning to the paved path, we turned around after about three miles out, for a total of six miles for our walk, but you could continue on this paved path for longer if you choose!

This area of Washington can feel remote at times, and we did not stop seeing scenic views no matter where we went! Just driving highway 101 would be an incredible trip in itself.

After our exploration of the Lake Crescent area, we made our way back to Port Angeles. In order to relax for a bit and figure out our next steps, we discovered a delicious coffee shop called The Coffee Box. Here we decided to stay in the Port Angeles area for one more night. We selected a different hotel this time, but in retrospect should have returned to the Quality Inn because we knew it had a great walkable location. We picked up some pizza to-go and called it a day!

We woke up the next morning to begin our third full day in Washington. If you know us, you know that when it's just us on a trip we like to make the most out of every moment! At the coffee shop the previous day we had done some additional research on accessible hikes not too far from where we were. We had thought about popping into Mount Rainier National Park at some point during our time in Washington, but discovered that at this time of year, only one access road is open and tire chains are required for all vehicles.

We drove to the Quilcene area in order to hike Mount Walker. This is a four mile round trip loop that, although relatively short, is pretty steep and a great workout!

The peak was cloudy on the day we hiked, but we stopped for a few moments at the top and could at times see a panoramic view of many large peaks and even Mt. Rainier from the south viewpoint!

With Mount Walker being a steeper trail, microspikes or hiking poles might be helpful during the winter months, although in mid-March it wasn't necessary.

After our hike back down to our vehicle, we drove to the 101 Brewery/Twana Roadhouse in Quilcene. If you're driving quickly through the area you might easily miss this little restaurant, but it was hands-down the best meal we had during our trip! The food was homemade and incredible, and the staff was so friendly we could've stayed for quite awhile!

From here we knew that we wanted to be relatively close to the airport within the next day or so, as this was a pretty quick trip for two teachers on spring break. We decided to make Tacoma our basecamp for the next two nights, and read great reviews about the Hampton Inn. Although we were not the biggest fans of the busy roads and general hustle and bustle of Tacoma, this hotel had the nicest amenities of our trip, including a big comfortable bed and a nice shower.

*Full disclosure - we very rarely take trips that require hotels every night, as we enjoy tent or car camping as we explore, so this little trip felt like a treat and it was a whole new aspect of our on-the-go research to find good yet affordable hotels.

After a good night's rest and deciding that one more big hike was in our future, we woke up the next morning and headed toward the very popular Mount Si. We purchased a one-day Discover Pass online and were able to write our confirmation information on a piece of paper to place on our dashboard at the trailhead. Each year tens of thousands of people hike to the peak, and we could tell why right away!

Mount Si is located in a beautiful area and is the perfect middle difficulty level for hikers. Some hike the eight mile out and back trail at a leisurely pace, and others hike quickly with weighted packs in order to train for Mt. Rainer. We might fall somewhere in between the two extremes!

The views at the top of Mt. Si are incredible, and on a clear day you'll see Mt. Rainier in the distance. Once you're at the top and you've popped out of the forest, many turn around, but the true trail continues to the right, winding over rocks and into a little stretch of trees. Here you can continue to see gorgeous views of Snoqualmie Valley and the Olympics. You will also see the Haystack, which is the official summit of Mount Si. We scrambled up the Haystack a bit but ultimately decided that without microspikes, the icy rocks this time of year were a bit of a risk.

After heading back down to the trailhead and completing our hike, we stopped for some food and were very thankful that we had already taken care of staying in the same hotel room back in Tacoma. It didn't take too long to get our things together for our flight the next day and fall right asleep!

The next morning we felt fortunate to have a delicious hotel breakfast and were on our way to return the rental car and hop on our flight home. Overall, this trip was one of our more unique experiences, being that the time of year in mid-March did not allow us to choose just any hike we came across. Our experiences were great though, and we would recommend a spring trip to Washington to anyone willing to be a little bit flexible with their plans. The lack of crowds were definitely worth it!