Spreading in a broad valley at the southwest corner of Olympic National Park, Lake Quinault offers lush rainforest groves within a short walk or drive of most creature comforts. The lake has served for decades as a popular resort destination—cabins, lodges, and stores dating from the 1920s line the southern shore, just outside the park boundary—and the old-growth forests here have survived intact, though the naked tracts of clear-cut timber along US-101 north and south of the lake give a good sense of what the area might have looked like had Teddy Roosevelt and friends not stepped in to protect it around the turn of the 20th century.
The best first stop is the USFS ranger station (360/956-2400) on the south shore, where you can get details of the many excellent hikes in the Lake Quinault area, and pick up a map of the guided driving tour around the lake, including the location of the many record-size trees. The roughly four-mile-long Quinault Loop Trail winds on a paved path from the ranger station along crashing Cascade Creek up through an old-growth rainforest of alders and bigleaf maples, whose leaves grow upwards of 12 inches across. Midway along, the trail crosses a raised wooden boardwalk through a fecund cedar swamp, then drops down again along another creek before returning by way of the lakeshore.
The nicest place to stay, right next to the ranger station, is historic Lake Quinault Lodge ($80–180; 360/288-2900), with a rustic but spacious lobby opening onto lakefront lawns and a very nice restaurant, the Roosevelt Room, serving gorgeous grilled salmon, oysters, and other local delicacies. Besides offering comfortable and reasonably priced accommodations and very good food, the nearby Rain Forest Village (360/288-2535 or 800/562-0948), at the east end of the lake, also holds the World’s Largest Spruce, a 191-foot giant.
