A couple of weeks ago my family had the pleasure of staying in a rustic lakeside cabin at the Rain Forest Lodge, Lake Quinault. Don’t be confused, this is not the Lake Quinault Lodge. It is a smaller and much more affordable option just down the road. Here is my review of Rain Forest Lodge, Lake Quinault.

Just the Boys

My husband and grown sons planned a summer through-hike in the Olympic National Park, starting at the Dosewallips River in Brinnon and hiking 40 miles to Lake Quinault. This four day hike was a great father-son activity, while I stayed home and attended the wedding of my friend’s daughter. The hike was a huge success, with great weather and even greater views and a lifelong goal for my husband. I’m so glad they went.

Then There Were Four

After four days I drove to the Lake Quinault trailhead to meet them. They arrived dirty, smelly and happy. We then proceeded to the Rain Forest Lodge, an old rustic lodge right on the shores of beautiful glacier-fed Lake Quinault. We chose to stay in one of the lakeside cabins here instead at the much more expensive Lake Quinault Lodge a mile down the road. The Rain Forest Lodge has a spectacular location that includes lake view fireplace cabins (ours, #6, was the best), a small motel style roadside inn, and RV camping. Our two bedroom cabin had a big bathroom, a well equipped kitchen, a nice living area and a very large deck for $360 a night for four people.

Lake Quinault

Beautiful Lake Quinault is a glacial carved lake at the end of the Quinault River, located on the southern edge of the Olympic National Park in the Quinault Rainforest. The temperate rainforest and area around Lake Quinault receives an average of 333 centimeters (131 inches) of precipitation per year! Long before logging arrived or the Lake Quinault Lodge was built (1926) or Olympic National Park was created (1938), Lake Quinault was home to the Quinault people, a Coast Salish Tribe.

The Salmon House

The Rain Forest Lodge has a general store, laundromat, post office and one of the best restaurants for miles around. No contest. The affordable menu at The Salmon House is amazing. We got our dinner to go and took it back to our cabin and we enjoyed it so much. They offer the most delicious salmon you will ever have, as well as lots of other options too. Even if you aren’t staying over you might consider eating here. Check out the menu here.

World’s Largest Spruce Tree

Now this isn’t like the largest ball of yarn, or the Corn Palace. This is truly the world’s largest Spruce Tree and it’s right on the property at The Rain Forest Lodge. Here is what their website says about it;

Lake Quinault is the “Valley of the Rain Forest Giants©” and the Big Spruce Tree at the Resort is one of them. The tree is the World’s Largest Spruce with a circumference of 58 feet, 11 inches, diameter of 18 feet, 9 inches and 191 feet tall for a total of 922 AFA points. A very large tree near Seaside, Oregon claimed to be the United States largest spruce tree, it has 902 AFA points. The American Forestry Association declared them close enough to be CO-champions. But sadly the Seaside tree fall to a winter storm in 2007, but another large Spruce tree has been found up the Queets Valley and again it has a few less AFA pionts then the Quinault tree but is larger in wood volume. it is about a 45 minute drive from the resort.

Free to visit and you should.

So that is my review of The Rain Forest Lodge, Lake Quinault. You should definitely visit. I’m sure we will go back again.

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