Forks Travel Guide

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You have to start your "Twilight" thing somewhere and since I haven't read any of the books, I thought we should start at the Welcome Center. Good call, because they have maps of all the things you want to see in town. It's nice inside, there's a map where folks put push pins to mark where they traveled from. I did not get a photo of the world map but wish I had. :( Anyway, there is a truck of importance there (from the movie I guess) and the Timber Museum. It's a great place to start and don't forget to pick up a map while you are there!

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Author Stephenie Meyer decided to set Twilight, her story of star crossed human/vampire lovers in the "rainiest place in the continental United States" - the City of Forks, Washington, and the city has certainly enjoyed the heightened awareness/notoriety that the books & film have brought to the town. The city's Chamber of Commerce has also been swept up in the popularity of the Twilight Saga, and several locales around the city have been designated as sites from the story, including Bella's House and the Cullen mansion, as well as other existing sites such as Forks High School and City Hall, where Bella's father, the chief of police, works. To find these sites though, you'll need to stop by Forks Chamber of Commerce to pick up a map with all of these locations. Since the city is not very big, you can probably visit all of these sites, including La Push, the nearby Quileute Indian Reservation, in a few hours. They also have Twilight themed tours - the Chamber of Commerce will also have this information.

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The Hoh Rain Forest is a part of the Olympic National Park, which is a UNESCO designated World Heritage site. It is about 45-60 minutes south of the city of Forks on the Olympic Peninsula via Highway 101. The Hoh Rain Forest is one of the few temperate rainforests in the world. Because of the almost constant rain, everything is very green and lush, and there are many ferns and mosses growing in/on the trees - it is almost surreal walking through so much green! However, when we were there, the area was experiencing "Indian Summer" conditions and it was sunny with crystal clear blue skies, so we didn't get to experience the water dripping off of all the foliage. There are several hiking trails, including some short ones such as the Hall of Mosses close to the Hoh Visitor Center which is run by the National Park Service. If you can't spend much time here, at least poke around the smaller hiking trails around the visitor's center to experience the lushness of the forest.

Not far from Forks is the Hoh Rain Forest, one of the few temperate rain forests on the west coast of North America. This is the most popular of Olympic's four major rain forests: Quinault, Queets, Hoh, and Bogachiel. The rain forest is accessible by road and has a visitor center, as well as short trails leading around the rain forest. Hall of the Mosses and Spruce Nature Trail are the most popular; we hiked the Hall of the Mosses (see my Olympic National Park page for more on that).

Overall, the area is very enchanting, though at times, a herd of elk in the area may ruin your experience.

The Forks Timber Museum definitely has facts you never thought you'd know. It tells about the area around Forks, as well as some of the older families and history on the town itself. Forks is a logging community, it was even the lgging capital of the world for a short time, and today it's known for its High Tec High School. The logger's museum is well worth visiting if you have an extra hour.