How to Find the Kalaloch Tree of Life in Olympic National Park Washington
Also known as the “Tree Root Cave,” the Kalaloch (pronounced ka-LAY-lock) Tree of Life is a famous natural landmark located on the Olympic Peninsula inside of Olympic National Park. Its visible roots suspend the tree in air over a crevasse. With seemingly no soil to keep it alive, this tree continues to live on the rugged coast, withstanding rough storms, making the Tree of Life a true ‘freak of nature! This mysterious natural feature is like nothing you’ve ever seen and you’ll definitely want to check out if you are taking a road trip around Washington’s Olympic Peninsula or visiting Olympic National Park. Here’s how to find the Tree of Life.
Eventually this tree will fall, so definitely make this a stop on your Pacific Northwest road trip!
Kalaloch Tree of Life – Location
The Tree of Life is located right off of US-101, about 45 minutes south of Forks, Washington. You will want to take the turn off for the Kalaloch Campground (you will see a sign for this as you are driving). You can park for free in the “day use” lot. You’ll also find restrooms near the campground.
Visiting the Tree of Life
Before you head out to the Tree of Life, you’ll want to check the tide charts. While you can visit the tree of life during high and low tide, visiting during high tide will require you to walk in the water and you will get wet. It also can be dangerous – you will have to look out for sneaker waves. Low tide is best and all the photos on this post were taken during low tide.
After you park, just follow the signs leading to the beach. You will have to go down some stairs to reach the beach.
At the bottom of the stairs, walk to the right and you should see the Tree of Life after walking a few feet.
During our visit, (we visited in July) the beach was very busy and there were a lot of people hanging out by the Tree of Life, making it very difficult to get photos with nobody in them. So bring your patience – eventually you’ll get the photo you want! There’s also a lot of driftwood near the Tree of Life, so you can interesting compositions for your photos of the tree using the driftwood as foreground elements.
Stopping at the Tree of Life will only take you about 15 minutes, so it’s a short stop and won’t take a lot of time.
Have you ever visited the Kalaloch Tree of Life in Olympic National Park? What did you think? Let me know in the comments?
