logging town · the book town · your west side base
where it rains 120 inches a yearForks & Twilight
Forks is a logging town of about 3,400 people that Stephenie Meyer picked off a map, and it's also the only real town on the whole west side, so it ends up being home base for La Push, the Hoh, and the beaches. We've been through twice now and I would go back tomorrow.
Forks & Twilight in 60 seconds
2. The Forever Twilight in Forks Collection at 11 N Forks Ave. Free, and the real screen-worn costumes are in there. Book your time slot in person the same day.
3. Sleep in the Swan House if you can get it. The 1905 farmhouse that inspired Bella's house is an Airbnb that sleeps eight.
Splurge: The Swan House (Airbnb, sleeps 8) or Miller Tree Inn, the Cullen House B&B. Both book out months ahead.
getting your bearings
The rainiest little town in the lower 48
Forks sits on US-101 about 56 miles west of Port Angeles, and it's a logging town first. About 3,400 people live here, log trucks still roll down Forks Avenue all day, and it gets close to 120 inches of rain a year, which is why Stephenie Meyer picked it off a map for the Twilight books without ever visiting. She wanted the cloudiest, rainiest town she could find. She found it.
For your trip, Forks matters for two reasons. The Twilight stuff is real and it's fun and the town has been so sweet about it for almost twenty years. And it's the only real town on the west side of the peninsula, so it's where you sleep, eat, and stock up between La Push (25 minutes west), the Hoh Rain Forest (under an hour south), and the beaches down at Ruby and Kalaloch. Forks Outfitters is the last full grocery store you'll see out here. Everything past town has close to nothing.
The town itself is one long street. The Visitor Center and the Timber Museum are at the south end, downtown and the Twilight Collection are in the middle, and Tillicum Park is at the north end. You can drive it in three minutes, and honestly you'll drive it about forty times.
How to think about your days here
Give the Twilight stops and the two museums half a day, ideally a rainy one, because Forks in the rain feels exactly like the books. Then use Forks as your base. One day goes to La Push, one day goes to the Hoh, and if you have a third it goes to Ruby Beach or a slow morning at the Swan House. Do the Visitor Center before anything else. The map they hand you is the one you'll end up using all week.
Three things to know before you plan
The US-101 Hoh River Bridge south of Forks is under repair this fall. It's one lane at 25 mph right now, with nightly closures September 14-22 (10:30 PM to 5:30 AM) and full closures September 24-29, October 1-6, and October 8-13, 2026. There's no detour (the way around is four hours by Hood Canal). The Upper Hoh Road turnoff is north of the bridge, so you can still get to the Hoh, but Ruby Beach and Kalaloch are on the other side.
Mora Road to Rialto Beach is closed July 8 through October 15, 2026, past the campground, walkers and bikes included. Mora Campground stays open. Plan Second Beach at La Push as your big beach hike this year.
The Hoh Rain Forest is open (Upper Hoh Road reopened in May 2025 after the washout) but entrance lines can run up to two hours midday in summer. Go before 8 AM or after 5 PM. Olympic National Park has no timed entry or reservations, just the $30 per vehicle fee or your annual pass.
getting in & getting around
One highway in and out
US-101 is the only way to Forks from any direction, and it turns into Forks Avenue through town. Fill up and stock up here because everything past Forks is a dead end with no services.
56 miles west on US-101, about 1 hour 15 minutes. The stretch along Lake Crescent is slow and curvy and so pretty you'll want to pull over (do it at the Fairholme end). Culvert work near the lake has been running through summer 2026, so give yourself an extra 20 minutes. Watch for elk on the road between Lake Crescent and Forks, especially early and late.
About 34 miles from Kalaloch and 27 from Ruby Beach, 40 to 45 minutes. You cross the Hoh River Bridge, which is one lane at 25 mph through fall 2026 with the closure dates above, so check before you commit to this direction.
15 miles west on La Push Road (WA-110), about 25 minutes. The Treaty Line sign at 3 Rivers Resort is on the way, and the turnoff for Mora Road and Rialto is just before the village. Full details on the La Push page.
31 miles, just under an hour. South on 101 about 13 miles, then left on Upper Hoh Road for 18 miles to the visitor center. There's no gas and no signal on Upper Hoh Road, so top off in Forks and download your maps.
Everything is on or one block off Forks Avenue. The Visitor Center is at the south end (1411 S Forks Ave), the Twilight Collection and the shops are downtown, and Tillicum Park is at the north end. Park once downtown and walk.
Easiest town on the peninsula for a big rig. The Visitor Center lot has RV parking, restrooms, and free wifi 24/7, and Forks 101 RV Park is right in town. Upper Hoh Road and La Push Road are both fine for any van.
the must-sees
Don't miss in Forks
Forks Visitor Center. 1411 S Forks Ave, at the south end of town. This is stop one. They hand you a free Twilight map with every book location marked, and inside there's a world map covered in pins from visitors, thousands of them, from every continent. Putting your pin in is a whole moment. Out front are Bella's trucks, a red 1953 Chevy like the one in the books and a replica of the movie truck. Get the picture, you know you want it. Summer hours Mon-Sat 10-5 and Sun 11-4 (Memorial Day to Labor Day), winter Mon-Sat 10-4 and Sun 11-4.
Forever Twilight in Forks Collection. 11 N Forks Ave, inside the Rainforest Arts Center downtown. This is the biggest collection of real screen-worn Twilight costumes and props anywhere, and it's free. Actual outfits Bella and Edward and Jacob wore in the movies, plus fan-made pieces that are honestly incredible. You book a same-day 15-minute time slot in person at the box office, groups of ten or fewer, so do this the minute you get to town. 2026 hours: daily noon-4 through September 7, festival week September 9-13 daily 10-4, then Mon-Fri 2-4 and weekends noon-4 through September 27, and from September 28 it's Fridays 2-4 and Saturdays noon-4 through May 2027.
Forks Timber Museum. 1421 S Forks Ave, right next door to the Visitor Center. $5 for adults and free for kids 12 and under. There's a real vintage fire lookout tower the kids can go up in, a pavilion full of old logging gear and chainsaws, a logging camp cook stove that's nine feet long, and a little rain forest trail loop out back. Kids stay in there way longer than you'd expect. Same hours as the Visitor Center.
The Twilight drive-by loop. Most of the book spots are a real school or a real hospital or somebody's real house, so this is a slow drive with a few hops out for photos, and it takes about an hour. Forks High School (261 S Spartan Ave, the Home of the Spartans sign), the Dr. Cullen reserved parking sign at Forks Community Hospital (530 Bogachiel Way, and yes it's real), Miller Tree Inn (654 E Division St, the Cullen House), the Swan House (775 K St, from the street unless you're staying there), Forks Outfitters (950 S Forks Ave, where Bella worked in the books), and the Treaty Line sign at 3 Rivers Resort on La Push Road. Be a good guest at the school and the hospital, they're real places with real people in them. Our Twilight guide has the full version of all of this, chapter by chapter.
Tillicum Park. North end of town on 101. Twenty acres with a big playground, a covered picnic shelter (you'll use this), a skate park, ball fields, disc golf, and a 1930 Shay steam locomotive that hauled logs for Rayonier until 1959 and now sits under its own roof for kids to look at. This is where kids burn off the car at the end of the day.
Bogachiel State Park. Six miles south of town on 101, right on the Bogachiel River. Day use is 8 AM to dusk with a Discover Pass ($10 for the day, $45 for the year), and the campground is one of the easier ones to book on the peninsula. Riverside picnic tables under old growth and usually nobody there.
kids pick
Bella's truck + the fire lookout tower + Tillicum Park
Start at the Visitor Center for the truck picture and the pin, walk next door and let them climb the lookout tower at the Timber Museum, then finish at Tillicum Park so they can run. If it's raining (it's raining), the covered shelter at Tillicum is lunch. Little ones who care zero percent about Twilight still love this day.
Forks gets 120 inches of rain and Sequim gets 16
They're about 75 miles apart. Storms come in off the Pacific full of water, hit the Olympic Mountains, and get pushed up, and when air rises it cools and drops its rain. Forks sits on the wet side and catches almost all of it. By the time that same air comes down the other side toward Sequim it's dry, which is why Sequim has cactus and a lavender festival. Ask the kids which side of the mountains you're on right now and what the sky is doing about it.
This is the kind of thing we built the whole roadschool unit around, so your kids are doing the lesson right where they're standing.
See the curriculum →smaller spots most guides miss
The spots most people drive past
Everybody gets the truck picture and leaves. These are the little things that made Forks feel like ours.
The pin map
A world map on the wall covered in thousands of pins from people who came to Forks, from every continent. Find the pins closest to home, then put yours in. Kids spend longer at this map than at the truck.
The fire lookout tower
The Timber Museum has an actual vintage fire lookout tower you can go up in. Kids love it, and it's a good way to talk about how they used to spot forest fires before satellites and drones. $5 gets the grown-ups in and kids 12 and under are free.
Rayonier No. 10
The steam locomotive at Tillicum Park is a 1930 Shay that hauled logs out of these woods until 1959. It's been under its own roof since 2001. Walk the kids around it and let them find the gears on the side, which is what makes a Shay a Shay.
Native to Twilight
10 N Forks Ave, across from the Collection. Half Native art gift shop, half Twilight shrine with life-size cardboard cutouts of the cast. It's the one shop to tell the kids yes in.
The "Edward Cullen Did Not Sleep Here" sign
One of the motels on Forks Avenue has a sign out front that says Edward Cullen did not sleep here, which is accurate and also perfect. The whole town has this sense of humor about it. Keep your eyes open on the drive through.
The Loggers Memorial
On the other side of the Chamber building from the Timber Museum. Names of local loggers who died doing the work that built this town. It takes two minutes and it's a good reset after the Twilight stuff, because this was a logging town long before it was the book town.
Forks Library
The Forks branch of the North Olympic Library is downtown on Forks Avenue, and on a pouring afternoon it's warm and quiet and has a kids' section, which is exactly what you need by day three of rain.
Bogachiel River at the state park
Skip the crowds at the Hoh visitor center for an hour and take the kids down to the river at Bogachiel State Park instead. Same green, same moss, big gravel bars for rock throwing, and usually nobody else there.
trails worth doing
Short walks in town
Forks isn't the hiking part of this chapter. The big ones are on the Hoh and La Push pages. These are the leg-stretchers close to town for the days when you're not driving out, and all distances are round trip.
Timber Museum rain forest loop
Tillicum Park walk
Bogachiel State Park river paths
Bogachiel Rain Forest Trail
read this one · rain and rivers
Plan on getting wet
It rains in Forks in every month of the year and the trails here are mud in every month too, so everybody needs real rain jackets (not the cute ones), boots or shoes you don't care about, and a dry set of clothes waiting in the van. The rivers out here come up fast after a storm. Keep kids off the gravel bars when the water is brown and moving, and stay off logs anywhere near the current. Keep a bin of towels by the van door for this whole chapter.
when you need a break
Easy backups for rainy days
You'll have a rainy day in Forks, probably three, and this is what we do with them.
Twilight movie night
If you're in the Swan House, the whole DVD collection is sitting there waiting for you. If you're in a motel, bring the movies. Popcorn from Forks Outfitters, rain on the windows, and the town from the books right outside. We did this at the Swan House in December and it was so fun.
The two museums, slowly
The Timber Museum and the Twilight Collection are both indoors, both cheap or free, and both take about an hour if you let the kids poke around. Save them for the worst weather day on purpose.
JT's Sweet Stuffs run
Candy by the pound and hand-dipped milkshakes downtown. Give each kid a small bag and a budget and let them do the math. They'll spend all of it on the sour stuff.
Tillicum Park under the shelter
The covered picnic shelter means the playground still works in the rain. Bring lunch, let them get soaked on the slides, dry off under the roof, repeat. This is a two-hour block on a rainy day and it costs nothing.
Count the log trucks
Sit at Sully's or on the bench outside the Visitor Center and count log trucks on Forks Avenue. There are a lot. Talk about where the trees are going and how long they took to grow. Weirdly one of the things kids remember.
Festival weekend, if you can time it
Forever Twilight in Forks is September 10-13, 2026, and most of it's free: location tours, movie screenings, costume contests, and actual cast members doing photos and autographs. The town sells out completely, so lodging has to be booked the previous fall. If you're a Twilight family, this is the trip.