Looking For A Small Town in the Olympic Forrest Region (Ocean Shores: dangerous, moving)

[Krist_Al]

Hi! My husband and I are from a very small town around Central Texas. We want to move somewhere cooler and different from where we are now. We are very interested in area's with forrest and a beach that isn't too far, although we don't want to be right on the beach. We want a small town, somewhere in the 3-4,000 pop. range. If you have any ideas on towns that way, please help us out! Thanks!

[kanhawk]

You might like the town of Montesano. Nice well kept town, although a lot of the forest in the area is second and third growth forest. The ocean beach is about a half hour away. Here is a couple of photos I took of the town:


IMG_0078 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/31437246@N03/2966280162/ - broken link) by kanhawk (http://www.flickr.com/people/31437246@N03/ - broken link), on Flickr

IMG_0077 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/31437246@N03/2966279702/ - broken link) by kanhawk (http://www.flickr.com/people/31437246@N03/ - broken link), on Flickr

[Hemlock140]

Hopefully you are aware that the Olympic Forest is a temperate rainforest,
with over 100" of rain annually. Actually, there are very few towns, other than LaPush and Forks.


I'd suggest Amanda Park, which is near Lake Quinault rather than the ocean.

[stonecypher5413]

If you're also accustomed to swimming in the warm waters of the Gulf, you need to know the Washington coast is a whole different animal.

The ocean is almost always too cold for swimming for most people without wearing something like a wetsuit. You can get hypothermia. Here's a chart of some average ocean temps:

US NODC Coastal Water Temperature Guide

Strong tides and large waves are dangerous to swimmers who are not used to them, if you do decide to brave the temperatures.

Logs in the water or on the beach can be dangerous, and the waves are often powerful enough to move even large logs. It is also all too common for people on these beaches to be cut off by the incoming tide.

Just a heads-up for you to consider.

[Dendrite]

Wow, Amanda Park! Pretty area but maybe 500 people at best in town. Right up there with Neilton population wise!

OP was looking for a population of 3 or 4K so kanhawk may be right. Montesano is a nice little town as would be the adjacent region given the surrounding forests (Quinault, Queets, Hoh and so forth) as well as proximity to the beaches. Perhaps one of the beach towns themselves might work (Ocean Shores etc).

[Krist_Al]

Thank you all for your replies. Yes I am well aware of the ocean temperature, and the rainfall, although I had no idea about it being so strong in the wave department. My family and I are going to vacation in that area for a while before moving there. I am very excited to get away from the dry, hot weather, not to mention the bushes we call tree's.

[Krist_Al]

@Kanhawk...thank you so much for the lovely pictures. It looks a lot like my small town, except it's green! Lol