The Tree of Life
Approximate location.
There is nothing under this tree. A creek has cut through the bluff beneath it and carried the soil away, and the Sitka spruce now hangs over the gap on an arch of its own exposed roots, with open air where the ground used to be. Locals call the hollow underneath the root cave. It is one of the most photographed single trees on the Washington coast, and it has been a known sight for a long time. Staff at Kalaloch Lodge say people have been coming to look at it since at least the 1950s, and that it is probably much older than that. Nobody has dated it or measured it, so how old it really is stays an open question. If you know, tell us. What is known is that the clock is running. The erosion that made it famous has not stopped. A 2025 feature reported branches in decline, and the recurring line in everything written about it since is that no one knows how much longer it will stand. As of the most recent reports in 2026, it is still there, still alive, still holding on. From the Kalaloch Campground day-use parking, walk onto the beach, turn right and go a few hundred feet. The pin marks the campground rather than the trunk, but on this stretch of sand you will not miss it.
Kalaloch Beach, near Kalaloch Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington You can recognise it by the trunk suspended over a gap in the bluff, held up by an arch of bare roots with a hollow beneath. It stands on the beach a few hundred feet to the right of the Kalaloch Campground access.
Free, within Olympic National Park; a short, flat walk (a few minutes) from the Kalaloch Campground day-use parking lot onto the beach.
No public transit; on US-101, 34 miles south of Forks, WA. Parking at Kalaloch Campground.
