The rainiest town in the Lower 48, the gateway to the Hoh Rainforest, and, thanks to Twilight, one of the most-searched small towns in the country.
Forks is a former logging town on US-101 that has become the practical home base for exploring the west side of Olympic National Park. It sits within easy striking distance of the Hoh Rainforest, La Push, Rialto Beach, and the Bogachiel and Sol Duc valleys, with more lodging and services than any other town this close to the park's coastal units.
If your plan includes the Hoh Rainforest, La Push, or Rialto Beach, Forks is the logical overnight base: it puts all three within a 30 to 45 minute drive, with the widest range of motels, cabins, and vacation rentals on this whole stretch of coast. It also has the region's largest grocery store and gas stations, worth noting since services thin out fast once you're inside the park.
Stephenie Meyer set her Twilight novels in Forks without having visited beforehand, and the town leaned into it once the books and films took off. You'll find Twilight-themed shops, a self-guided tour of filming-adjacent and book-referenced locations, and the annual Forever Twilight in Forks festival each September, which draws fans from well outside the region. Whether or not that's your reason for coming, it is a real part of the local economy and worth knowing about even if you're here for the rainforest.
The Forks Timber Museum covers the area's logging history, a useful bit of context for a town whose whole identity shifted from timber to tourism over the last few decades. Forks also markets itself, accurately, as one of the wettest towns in the continental United States, with well over 100 inches of rain in an average year. Pack accordingly no matter the season.