Forks

Forks is a city in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America. Well-known due to the Twilight saga hype, this little charming town of 3,300 people (2020) serves primarily as a transit point for visitors further exploring the beaches and mountains on the Olympic National Park, while the city has a number of attractions related to the movie that are worth seeing.

Due to its distance, attractions in the Quillayute area, including La Push, are included here.



By car
The main route that goes through the town is U.S. 101. Forks is about 77 mi (roughly 90 minutes) west of Port Angeles, 2 hours north of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, and at least 4 hours from Seattle.

By bus
The for Clallam Transit and Jefferson Transit is located along Hwy 101 (Forks Ave locally) at 551 S Forks Avenue on the corner of Forks Ave and "E" Street, south of the high school. Buses travel more or less along US Hwy 101 and do not go into the Olympic National Park itself, Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center or the Olympic National Forest. They can only drop off along the road, and you have to hike into the park:


 * Clallam Transit operates service Mondays to Saturdays:
 * Route 14 To Port Angeles
 * Route 15 Thrice daily service (M-Sa) to La Push
 * Route 16 To Neah Bay via Sappho, Clallam Bay
 * Route 17 Forks Shuttle, local service around town.


 * Jefferson Transit-Olympic Connection travels along Hwy 101 between Forks and Amanda Mercantile at Amanda Park on Mondays through Saturdays. Connection with Grays Harbor Transit Rt #50 to Hoquiam & Aberdeen from Amanda Park (Mercantile). There are no east-west roads across Jefferson County (Olympics Mountains) between the US Hwy 101 corridor and Port Townsend (major city and county seat of Jefferson County) without going all the around through Port Angeles. Passengers can also transfer buses in Aberdeen to continue further south along the coast or east towards Olympia and Shelton.

By plane
The Forks Airport (for general aviation only) is 1 mi south of the city. While there is no commercial air traffic, the airport has a lot of general aviation traffic every day. An alternative is Quillayute Airport, , 20 minutes to the west of Forks, which has quieter traffic but a longer runway. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the nearest commercial airport to Forks, is 4 hours away.

By car
The local roads are designed more or less around a grid system, where most roads are numbered based on their distance from the city center. Addresses also conform to the numbering of the roads around them. Nearly all streets run with the compass directions. Forks Ave (US-Hwy 101) divides east from west while Division St divides north from south.

By bus
The town of Forks is compact and can be easily covered on foot. Clallam Transit Route 17 runs a loop around the town.

See
Forks is the key setting of the Twilight series by the author Stephenie Meyer and houses several sites featured in the novels and films.



Do
Forks acts as the transit point for travelers exploring Olympic National Park, especially the Hoh Rainforest area, the Pacific beaches, and Lake Ozette. If you wish, you can visit all of them in a single day!

Sleep
In addition to the usual bed & breakfast and motels, vacation homes are also up for grabs in the summer, perfect for groups. Campgrounds, especially in the Olympic National Park grounds, are ubiquitous.

Go next

 * Visitors following the Twilight series (the written novel) usually combine their tours with a visit to La Push, the home of the Quileute Tribe in the stories. It is 14 mi west of Forks along Route 110, and is also accessible by Clallam Transit Route 15, which runs three daily services on weekdays (leaving Forks 7:20AM, 11:05AM and 3:35PM) and two on Saturdays (leaving Forks 9:20AM and 4:50PM).
 * Port Angeles is the largest city in the Olympic Peninsula, just an hour drive away northbound on Highway 101. Some parts of the Twilight story was also set in Port Angeles.
 * Queets is a small town about 40 mi south of Forks along Route 101. On the way you'll pass through Kalaloch campground, with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean.  There are many places to camp here, as well as cabins.  Queets features a "general store" and a small village on the border of the Quinault Indian Nation.
 * Hoh Rainforest is a the major temperate rainforest in North America and is part of Olympic National Park. The entrance into the park is south of town along US Hwy 101 and it is another  to the visitors center from the main highway.
 * Actual filming of Twilight (2008) took a place in Portland while Twilight: New Moon (2009) was filmed in Vancouver, BC. Other locations in British Columbia, Oregon and Washington state were also used to depict the settings of the story in both films. Later scenes for Volterra in New Moon were filmed in Montepulciano, Italy.