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I am baffled and blown away by anyone wanting to move to Forks! The fashion question is going to give anyone already in the area a big laugh. A BIG hint to anyone thinking of moving to Forks, or for that matter, pretty much anywhere on the Olympic Peninsula:
FASHION = flannel, jeans, layers, layers, layers, sturdy sandals with socks in the summer (YES, they wear sandals with wool socks here), hiking boots with same socks in winter... colors are mostly browns, greens, dark blues, with maybe camo, and for safety in hunting season, bright red or orange thrown on somewhere to keep from getting shot. Jeans are good, Carrhart (prob'ly spelled that wrong) is your high-dollar brand instead of The Gap, and the good news for women is you can stop shaving your legs, no one will ever see them because the damp cold gets into your bones and stays. Forget panty hose, think thermal underwear.... or if you are "styling", indulge and get silk underwear long johns, so you can wear them under anything, without the bulk. I am NOT kidding. There is no need for a dress, and men will only wear suits twice in their life, if then: once to get married, and once to get buried. Did I mention flannel and denim? Columbia Sportswear is good, REI or Cabelas should already be your favorite places to shop for recreational gear. Think mountain bikes, kayaks, fishing, hunting, and skiing.
NOT water skiing. Any of you that ever spent time IN the water and enjoyed it, can kiss that goodbye forever, unless you leave Washington and go to Hawaii or other warmer places. The ocean here is COLD, and so is Puget Sound. Surfers here wear full wet suits for good reason. Hypothermia is 10 minutes in the water without one. If a lake here is warm enough to swim in, it will most likely have e. coli or other ickies in the water waiting for you. I spent summers diving into the water and swimming, snorkeling, water skiing, etc. I have spent the last 17 years without that pleasure, unless I leave here, or jump into a chlorinated pool. YUCK. Yes, I am ready to move elsewhere.
It will be warm enough in the summer for shorts. It will be hotter than hades on the other side of the Cascades, and you can probably find somewhere to swim there. I can't stand the temperatures there, the brown landscape, and the rattlesnakes, but maybe you can. If you want to get there from Forks, it will take you two days of driving. Well, maybe not quite two days!
Forks is a blink in the road. If you are in the area to go hiking or trail riding in the Olympic National Park, okay. You can go out to Neah Bay, there is fabulous fish and chips at that little restaurant right as you get onto the reservation, you can also stay in a wonderful B&B that is just outside the res, run by friends of mine... she teaches crafts and he takes folks out deepwater fishing. The res has a wonderful museum, well worth the trip to visit and see, while you are there for the fishing, hiking, and checking out the big trees.
Jobs? Unless you are a very experienced logger, or have a job waiting with the US Forest Service or National Park Service, forget it...
The rain issue exists all over the entire area. It's not so much the rain, but for those who are not born and raised here, an explanation that may not occur to others who have lived here in the PNW all their lives is necessary for the rest of you. I grew up elsewhere, and this is the deal: it's not just the rain. The rain is not a big deal. What IS a big deal is that the cloud cover ceiling is much LOWER here, so the subconscious effect, as explained to me by an ex-Air Force doctor who practices here, is that it feels like the clouds are pushing down on your head. There is also a lot of mold and mildew here. If you don't have allergies to molds and stuff before you get here, you might find you develop them after you do. When spring comes, as it finally has! the evergreen trees that make this the Evergreen State, make it the ever-yellow state, because the depth of pollen you breathe and find on your car, coating everything in your house, etc. is amazing. The closest experience I had to this, was when we lived in Lexington, KY, and the Ohio Valley area, which is the capital of Ragweed pollen in the US.
The whales are incredible. The puffins are cute. Sea kayaking is fun, and summers are too, especially if you can sail and can afford a boat, or traveling around in the San Juan Islands. The fish is incredibly fresh and you get spoiled by all that seafood. You cannot grow a serious garden unless it is root veggies, and be prepared for the slugs that can eat your entire garden in a night. Some veggies will not grow here; it's too cold.
Housing? Someone else said it better than I could. You may find that all you can get is either incredibly expensive, or a half-rusted mobile home. If you find a place that is nice, and you are thinking of buying it, and it has beautiful forest around it, or nearby, better find out who owns that forest, or who manages it, and double check the water supply. Otherwise, you may find that pretty forest is clear-cut all around you, leaving you with a view that is pitifully sad, like all the gorgeous trees got a buzz-cut with a bad blade, leaving lots of ragged stumps, chewed up chunks of wood lying all about, for acres and acres, OR planes that fly over once or twice a year, spewing herbicides on the trees (and drifting over your property), which gets into your lungs and is washed into the ground and into your water supply, if you are on a well... just something to think about. I do believe in responsible logging, folks, but a lot of it isn't... and driving through an area that has been clear-cut, even several years later, generally makes me want to cry, it's so ugly and sad. I sure wouldn't want to live in the middle of one, or near one, either.
I've tried to think of the positives and the negatives. Objectively, if you want to live in an isolated area, and want to be in Washington, I could think of other places that have more to offer. If you want a small town and want to be near the water, I could still come up with a few other places in the state that are probably more appealing and tolerable than Forks. I seriously could NOT see anyone making a choice to live there permanently, without spending a month there, in any season other than summer, first.
Everything Wandering Foot wrote is right on the money. If you don't know the area and are thinking about relocating here, study his post.
Pay particular attention to the part about clear cutting because Washington has always been controlled by, and for, the Forest products Industry. With the depletion of the forests, and the rise of environmental awareness, the emphasis of the logging industry is changing from forest logging to "managed harvesting." This means growing trees on controlled plots or tree farms.
The logging lobby says proudly "For every tree we cut, we plant two." And the non-thinking, self involved, public eats it up and praises the new environmental awareness.
But, a tree farm is not a forest. It's mono-crop agriculture and has all the problems associated with that practice such as pesticide and fertilizer pollution of the air, soil, and water, and the loss of the natural ecological balance. Before a tree crop can be planted, the forest must be clear cut, which totally destroys the existing environment.
A clear cut plot stays in that condition, looking like a waste dump or war zone, for years until it becomes profitable to either plant it or, as happens with much former forest land, sell it off for development. In the meantime, the deer, elk, and other inhabitants of the former forest have left or died, and nothing grows except scrub and weeds.
With no root system to hold the soil in place, it washes into the streams and rivers, promoting algae growth which depletes the oxygen level and raises the water temperature killing the fish and destroying the spawning runs.
In populated areas, clear cut areas are a major problem because the rains turn them into mud fields which are prone to landslides.
In some areas, the clear cutting isn't obvious from the road because a narrow strip of trees has been left which screens the ravaged landscape behind. But if you want to see the real damage and get a glimpse of Washington's future if clear cutting continues, take a look at the satellite views from one of the map programs like Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, or Google Earth.
Everything Wandering Foot wrote is right on the money. If you don't know the area and are thinking about relocating here, study his post.
+2 !!!
Although with the new Twilight (New Moon) movie now being advertised, I don't expect the misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the true Forks to end anytime soon...
Forks, WA might appeal to vampires. With most humans, probably not so much. It is small (population 3,221, July 2007 source: city-data) and remote. The weather is wet a good part of the year, and overcast. I drove through in August, but having seen the Olympic Peninsula can believe the wet part. Areas such as Sequim, WA are in the rain shadow of the Olympic mountains, but Forks catches storms directly from the ocean:
http://www.ocs.orst.edu/pub/maps/Precipitation/Total/States/WA/wa.gif (broken link)
(Forks is in the 100 to 140 zone on this map)
All this could be great, save perhaps for what one is going to do there. As is it is a blue collar town with the interests of such a place, if one so attuned. The economy must be a question mark. My understanding that logging has been in decline because the forests have not been 'harvested' in a sustainable manner. And that is putting it mildly. With the majority of jobs in logging and public administration, one must decline with the other, particularly with the State running such a large deficit. Service jobs dependent on these two must decline as well. This leaves tourists and a few other things. By reports there has been a modest increase in tourism due 'Twilight.' This will probably increase but then fade once the movies have run their course in several years. Maybe not. Most retirees and other development will probably continue to seek a drier climate with better access to services.
Many tourists in the region are probably there due Olympic National Park. Forks offers a good base for certain points of access to the Park, such as Hoh Rain Forest. Unlike the surrounding national forest which has been decimated to a large degree due logging, this Park remains an isolated jewel of the PNW. Basically left alone since time began, it remains a true old growth forest. It remains as an island, a separate portion of the Park running in a thin strip along the better part of the western sea shore of the peninsula. This in itself is a reason to come, and perhaps visit Forks as well.
Movies being what they are it is no surprise some of the major scenes of 'Twilight' were filmed along the Columbia Gorge, on the border between Oregon and Washington state. According to imdb none of the movie was filmed in Forks: Twilight (2008/I) - Filming locations
I would like to think some was. But if visiting the area, particularly the more hidden, magical aspects of it, you might easily imagine how apt such a setting was. I've read, without really knowing, that the books author, Ms Meyer, had never set foot in Forks before writing the novel. Maybe she just picked it off the map. Then in serendipity it is well chosen, for if certain structures and landscapes elsewhere more cinematic, this remote and rugged landscape may haunt one. Despite the presence of a few people and their influence, it remains a very wild place.
I have always wanted to live in Forks, and now that I am 18, I want to move there with my fiance. I was also wandering about how the jobs are there, and if there are any places to buy or to rent. And I know that it is popular now because of Twilight, but it is absolutly breath taking. Any and all info about Forks is greatly appriciated
I have always wanted to live in Forks, and now that I am 18, I want to move there with my fiance. I was also wandering about how the jobs are there, and if there are any places to buy or to rent. And I know that it is popular now because of Twilight, but it is absolutly breath taking. Any and all info about Forks is greatly appriciated
I would not describe the area right around Forks as breathtaking. That movie showed some nice scenes but most of nice forested areas are 20 or more miles away. The area right around Forks is mostly lows hills and lots of clearcut forests. I am not saying it's a bad place, but just go there with a realistic view of it.
Here's some photos I took recently of Forks and the surrounding area.
Downtown
Surrounding area
City neighborhoods
Farther from town, 20 to 50 miles you can see views like this
I have always wanted to live in Forks, and now that I am 18, I want to move there with my fiance. I was also wandering about how the jobs are there, and if there are any places to buy or to rent. And I know that it is popular now because of Twilight, but it is absolutly breath taking. Any and all info about Forks is greatly appriciated
If you have read the posts in this thread and in the other recent threads here about Forks, you have learned there are no jobs in Forks, few or no places to rent, and few or no places to purchase. Forks still has not done much recovering from the shutting down of almost all of the timber industry that kept the very small town going.
Forks is "popular now" only with day tourists who have read the books or seen the movie. Day tourists, there for an hour or two. It's not popular with people looking to make a life somewhere.
This is the local newspaper which covers all of the Olympic Peninsula. There are likely some jobs in Port Angeles, maybe Sequim, maybe Port Townsend -- besides the summer tourist-trade jobs. You can keep checking the Classifieds. Peninsula Daily News
The photos so generously provided by Kanhawk are absolutely accurate. There is nothing beautiful about the area around Forks, or about the town itself. Don't forget that what you saw was a movie. That's fiction, created only to make money, not to be accurate. If you Google Forks WA you will find lots and lots of real photos and information, which you can study to learn the facts.
The photos so generously provided by Kanhawk are absolutely accurate. There is nothing beautiful about the area around Forks, or about the town itself.
I would say the photos are only unusual because the sun is shining.
But as for saying Forks and the surrounding area is ugly, to each their own I guess.
I would say the photos are only unusual because the sun is shining.
Yes and if you look closely you'll see standing water in a puddle alongside the road in the mobile home shot. A tip off to the 9 to 11 feet of annual rainfall that Forks gets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by psprague
But as for saying Forks and the surrounding area is ugly, to each their own I guess.
IMO, I thought kanhawks pictures showed Forks at it's best. There are more run down areas in and around town that were not "featured" by him. I mean he showed nicer mobile homes, not the ones spray painted fluorescent orange and bright purple on the west side of town! Also it's hard to get the full impact of vast stretches of clear cut forest from his pics.
As allforcats is trying to honestly suggest regarding Forks: caveat emptor
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Forks & Vampires
Also it's hard to get the full impact of vast stretches of clear cut forest from his pics.
