Olympic Peninsula

I regularly go on the beach.

Ozette to Sand Point or Cape Alava. Third Beach to Toleak Point. Rialto Beach north.

Kind of a long drive though.

http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/coastal-routes.htm

Edit: Loops are preferable as well, as this will be solo.

I really like the "4 passes" loop in ONP. You start out at the end of the Obstruction Point Road, then cross over Grand Pass, Cameron Pass, Lost Pass and Wolf Pass returning to Obstruction Point and your car. 45 miles, 2 nights, 3 days, beautiful high country, alpine lakes, some rugged passes. It is a good workout, but nothing too hard. Just watch out for lots snow at Cameron Pass. Also, if your trip includes staying at Upper Cameron you will need a bear can. I will be doing it again this summer. I won't look at doing it until mid-July, although the snow pack is still looking very low this year.

Coastal section hikes in ONP are great, but I usually do them in Mid April to late May, before Memorial Weekend to avoid the crowds. I prep my kit in mid April and then start watching the weather for a good weekend and strike when the forecast looks good. Last year my daughter and I caught an incredible weekend in the beginning of May, with three days of sunshine and highs in the 80's. It was like hiking in August without the crowds. It is also a great early season shake down hike to play with your gear while the high country remains snow bound. I like to make the first day really long, to escape the crowds. I then base camp the second day, spending the day beach combing and wondering. Then hike out the next day and get back home late. The Coastal hikes require a bear can.

As for bear cans, the Park Service has some of the old black heavy ones available, but I use a BV 450. I go often enough that a good, light bear can is worth the money. They suck, but the Rangers do enforce it. The trend seems to be more and more places in ONP are requiring a bear can. You have to check each year now.

The SE part of the park is very nice. You've got the North and South Fork Skokomish River, Duckabush, and Dosewallips. All these rivers can be connected to do shorter loop hikes. A summer option is to hike up the Duckabush and go through Anderson Pass and out the South Fork of the Quinault. You can hitch a ride at the trailhead (easy enough) back to Lake Quinault then catch public transit back to Bremerton. I use public transit all the time on the peninsula to get around. It's super cheap two; I think the fares are subsidized. $1 from Quinault to Aberdeen, $3 dollars to Shelton, and $1.50 back to Bremerton. Look at ghtransit.com (routes 60 and 40) and masontransit.org (routes 2 and 3). There are buses that connect the entire hwy 101.