La Push, Washington

La Push is a small unincorporated community situated at the mouth of the Quillayute River in the Western Olympic Peninsula. It is the de facto capital and main population center of the Quileute Indian Reservation, which is home to the federally recognized Quileute tribe. La Push is known for its whale-watching and natural environment. The community has historically been located on the coast; however, sea level rise led the community to begin managed retreat to higher grounds in 2017. The name La Push is from French term, La Bouche, meaning "The Mouth" of the Quillayute River, adapted into Chinook Jargon. La Push, 14 miles from Forks, is home to the Quileute Tribe. Tribal members traditionally built cedar canoes for a variety of uses; they ranged in size from two-man to ocean-going freight vessels capable of carrying three tons. The Quileute ranked second only to the Makah as whalers and first among all the tribes as seal hunters. They bred special woolly-haired dogs and spun and wove their hair into prized warm blankets. According to traditional stories, the Quileutes' only kin, the Chimakum, were separated from them by a great flood that swept them to the Quimper Peninsula on the other side of the North Olympic Peninsula.