Our Western Shore, Olympic National Park, 7.10.18 - 7.12.18
With Bridgit back east visiting family for three weeks, Andrew and I decided to do a little father/son bonding trip so we packed up the RV and headed off to the Washington coast. I had only been there once ever and that was clear back when I first moved here in 1991. Andrew of course had never seen the Washington coast and he was excited to see something different (other than mountains) for a change. Putting the RV on a ferry is very pricey so we drove south to Olympia and headed west through Aberdeen and Hoquiam before heading up 101.
Our first stop was at the Lake Quinault Lodge and Ranger Station. This is the gateway to a really cool hike to a place called Enchanted Valley in Olympic National Park. I’ve always wanted to do that hike so it was kinda cool to see where it starts. The lodge is on Lake Quinault and looked nice but I’m not sure I would make it a destination. At the ranger station we picked up another National Park passport stamp for Olympic and Andrew got a pin (he collects pins from the places he goes).
After Lake Quinault the road veered west to Queets and the beginning of a long stretch right next to the ocean. We got several peek-a-boo views and passed several beaches which we planned to scope out the following day. After Ruby Beach the road cut inland again until we reached the Hoh River. I had been this far south coming from the north end of the peninsula so this first trip coming up from the south completed my circumnavigation of the entire region.
Just north of Forks we turned towards the water and drove to Mora Campground. This is a beautiful place. It was very lush and lots of vegetation kept all the sites quite private. There are no reservations but being a Tuesday we found lots of open sites and picked a great one right by a huge tree (red cedar?). Mora has no RV hookups but we can easily “dry camp” in the RV.
Our site at Mora Campground
Olympic National Park is extremely diverse. A large part of the park is the entire Olympic Mountain Range that rises in every direction from the edges of the peninsula. It gets so much rain down low and snow in the higher elevations that although only reaching elevations in the 7,000’ range (Mt Olympus is the high point at 7,980’), great glaciers still cling to many peaks and the terrain can be very remote and rugged. Below the ice, the annual rainfall creates a temperate rain forest so the woods are extremely lush with tons of moss, lichens, ferns and fungi giving everything a soft spongey feel. Hiking in the Olympic rain forest is an awe-inspiring experience. As if the peaks and rain forest wasn’t enough, a large portion of the coastline itself is part of Olympic National Park and on this trip, this is what we came for.
After paying for our site and leaving a couple of camp chairs to make the place look lived in, we hopped back in the RV and headed a couple of miles further down to the end of the road to the parking area for Rialto Beach. This beach is right by the parking area so no hiking was needed to get to the beach. We were greeted by a long curved shoreline lined with forest. Between the forest (where there are numerous back country camps for beach backpackers) and the beach itself, huge piles of old logs had piled up all along the coast. Large sea stacks of various shapes and sizes stuck up out in the water, giving this coastline a wild, dramatic look.
Rialto Beach
Down the beach a ways, we spotted some interesting rock formations so we decided to walk down the beach and check it out. It didn’t look that far but ended up being a 3.5 mile round trip hike. Along the way we crossed a creek that started somewhere in the Olympic Mountains and ends up feeding into the Pacific Ocean. Rocks along the water were polished and pocketed from years of waves crashing over them at high tide.
Cool rock
There were many weird shaped rocks out in the ocean and along the shore. Each had its own unique characteristics.
Dramatic coast line
As we got further down the beach, we could now clearly see Split Rock and Hole in the Wall. We didn’t understand why it was called Split Rock until we passed by it and saw it was actually two tall rocks next to each other.
Split Rock and Hole in the Wall
Andrew and Dad
As we neared Hole in the Wall, I realized but had forgotten that I had done this same hike down the beach by myself back in ’91. For hiking the coast, one must pay close attention to the tide tables. Some of the heads can be hiked around at low tide but when the tide is in the only way to get past a head is to climb over it and drop down to the next section of beach. I had remembered that such a trail existed at Hole in the Wall so Andrew and I climbed up a steep rudimentary path to the top of Hole in the Wall which gave us an incredible vantage point to survey the entire Rialto Beach and also the section of coastline north of Hole in the Wall.
Split Rock and Rialto Beach from the spine above Hole in the Wall
The Mighty Pacific Ocean from an awesome view spot
After hiking back to the RV and driving back to our campsite, Andrew took a power nap while I prepared dinner. We had Dutch Oven chicken and vegetables and it came out perfect! Really tasty and easy. After dinner we still had a couple of hours of light left so we packed up the RV (which is really great that it is so easy to be maneuverable) and drove about five miles up and down a different road towards La Push to the trailhead to Second Beach. I had also been here on my last trip and Andrew and I planned to hike down to the beach and watch the sun go down over the Pacific.
The trail was typical Olympic lush vegetation as it gently climbed and then dropped .7 miles to the beach. We were greeted by no less than twenty tripod bearing photographers waiting for the same magic moment I was. Inquiring, I found out it was actually two different photo classes. The late evening light is always special and it was especially lovely on the numerous sea stacks out in the water.
Sea Stacks off Second Beach
Andrew may be the last guy on the west coast to see the sun go down on this day
The sun slowly sank behind the head at the north end of Second Beach, but we never got the golden glow we were hoping for. Still, it was very beautiful.
July 10, 2018 sunset
By comparison, this was the sunset in the early spring of 1991.
The following day we drove more than halfway back to a state park to spend another night out before coming home today. During the day we had planned to scope out all the beaches along the way but the morning marine layer hadn’t burned off yet and the coast was fogged in. We were so ecstatic about our sensational day at Rialto Beach and Second Beach that it really didn’t matter. We had a good time together.