2003/03 Olympic Mountains trip - Rialto Beach |
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The next morning was still wet, but the rain wasn’t as heavy. I was going to be 
exploring the side roads that go down to the ocean. I followed the Hoh River down to another section of Olympic park, where there was supposed to be a trail to the coast, but that trail ended with a missing bridge. The creek looked crossable, but it might not be when I was coming back, so I gave up on that one.
My next stop at a state park on the Bogachiel River was literally a washout, as all the trails ended in big mud ‘oles, where a tree had fallen and the rain had enlarged the root hole and wiped out the trail. This probably explained why I was the only person there!
So far the day wasn’t too successful, but my next stop at Rialto Beach was great. Rialto Beach is at the outlet of the Quillayute River, and has seastacks, islands, logs, and eagles. There’s an artificial causeway out to the first island, and the causeway protects the mouth of the river and the Indian town of La Push.
It also had sunshine! Even the eagles were enjoying it, playing in the updrafts from 
one of the islands. The beach is a couple of miles long, split by a creek that has to be either waded or crossed by tree trunk. I used the tree trunk but it took me a half-hour to climb through the jungle of logs on the other side to get back onto the beach. But, from there I was able to climb through an archway in the headland through to the next beach.
This was a mass of rocks and pools with starfish and anemones. It even had a 
“tessellated pavement”, a section of flat rock with repeating patterns, much like the famous one in Tasmania. I could have stayed there for hours but I had to get back through the arch before the tide came in.
In case you’re wondering, that’s a starfish in the gull’s mouth. It was obviously proud of catching it, but didn’t seem to know how to eat it. After wading back across the creek, and slogging back through the sand in the heat (yes, heat!), I was looking forward to
a lazy evening cooking dinner on the beach and watching the sunset, drinking the last of the wine.
However, I barely made it back to the car before the next weather system rolled in and it began to rain heavily. It was still going strong 16 hours later when I left for Seattle the next morning. About 4 am I saw my neighbours’ truck lights come on. They’d abandoned their tent. Next morning I could see that their whole site was ankle deep.
I was luckier than that, but all I could do in the morning was throw everything in the car as fast as possible, and then drive until I found an unmanned oil depot that had a roof. There I could pack everything away in the right places for the plane trip home. My suitcase was 4 pounds heavier going back, all water!
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