Olympic NP is interesting because it is not contiguous, so separate from the main park is the Pacific Coast National Shoreline. We drove there from Hoh to Rialto Beach, and what a treat. Pat can't stand being out of the sun for long periods of time, so after wandering in the rain forest for hours without even seeing the sky she was ready for the beach, and what an interesting beach.
Along the coast large douglas firs grew, and the salt air and water killed the trees nearest the ocean. The entire beach where we walked for two miles was lined with massive fallen trees that were bleached white/grey from the ocean winds. The beach has very dark sand near the water, changing to small black smooth stones, and then larger stones the further you get from the ocean. We lucked out today as we arrived just before low tide, which would allow us to hike up and around 'Hole in the wall', a famous rock formation. In the rocky tidal waters around 'hole in the wall' countless starfish lived, along with small shellfish and mollusks. Really pretty walk, and the sun came out for us quite a bit, which can be rare in the pacific northwest. So Pat got her vitamin D.
We also learned that you can backcountry hike the pacific coast, and there are numerous backpacking campsites along the shoreline all the way to the northernmost point of Washington's coast. We saw many backpackers leaving or returning to the Rialto Beach parking area. This is now on our wish list too.
Interesting and fun day going from the rainforest to the ocean beaches, and big smiles on the ride home to camp. Tomorrow we put the motor home on a ferry to cross the Puget sound so we can play in the San Juan islands (an hour north of Seattle) for a few days.
~Enjoy
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