Based on the title of the blog post, you might reasonably think warm sun and soft sand. Here in Washington you are just wrong! Rainy weather notwithstanding, the kids and I had a great time, and slept warm and dry in the rainy outdoors.
We started off with the long drive to Mora, just a bit west of Forks, Washington. We lucked out and had dry weather set up camp, which as you'll see below was a couple of hammock tents to sleep and our canopy for meals. That bit of luck with the weather meant we had a dry place to cook and eat our meals (a true blessing).
After we set up camp we made our way down to Rialto Beach. Our goal was to make it past Ellen Creek (if you remember, that is the river that turned us around last time we were here). The change in topography is startling, even after just a few hours. There was a tree right next to Ellen Creek (river on one side, sand on the other) when we first went past, and it was in the middle of the river on the way back to the car.
This time we came prepared, with sandals for me and Crocs for the kids, though I carried them across so they didn't get their feet wet. We made our way out to Hole in the Wall, and since we timed it for low tide, actually got to walk through. It is a bit dicey since the "trail" leading up to Hole in the Wall is slippery rock that is submerged at high tide, with a cliff on one side and 1-2 foot tidal pools on the other, but the kids made it through, no sweat. We paused for some photos, and then made our way back through. The beach on the car-side of Hole in the Wall was a bit nicer, and both kids wanted to run around and play which was just fine with me.
On the way back to the car it started to rain and it really didn't let up for the rest of the night. Since we had already set up our hammock-tents, all we had to do was cook dinner, do the dishes, and then pop into our sleeping bags. All in all it was a great day, and both kids loved, loved, loved Hole in the Wall (and that I carried them across Ellen Creek, they'd gladly have rode piggy back all night if I'd let them).
The next morning we got up and drove to Third Beach, about 15-20 minutes down the road, further south from where we stayed. There are some large sea stacks there that I wanted to see. Only problem was that since we had lunch at a local restaurant, we got to Third Beach just in time for high tide. There was a landslide that had knocked some trees into the high tide surf, so we (and a couple of large groups of campers/backpackers) ended up waiting around. Eventually the tide went out far enough that we could run around the tips of the trees, and then back higher ashore to escape the waves. We had to jump on the trees a couple of times to avoid getting wet, but as far out as the tide had gone, I don't think our shoes would have been submerged; still, drier is nicer.
Third Beach has a nice waterfall the tumbles directly into the Pacific Ocean. To get further south where all the sea stacks are involves a bit of a climb over that headland to the beach on the other side. We started up, but the climb involved ropes to help scramble up the steep and incredibly muddy slopes. At times there were ladders and ropes to help navigate up the headland, but it was still muddy going. Strange to think that in a rainforest where it has been raining more on than off since October that it would be a muddy mess in there ;-) The kids actually enjoyed getting muddy, but the return trip was sketchy in places. I'll have to go in August or September after it hasn't rained in a couple of months and the mud has subsided to go check out those sea stacks.
I hope everyone is having a great day out there!
Marc
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