Olympic National Park - Rialto Beach

Seven Weeks Across America

You can see the Quillayute town of La Push and the rocks of First Beach in the background.

We hit another Olympic National Park beach - Rialto Beach, on our next day.  There are huge mounds of driftwood - and I  mean entire tree-sized driftwood - along the parking area and pushed up against the edge of the forest.  We saw some of that at Ruby Beach, but this just went on and on and on down the shore, as far as you can see. 

We walked down to Hole-in-the-Wall, a huge stone arch surrounded by tide pools.  Grandpa walked with me while Bri and W took off to get their feet wet (brrrrrrrr!).  We all had a nice time, soaking up the sun and watching the birds and a seal feeding at the shoreline.

The view once you pass through Hole-in-the-Wall.

While these tide pools were not teeming with the volume of sea creatures we saw at Cannon Beach, there were still some to be found.

Olympic National Park - Ruby Beach

Seven Weeks Across America

Driving up the Washington coast proved to be a much quieter experience than driving up the Oregon coast.  There were quite simply fewer places to stop and less people, which was really nice.  We had heard Ruby Beach was a must-see, and we were eager to park the RV and stretch our legs.  The parking lot is above the beach, and looking down we assumed it was a strenuous hike, but really it was easy and we were down in no time.  

Brian and W got right to wading along the shore.  They eventually made it down to the large rocks and even found an arch.

My favorite part, however, was the huge collection of driftwood piled against the shore.

Though I did eventually look down and was entranced by the beautiful variety of stones that make up the beach.