La Push, Washington
Thursday, July 30, 2009
After a good nights sleep we packed up a lunch and headed for Rialto Beach, just a bit north from La Push. This is part of the National Park and we had hoped to hike to a rock stack area called The Hole in the Wall and see tidepools. Met a ranger who told us we may not get to either of these however, as the tides were pretty high because of the current lunar cycle. We loved Rialto anyway though—incredible piles of enormous bleached logs, beautiful flat stones and black sand, rock stacks, the sun even came out for a teeny short time (!). Hiked all the way to the Hole, could not hike through because of the tides, but did walk through the freezing cold water and scramble over sharp rocks to see some tide pools. Saw green and pink sea anemones, large orange and purple star fish, mussels, barnacles, periwinkles and limpets clinging to the rocks. Had to get out because the tide was coming in further and the sea is very rough here, as well as being incredibly cold. We had to get knee deep to get to the tide pools and the water is so cold your skin feels numb. We saw gulls and cormorants, dolphins, seals, and sea otters and even glimpsed the fin of a whale
. Had a great picnic lunch on the beach while Calder built a wooden shelter from the beached logs. Headed next to Second Beach, which is very close to First Beach, but very different in feel. Hiked 1/2 mile through lush green forests of huge trees covered in moss and ferns, down a steep windy path and finally to a beach which was wide and sandy rather than stony. Rock stacks and beached logs, and some really nice tidepools. Were surprised to see so many small tents among the beached logs. People come to spend the night or have a fire and dinner on the beach. Everything has to be lugged the ½ mile steep hike through the forest and then back up again afterward—a lot of work for a cold and windy night on the beach, but it would be really cool if we knew this was possible. I guess that will have to be a future trip! We were happy to finally get back to our cabin, rinse off our numb, blistered feet, and warm up with our decadent heater. Watched Swiss Family Robinson on the laptop (we feel very much like them) and enjoyed cheeseburgers and fresh ripe peaches for dinner. Had planned to go back to First Beach, Claire's favorite, which is just a few steps away, but we are all too exhausted. This is now the halfway point of our trip—3 weeks down and 3 to go. It is going by so quickly and yet seems like our reality. We can barely remember our real life, which of course is the point of all this after all.
Well, Claire and I had one last morning walk on First Beach this morning, and then a walk through the reservation at La Push. Even though it is cold and misty with a visibility of about ten feet, we are going to miss being here. We headed back to Forks and had photo opportunities at each of the Twilight locations: Forks High, the police station, the hospital, Bella’s truck. Every store in town has Twilight merchandise and I think we shopped at them all to find just the right item to purchase. Saw many fanpires like ourselves who were traveling from location to location, cameras in hand. Finally headed south to the Hoh Rainforest. I was really looking forward to this but was a bit disappointed again because of the hot, dry conditions the Pacific Northwest has been having. A little further south to Ruby Beach and some tidepooling. Then a long drive to the tip of Oregon. We crossed the Columbia River once again over the Astoria Bridge—4 miles long in the black of night, rather creepy but we made it.
