Rialto Beach... heading north   July 18-20, 2003

And so we begin (well, actually, this picture is from the end but we had to come to this point at the beginning before it could be the end) - Rialto Beach, just north of La Push, WA.

 

This is hole-in-the-wall - north looking south as the tide is receeding.

Speaking of tides... having a wrist watch when having to use tide tables is very handy.  Yeah, our trip on the coast was without a watch, so we never really knew the time.  
   Heading through hole-in-the-wall... first me, then Leanne and Petey.  It was not a black and white day... but it was quite misty.

Timing is everything for this particular point on beach trekking, as the tide determines whether your walk is deep tidal pools or a very laborious journey OVER this jut of land.  We experienced both - and the tidal pools were definitely the more welcome approach.

This is the wall inside the arch of hole-in-the-wall.  It is quite beautiful and sorta looks like wood.  It's much better in person, of course.
Camp site... night 1

We pitched on the beach among the driftwood, next to the cliff that leads to the forest. 

As you can see... we spread out as our gear is all over the place.  From the parking area to this point, it is about a 2 mile hike on cobblestone beaches.

 
And Petey needs his own picture.  He was quite fascinated with the exposed roots from downed trees that surrounded our site as they harbored a wide variety of birds and other creatures - all of which were polite enough to leave us alone during our stay at this site.
Saturday, July 19 - EARLY (who can really say what time it is?)

Leanne suits Petey up in his vest... as the fog begins to roll in.
And so it's my turn.
Here's the fun with fog picture...

now you see it

now you don't.
Gearin' up the dawg.  He's such a patient guy.

You'll be happy to know that even Petey has to carry his own stuff.  He doesn't like it, but he'll do it with little to no complaining.
So we begin our journey... destination:  Chilean Memorial (to which we never made it). 

This whole beach journey depended on the tides.  Like hole-in-the-wall, this was actually on the return trip. The tide was higher in this photo than it was when we set out on Saturday.  This is a nice "finger" that had some pretty dramatic waves crashing into it.
Walking towards camp 2, we came across wonderful images like this.  What a geometric beauty... almost like a preschool block project of lining up the images (in a very large pool of salt water, complete with all the little creepy things therein).
Petey stops to reflect on his journey.  Looking ahead at the little island to the farthest right... that is close to our second camp.

We had no idea what awaited us ahead.  In fact, we planned on going to the Chilean Memorial and then returning home that same day to rest.  Imagine our surprise when we came across the most incredible peninsula to set camp - so we were forced to stay....

Go to Rialto Trip - page 2

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