Distance
Elevation
Observed Wildlifeto
Day 1 - 9.8 miles - 7 hours, 30 minutes
After two weeks in Olympic National Park, it was finally time for me to backpack on the beach. I would have liked to do it earlier, but I was beholden to the tides and it made the most sense to do it today. I highly recommend consulting with park rangers before doing this hike to make sure that it is indeed possible according to the tide tables.
The hike starts though a mile of the lush forest I had become accustomed to before descending steeply to sea level at Third Beach. The beach was very sandy and made hiking a bit challenging as I sunk a few inches with every step. Pillars rose out of the water hundreds of feet of shore to give this coastline a rugged feel.
Ater making my way across Third Beach I climbed up Taylor Point. The forest returned and I got some great views out over the beach and ocean. After a mile off the beach I returned to sea level along the shore.
At times I grew tired of hiking on the sand and hiked up on the piles of driftwood. I took great care as much of the wood was unstable, but it ended up being a game of staying on the biggest piece of wood for the longest. I also viewed it as training for my greatest past time of meandering out on fallen logs over brooks and rivers.
I eventually found a campsite along Toleak point just under seven miles into my hike. I still had energy to explore so I dropped my pack and continued south along the coast. I climbed back up into the woods again as the fog started to pick up. The view back along the beach was beautiful and would have been even more so with clear weather. The forest atmosphere was quite spooky. A short steep descent brought me to Falls Creek where a trickle down a twenty foot rock face and a rough looking creek served as my terminus.
When I returned to the edge of the woods the visibility had become much more obscured from the fog. I made it back to my campsite where I had to use my hammock as to sleep since I had forgotten my tent poles, ugh. I didn’t sleep especially well with the added annoyance of the constant dripping of condensation off the trees. I eventually made my tent fly into a makeshift rain cover and got minimal rest.
Day 2 - 6.8 miles - 4 hours, 30 minutes
When I awoke I set out for the main attraction of the hike: tidal pools. Part of my choice of this day was so that low tide would greet me in the morning with the prospect of exploring the rich tidal pools. Navigating the seaweed covered rocks was slick and challenging. I aimlessly meandered and found countless anemones along with some sea stars. It was cool to see the anemones closed outside the water and open with tentacles when submerged.
I alternated exploring the pools and hiking back along the shore. After two weeks in the wilderness I was ready to return to civilization and hustled back to my car once I got my fill of tidal pool exploration.
