Tonelli's Travels

For our last few days on the Olympic Pennisula, we explored the ocean edge. A totally different experience than the forest, but no less wonderful. Olympic National Park is definitely the most diverse park I’ve visited. Forests, mountains, rainforest, ocean and beach. 

Our first day we went to La Push, the reservation of the Quileute tribe. After navigating confusion about checking in and parking, we walked downtown to the Quileute Days festivities. A medley of events – parade, motorized canoe races, softball games – we missed most of the events but were able to walk along Main Street to see the vendors. There were Rez tacos, burgers, and fruit salad for sale. Full body sleeping suits, ribbon skirts, handmade jewelry, and native patterned clothing. The street was bustling, a mix of tourists like ourselves and indigenous people. The ocean is important to many Coastal Salish tribes, so it was fitting that the celebration was right on the water. 

Eventually we wandered away and meandered down First Beach. The shore was littered with driftwood, like a shipwreck of trees washed ashore. A massive playground of sun bleached wood, trunks to climb over and under and hide within. The power of the ocean to sweep these giants away and drop them on the pebbled beach is quite amazing. 

Later that afternoon, after checking into our campground, we took ourselves to Second Beach. As we walked through the forest to reach the water, I overheard a mother and two children talking with excitement about something yellow. A Banana Slug, I wondered? I stopped to ask them and sure enough they had spied a spotted one in a bush up ahead! With excitement we took off, searching about 20 feet ahead as the woman said. My mom and I looked and looked and turned disappointed the further we went. Maybe it just wasn’t our day. But I wasn’t ready to give up and much, much further along I spied not one, but two happily munching on some leaves! They looked like very happy, ripe bananas. On our way out later, we were able to show my dad too. 

When we reached the forest edge, we had a long, steep climb down to the ocean. One step at a time, we made it, the salty air beckoning us forward.  A moody day, the gray skies gave attitude to the ocean that slowly lapped at the beach as the tide moved back in. It was still out far enough though that we could see the enormous sea stacks climbing out of the ocean and explore the tide pools. 

Searching in the tide pools was probably my favorite. I found maroon and orange starfish, mint green sea anemones aplenty, multitudes of barnacles and muscles. The life abounding in these little pools was bountiful. We wading in the wading and hopped around the rocks. Definitely an inner child healing kind of a day. 

Our second beach day we headed to Rialto Beach, farther north. We started at the Ranger Station and walked the Slough Trail through the forest. It wasn’t too exciting, expect for spotting some moving brush as something large ambled through the forest. We never saw the creature, but something was there! Elk perhaps?

We then headed to the beach and snagged a spot in the parking lot. Our plan was to hike at low tide, and it was well before that, so we hung out in the warmth of the van. I took the opportunity to lay down, curl up in a blanket, and take a cat nap. Delightful. 

When it was time to go, we grabbed our packs filled with lunch and layers, and started a slow walk towards Hole-in-the-Wall. Part of the reason it was a slow walk is because there were so many rocks to admire! A rainbow of green, purple, red. I hardly made it a few steps before spotting another treasure. I had a heavy bag before we had even gone a mile. Totally worth it. We stopped midway for lunch, protected in a grove of driftwood. I took time to sort my rock stash, leaving behind some for the next collector to enjoy. 

We arrived at the spot as the tide was rescinding, giving us a chance to explore. I changed into my sandals so I could go whenever I wanted, stashed my bag among the driftwood, and headed across the rocking poking out of the ocean towards the hole in the wall of the sea stack. As we were approaching, I spotted a huge starfish and bent down to capture a picture. I got a little too excited and plop! Into the water went my phone! I reacted quickly and luckily it seems no harm was done. Phew! This phone has been through a lot on this trip. I did get a picture of that starfish, in case you were wondering. 

Disaster averted, we took out pictures in the hike and continued on to the other side. We popped around from rock to rock, seaweed popping under our feet. We spotted  so many amazing things. Pink coral, so many sea anemones, hermit crabs of all sizes – some only a centimeter big! – fish, crayfish. So much life. 

While we were wandering around, we heard a fellow hiker shouting to someone on top of the sea stack. It turns out a young man scrambled up there and couldn’t get down. The man in the ground was graciously organizing a rescue mission. I’m not sure how long the guy was up there, but we were exploring for over an hour before we left. 

As we walked away, back to the car, a helicopter flew in and circled around. It moved to the sea stack and hovered there as it lowered someone down to scoop up the stuck adventurer. Just watching the whole event raised my anxiety. I can’t imagine being a part of it. I’m not sure what the consequences of that event were, but fortunately everyone was safe in the end. That was definitely a first for me to witness. 

The rest of our trek back my mom and I hunted for more rocks as my dad hustled back for warmth in the van. Our feet were very sandy and we tried to wash them off in the creek leading to the beach, but that turned out to be harder than imagined. We kept sinking in! And about ten minutes later, despite trying to stay on the rocks, our feet were sand covered again. Oh well. We certainly had several good laughs. 

We met up with the hikers who called for help, thanked and commended them for their efforts, and eventually arrived back at the van. That night we ate a warm dinner in the Land Yacht and sorted our rocks with my new identifier guide. Another full heart day.