Camping and Rialto Beach
 

TWIL and I went camping last weekend. Nothing very strenuous or exotic, just a trip into the Olympic National Park to Mora Campground (though we stayed elsewhere) and a nice hike on Rialto Beach to Hole In The Wall.

We started in the early afternoon, and the weather was lovely.
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Over the newly rebuilt Hood Canal Bridge.
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On the Olympic Peninsula proper, headed toward Port Townsend.
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It was a really pretty day for a drive, and we saw some really pretty cool cars along the way.

A cherry Chevy Chevelle.
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A gorgeous Plymouth Road Runner. This one sounded like it had escaped from the race track. The driver was justifiably proud of his ride, he posed as I shot the pictures.
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We even saw Mitt Romney's car!
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Just a few shots of the trip on the way to camp.

This is the first peek of Crescent Lake.
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A pretty shady section of the road along the south shore of the lake.
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Approaching the Sol Duc river. We crossed this river a number of times over the course of the weekend.
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At last, on Mora Road, on the way to camp. You can see the sun settling in the west. It promises to be pretty at the beach as the sun sets.
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Mora campground was full, completely full. The ranger saved us the trouble of trolling through the loops of the campground looking for an open site. His greater service to us was to recommend Cycle Camp. It was just up the road (we'd passed it on the way to Mora). Well, we went back up the road and found it. It will be our first choice next time we go to Mora. I give it five stars

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We had almost the whole area to ourselves, and this BIG site was all ours. We didn't stay in the teepee though. A picnic table, some benches around the fire ring, a great table improvised from a giant cable spool, all the free firewood we could burn, flush toilets, washer and dryer, hot shower, microwave, stove, oven. For just $15. What's not to love?
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Except for this bear!!!! (heheh... just kidding)
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TWIL settling in. I joined her just after this shot.
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Some scenic pictures from the beach during the sunset, brought to you with minimal chatter.

James Island and Little James Island at the mouth of the Quileute River just west and north of La Push.
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The back side of dawn in Japan.
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A stitched together "panorama" from James Island to Hole In The Wall. It was prettier in person. Getting stitchable pictures with moving waves is impossible.
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The westernmost edge of the forest was all dead trees, some still standing, some driftwood logs.
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Awww V, you gave away the secret place.

Don't come complaining to me when all the Oregonians and Californians and ... and... come to visit.

This log ("log" seems so inadequate) with me and my 6 1/2 foot wingspan for scale.
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A wide shot to show more of the log for scale. Whoa.
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In this map, you can see approximately where we took these pictures. From the parking lot to Hole In The Wall is 1.5 miles. It's a pretty easy hike, though some of the beach is not hard packed at all making some of it a real slog. In *this* map, you can see more of the park including Mora and Rialto Beach.
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Hole In The Wall is at the point where you see the trees taper off into the water.
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A note. We took off in the afternoon, got to the beach before sunset, took our pictures, then went back to camp. We woke, broke camp, packed up and drove ten minutes to the beach for our hike. You can see the difference in the sky starting in this last picture. It was pretty and sunny when we began, though it would not stay that way.

This is the first big mammal I've ever seen on the beach, excepting humans and dogs. His eyes were gone and he was extremely stinky. He was deposited right on top of the berm of cobbles marking the high tide line. I don't know the significance of the X painted on him, maybe "Noted". It was very big, longer than I am tall plus my arms extended and quite a bit bigger around. I'd guess 500 pounds.
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Here's one of his mates/competitors, though this appears to be a seal and not a sea lion. There were about six or seven of these guys diving and surfacing in this spot. Must have been good hunting.
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Johnathan Livingston taking a little walk.
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We're about halfway there. We'll pass Split Rock, you can see it at the water's edge just ahead.
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Some of the rocks at the base of these sea stacks have been eroded by countless waves, leaving stones in shapes as fluid as the waves that made them.
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A seastack with a little green bow on it from Mother Nature.
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Split Rock. Excellent tidepooling opportunities here.
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We approach the Hole In The Wall.
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Getting around to the actual natural bridge/hole required a bit of mountain goat work. Some took the high road, some took the low road. We went low, partly because some oncoming traffic was already on the high road. But I preferred the low road because it seemed like there was less distance to fall. I did dunk my foot once, having mistaken the rock surface's coefficient of friction. I tried to step on a slanting part of the rock, which might have been ok, but for the algae on the rock. Zwooooploooosh. Ok, lesson learned.
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It's a big hole, it could easily accommodate a double decker bus.
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The tidepools north of the arch.
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On the way home now!
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I don't know what was so tasty but "bird is the word" and it got out, for sure.
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Another giant log.
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Really, really giant. I boggle at the strength of the forces of nature that casually tossed this twig, and hundreds of others like it, meh, up on the beach, anywhere, really. Just... wow.
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He kind of reminds me of the fella from Spy vs Spy.
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Kind of reminds me of pancakes.
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This shot, taken at about 3:40 pm, looks familiar because I took almost the same one earlier. Notice the darker sky and the darker sand. Darker because everything is wet. It was raining due north. I mean, we were being pelted so hard that it felt like we were walking in a hailstorm. It wasn't cold, maybe 60 degrees, maybe warmer. I was warm enough in my t shirt, as long as I kept moving (yes, I had my rain gear in my backpack). It was seriously windy and rainy.
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Same shot, four hours earlier at about 11:40. Notice the blue sky in the upper left hand corner of the frame. For those of you who will visit, please bring your rain gear.
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The beach at La Push, at the end of August. With the emphasis on "gust".Attachment 40350

Another shot of James Island taken from La Push across the Quileute River.
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Thanks for the great pictures Big V. Really awesome!

To get to Mora or La Push, you have to travel through Forks. You've heard of Forks, Washington, right?
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It's where the stories from the Twilight franchise were set. And some people in Forks take FULL advantage of these rabid fans.
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This was scary, especially so close to Vampire Territory.
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Even the restaurant at the Three Rivers Resort gets into the game.
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Not shown were pictures of girls, they were always girls, standing in front of road signs, street signs, restaurant signs, snapping pictures "I was *there*!" I bet the Twilight Tours minibus makes numerous stops at such photo ops.

Lamplighter, ME, thanks for the nice comments. :) It was beautiful, not my first trip there, and not my last. As for giving away the secret, I was not the first. I saw plates from as far away as Alberta and BC (though BC is closer than Oregon), California, etc. We're famous and we know it. But don't tell them about Cycle Camp, ok?

Looks fabulous, BigV!

This is a No, NO, NO...


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People DO get killed doing this... Stay OFF of the beach logs.

And get off of my lawn!

Thanks for the tour, V. Looks great.


lamplighter, what is the danger of beach logs? That behemoth is too big for V to tip it over with his weight.

More than people standing on one foot ona makeshift ladder reaching out with chainsaws near powerlines?



it's OK, he has someone holding his bear beer.....

If you avoid doing anything where people have been killed, then how the heck are you supposed to get killed?

But with a "rogue" or "sneaker" wave or even incoming tide waves,
small logs and behemoths start shifting and rolling, and we don't want anyone falling under them.

Oregon drifts logs kill one or two beachcombers a year, even with signs warning to stay off/away from beached logs.

One or two a year? Slipping on banana skins probably kills about that many too....

Everybody hide under their beds for the rest of their lives!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/20-...n-sharks-every

Wait.... how many people are killed by their bed falling on them?

damn Beautiful V !!!!!!!

Thanks, Lamp, but I think this particular one is acceptably low risk. If the log was half in the water already, I can see a big wave shifting it and then it would indeed be dangerous. V's Log is so big and so far up the beach (yes, I said beach) that any wave big enough to shift it would be dangerous all by itself anyway. Clambering about on those rocks near Hole-in-the-Wall was at least as perilous.

Or he's working on a new extreme sport. WICKED!!!

ETA ... on second thought, we can't see the back side of that log in the pic. If it is perched near the edge of a berm, and that berm were to be undermined by a big wave, the log could roll. yeah, that would be dodgy.

Big V, with that dead seal/sea lion thingy, try clicking on the red X to see if it closes. :)

OK people... if you're going to trust the odds, just be sure you wear your seat belt. ;)

Did u rly just post about the size of bigv's log?

Nice tour, thanks.
I was always amazed by the size of the driftwood all along the WA/OR coast.

Really nice pictures! And thanks for the commentary explaining them.

How many people in your group? Just the two of you? It seemed like there were lots of people in many of your shots. Were you just walking behind another family?

Thanks everyone, it was a great trip and very beautiful, as is all of this area.

There were just the two of us in our "group", but the beach was very popular, people walking on it ahead of us and behind. The people in the shots you see, except me, are all strangers. I saw lots of families with little kids, carrying them sometimes, babies and little walkers. That would have shortened my trip for sure. The soft sand and loose cobbles were tough walking in spots.

Regarding beach logs--it's true they can be dangerous, even these. There are similar signs at the trailhead about the danger of logs in the surf. None of these logs were close to the surf, not by a long shot. I respect the power of water, it was moving water that put these logs where they are after all. But these logs were over here and the water was over there. Here are a couple shots with some explanation.

Tight crop. The arrow indicates where I was standing. It's a ways down the beach from me in this shot. The figures just to the left of the arrow are about where the log is. They're also useful for indicating scale. As you keep looking further to the left, you can see the extent of the waves as the beach slopes downward to the water. There's even a young person playing in the water, also useful for scale. Please note, this is taken at high tide. The bottom of the log at the end nearest the water is about 6 to 10 feet above the surface of the water. It would have to be a tsunami to wet this log at this time, much less move it.
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Wide shot from which the tight crop was taken. It give another perspective of how far this log is from the water. It also give a good view of the steepness of the beach in this area. I should note this is when I was on the log, not the next morning when the tide was out (next shot).
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Kind of the same shot, next day, different hour, low(er) tide. The water is low and the logs are far from the water.
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I appreciate your concern Lamplighter, thank you. There was no danger in this shot from water moving this log. Falling off, sure. But doesn't really qualify as a "beach log" under these conditions.

Zen, I wouldn't have touched that red X with YOUR pointer it was so gross. Just ew. Ew and LOL. :lol2:

This thread has been downright inspiring V... well done

Thank you, sir!

OT, Do Aussies say Wicked ironically or is it in common use?

Wicked is used in some rural areas of the north, but I haven't heard it used much since I was a tad. (sometime in the 60s and 70s)

I think "wicked" is rarely used in it's proper meaning, but does get some use as "awesome" amongst extreme sport show-off types, and thus a little bit of ironic use as I practiced here.

Great tour V!

"Wicked" was in very common use in Maine in the 80s. All ages used it. It meant "very."
"I have a wicked bad headache." "The draft in that wood stove is wicked strong."

But something that was simply "wicked" was awesome.

I heard wicked used a lot. Usually by people who were looking right at me.

Right before "BURN HIM!", eh?

We used it that way in NEPA as well. The highest form was "wicked tit." We were teenage boys after all.

No, right before, "Run, run for your lives!"

A weird saying in Maine in the '80's was "Shoppie" at least that's what it sounded like to my ears. A hood (a freak, a pot-head, a "bad guy") was called a Shoppie.

My BIL thinks it was just the Maine accent and the word was 'sharpie' like, "Oh, he's a sharpie" which is a throwback insult from, like, the fifties? I dunno. My cousin used to say it whenever some dude in a hoodie and jean jacket combo came around. "He's a shoppie, stay away from him,"

Shoppie meant he took shop in high school instead of college path courses.

In Lewiston we used "wrench" for that. The guy in a leather jacket was a wrench there.

Gorgeous pictures, BigV! :thumb2:

Oh! thanks! that clears that up!