Rialto Beach (7/10)

I was pretty tired this morning so Joe went hiking at Bogachiel close to Forks WA.  When he gets back we will go to Rialto Beach by La Push WA.  I managed to get the house cleaned and aired out.  With all the rain the past month the trailer started to smell a little musty.  Now it smells like it should.  Everything is finally dried out.  I hope we don't have more rain soon.

Joe got back about 1 pm and we went into Forks for lunch then on to Rialto Beach.  At first sight this is a beautiful beach.  Then you have to walk on it.  It is worn down rock to tiny gravel and very hard to walk in and it constantly fills your shoes.

We walked up the beach for quite a ways to whole in the rock.  It is so strange to be at the ocean and see the forest, thick forest, right next to it.  It is also pretty cold here, with a good breeze blowing in off the big waves rolling in.




We stopped at the rock formations just before hole in the rock and looked through the tide pools.  We were only able to find anemones.  

I was really getting tired from struggling through the rock/sand and thought I would just wait here for Joe.  He went on his own, but it didn't take long for me to join him.  By the time I got over there he was already through the hole in the rock and very surprised when he looked up and saw me.  I am happy I can still surprise him!  The other side of the whole in the rock is another world filled with all kinds of tidal pools and rock formed by the waves.  We discovered several star fish an a big anemone eating a crab.  Plus many other small creatures such as little, little, crabs and snails.

This is rock waves

The walk back to the truck was a little easier, the tide was out and gravel felt a little firmer and didn't fill my shoes as much.  I had a bad backache by the time we were done, but any discomfort was with this amazing place.

We arrived home about 6:30-7:00 and were happy, relaxed and tired.  Another good day!

Friday morning we were up and getting ready to head to Port Angeles.  The park we were in was having some sewer problems so we had to wait to drain our tanks.  Finally we were on our way at 11.  It is only 67 miles to Port Angeles along a winding narrow two lane road still called the 101.  We drove by a breathtaking lake called Lake Crescent.  I was beginning to think it would go on for ever when we finally got pasted it.  This is a huge lake.  Elwha Dam RV Park was not much further.  There used to be a big dam here but they were ordered to remove it because it was destroying the salmon industry in the area because the salmon couldn't swim up stream. The dam was built in 1910 and was ready for use in 1913. As years passed sentiment changed towards Dams in Nation Parks. In 1992 Congress passed the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Act.  In 2011 they started dismantling the dam.  By 2014 it is pretty much just a memory.   This is what it looks like today, again a wild river that flows into the Strait of Juan De Fuca.