Washington State - Olympic Peninsula
Distance: 4.0 miles roundtrip
Elevation gain: 0 feet (all sea level!)
Washington Trails Association (WTA) guide: Rialto Beach and Hole-in-the-Wall
Originally we had planned to backpack at Shi Shi Beach, but with concerns about the weather and potential for lots of deep mud on that trial we switched to hiking over to Hole-in-the-Wall instead.
At low tide, Hole-in-the-Wall lives up to its name.
Our hike in was filled with gentle rain to the face backed up by a small breeze. We reached Hole-in-the-Wall just as the tide was coming in and was beginning to make the walk impassable. Thankfully, we found a campsite just off the beach past Hole-in-the-Wall. The tide was in far enough that rounding the next bend with backpacking gear on would not have been fun.
We set up our tents and gathered wood for a fire. Our old friend Tyler would have been proud of the way we gathered up the sodden branches and meticulously dried them out over a small twig fire until they were dry enough to start a real blaze. I was very glad I had brought a small firestarter (made from dryer lint, wax, and egg carton) with me. Even then the fire went out once and it took a team effort to bring it back to life.
Andrew diligently crafting me a marshmallow-roasting stick for my homemade marshmallows.
Thankfully the rain died down for the evening, and we were able to see the sunset.
It rained a few times during the night, but the skies were beginning to clear when we woke up to make breakfast and pack up our gear. The hike out was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was fantastic and we hit low tide just right to see many creatures in the tidepools.
