Day 3.
Broke camp around 8:30am, and after making sure that the remnants of our “fire” were out, and no longer visible, (they want you to remove the traces of your campfire), we headed out under gray skies and fog. There was no complaining, though, because we knew just how fortunate we had been this weekend, the weather forecast had prepared us for the worst, and we had packed expecting rain showers the entire length of our stay.
Russ’s knee was still bothering him, but it did not hold him back, and, with the help of vitamin I, he kept the pace all the way along the coast to the car…He’s resigned himself to the fact that he will have to get it checked out when he gets home, hope that the news isn’t bad.
…In fact, at times, the foot traffic was enormous, and the foot treads of the many people wandering the beach, left a foot trail that reminded me of a cattle drive…
This time, we were able to go through the “hole in the rock”, and as we got closer to the parking lot, we encountered more and more people, venturing out along the beach. In fact, at times, the foot traffic was enormous, and the foot treads of the many people wandering the beach, left a foot trail that reminded me of a cattle drive…Of course, after the tide comes back in, it will be like a giant Etch-a-Sketch, wiping clean the last vestiges of the footfalls that had been here just hours before.
Once at the Rialto Beach trailhead, Russ and Ed stayed with the packs, and Greg and I went to retrieve the car. You see, as David was fearful of getting our car broken into, we had gotten a campsite at Mora campground; 1.9 miles back up the road. We had only gotten about half a mile up the road, and a couple of great people stopped, and asked us if we wanted a ride back to the campground! Before they could say no to a couple of sweaty, smelly backpackers, we graciously accepted, and got a ride back to the car.…we had dreamed up a fantastic reply, about how we didn’t want them to have to wait long, so we had ran all the way back to our car, in bare feet, so that we could run faster, and, didn’t they feel bad that we had developed heat blisters, and open, bleeding, festering sores, from running on scarred pavement, and…
They were locals, from Forks, and were also camping there at Mora campground, and they told us that they could not remember a time when the parking lot at Rialto Beach was so full of cars. Thanking them, we collected our car, and went back to the guys waiting for us.
We wanted to see if they were surprised at how quickly we had gone the almost two miles back to camp, and we had dreamed up a fantastic reply, about how we didn’t want them to have to wait long, so we had ran all the way back to our car, in bare feet, so that we could run faster, and, didn’t they feel bad that we had developed heat blisters, and open, bleeding, festering sores, from running on scarred pavement, and…Well, we never got the chance to embellish, as they never asked!!!
We enjoyed our time on the North Olympic Coast, and really feel we got lucky with the weather. This was the first hike that we’d been on, that for the most part, was horizontal. Not much in the way of elevation gain, so a great hike for our first sojourn out. The scenery here definitely makes it worthwhile, and everyone that enjoys the coast should make this a trip to take. Hopefully, the weather will co-operate with you, as it did for us.