Rialto Beach

Rialto Beach is in a "satellite" section of Olympic National Park on the west coast, directly on the Pacific Ocean.  It has a misty, rugged beauty like we expected to see in Haida Gwaii but didn't (probably because we couldn't afford to get to Haida Gwaii's west coast).

Excellent driftwood on this beach - not just cut cylindrical logs set adrift  (I'm looking at you, Haida Gwaii)

Mere minutes inland it was sunny and about 10 C warmer, but the Pacific kept things misty and cool

We walked a few kilometres up the beach to "Hole In The Wall", where the first stretch of beach ends.

Hole In The Wall - the cliff blocks your progress, except for perhaps a route through the Hole at low tide

Hole In The Wall

 You can hike from Rialto Beach many, many kilometres north and end up at another section of park, but that would take many wet days, timing the tides, and dropping a second vehicle at the remote far end.  Perhaps some other time.

Sarah passed within a couple of feet of this unfortunate former sea lion (seal? It was about 8 feet long) without noticing it.  Probably for the best.

We stayed a couple of kilometres up the road at the Mora campsite.  It was fairly empty, and would normally be closed at this time of year, but was being kept open because of the good weather.

I went on a major firewood scrounge around the campsite, and came back with enough wood for a truly glorious, blazing, multi-hour fire that night.  Purchasing firewood?  Maybe as a last resort...

After the chilly beach (and damp, chilly campsite), a hearty pasta dinner was in order

Blazing scrounge fire.  Ahh.