Camping trip with Carter, Rhone, and Ashtin. We set out for Rialto Beach where we have camped a couple of times as a family, usually in Mora Mora Campground. The weekend was completely booked, and as it was a last-minute trip, we had few lodging options. Fortunately, we came across Cycle Camp, a campground hosted by a couple of bikers in their 70’s who in the 1970′ were part of a biker gang, and now host a campground on their land a couple of miles away from the beach. It was a really fun place with people from all over the country. They also had a bathroom, running water, showers, and a nighttime laser light show, which was actually cool – even for sober people.
We spent the first day – late afternoon after setting up camp on the beach running on the driftwood that spans the beach south towards a couple of sea stacks and tidal pools. There are cool forts made of driftwood and other artful structures, cairns, and other just cool wild beach things. Rhone and I made a game of trying to walk the length of the beach using only the driftwood and made it to the end.
This beach is formed of a mix of sand and rock. One of the coolest things I have experienced is the sound the rocks make when rolling back towards the water after a wave has crashed the beach. I have only experienced this natural phenomenon at Rialto Beach, but the sound of the rocks rolling makes for a thunderous crash, thousands of small rocks rolling in phase with the waves – something to definitely look and listen for, as its truly a zen-like relaxing experience with nature, using your ears focusing on sound which is a sense less frequently used when experiencing nature. Rhone and I collected a few interesting rocks as souvenirs, however, thought it better to take pictures of the rocks we found interesting, and leave them to rest and remain on the beach.
The next morning we hit the beach early and explored the tidal pools. The colors of the sea stars and sea anemones are amazing and I love the wild coastal tidal pools of Washington’s beaches.
After spending an hour or so exploring the pools and scaling the base of the sea stacks, we made our way North to the Hole in the Wall about two miles up the beach. The beach crosses several streams and we eventually make our way to a few large sea stacks which are striking in their physical, vertical appearance. We cross a large, tidal area, and cross through the hole in the wall. This is such a cool natural formation and is the subject of many postcards.
At camp, we enjoyed good old school camping – fire, roasted marshmallows, chips, pop tarts, burgers, eggs, and sausage. I ventured into town in Forks to check out the local hardware store which has just about everything one could want, and there was a guy selling BBQ ribs in the parking lot – I purchased a couple, wrapped in foil to bring back to the boys for a surprise BBQ rib dinner. They were so delicious and it help to cap a perfect weekend of camping and beach exploring.
