Olympic Coast: Shi Shi to Rialto, 4 days, March 2013

This is a classic northwest trip, and deserves a longer write-up. My wife and I took 4 days over my spring break to explore this long stretch of wilderness coastline. We started by riding the bus out of Forks to Neah Bay, and then hitching a ride with a friendly woman from the reservation (thanks!) to the trailhead. By our first night, we had made it all the way to the Ozette River, in place for a cold ford at low tide early the next morning. On our second night, we were sprayed by a spotted skunk in the middle of the night as we slept on an isolated patch of beach south of Yellow Banks. Our gear and clothing are still recovering from that one! Unfortunately, with the tide high, we were not able to move out of the skunk’s territory until early the next morning. The stretch from Norwegian Memorial to Chilean Memorial was some of the best and wildest coastal walking I’ve ever done, and we spent plenty of time basking in the warm spring sun on beaches and headlands while waiting for tides to go out. We had many excellent bird sightings, including a flock of red crossbills eating clay at the edge of the beach, and oyster catchers close at hand on the nearby rocks. I love this time of year because fox sparrows are still around, and they are beginning to sing their melodious songs as they head north. We saw a whimbrel and other shorebirds on the Sandy Beaches of Sand Point. There is so much more to say about this trip, and many photos that need to be posted. I highly recommend the Olympic Coast at any time of year, but especially in the off-season.