Our first stop was 2nd Beach - there are six beaches with numbers, named by some unimaginative National Park employee. Here we got to climb barnacle encrusted rocks to find tidepools with loads of sea urchins, anemones and starfish.
Next up was Ruby Beach that was supposed to be a pick sand beach, but I couldn't find anything pink. The beach was spectacular even without pink sand with sea stacks offshore and piles of gray logs along the cliffs.
We continued north up the western coast of the Olympic Peninsula to the Hoh Rain Forest where we walked a one mile trail through the forest of giant Sitka Spruce, cedar and hemlocks where huge fallen logs provide nourishment for sprouting trees.
Incredibly, one tree trunk started 20 feet in the air with the tree roots descending from there because it originally grew on a 20' diameter fallen tree that eventually disintegrated.
We followed route 101 around the peninsula to the northern coast and got a campsite in Port Angeles. The diesel prices are the same now that we are back into civilization, and surprisingly diesel is cheaper than regular gas and much less expensive than premium gas.
A great day from the beach to the rain forest.
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