Trip Report: Day at the beach

The Pacific



With campsites at a premium during the holiday weekend, we decided to stay at the site for two nights, instead of just moving on the next day. This afforded us that much much needed "chill out day" and we got a late start after pancakes and headed back over to the beach. The beaches are numbered from South to North 1-4 with South Beach and Ruby beach on either end of the numbered ones. The farther south, the less sand beach there is and the more the "beach" is just large logs and rocks at the bottom of a cliff. We started at Beach 1 and went up the beaches, checking out the sites and hiking down from the cliff onto the beaches proper to look around. Each beach was different all the way to Ruby Beach where the glacial rocks gave way to real sand (which according to the guide book is sometimes pink because of crushed garnets, though Brett is skeptical). Beach 4 has a lot of rock formations at the water's edge. We were there earlier in the day and after going to Ruby Beach, we back tracked and went back to Beach 4 closer to low tide to get a better look at the tide pools. They were, in a word, amazing. The waves crashing against the rocks would retreat to show 50 starfish at a time - the sea anemones would push out their lime green tentacles when the water came over them and then ball themselves back into their pink innards as it flowed out of their rock bed. The little black mussels were on the rocks by the millions - opening and closing with the water. I love aquariums and it was like 5 major exhibits in one place - a place we could freely walk through. It was unbelievable. To celebrate the wonder of the day we went back to camp for a roaring fire and coal burgers with Tillamook cheese and bacon. For those not in the know, coal burgers are another Taylor camping tradition. Very slow cooked burgers with cheese melted inside the patty - I'm a huge fan. :)

That night I woke up to the sound of nothing. Really and truly nothing. It was disorienting but comforting at the same time. When I focused I realized that the "white noise" was actually the river right outside. I thought "I should lay here and listen to the river in the middle of the nothingness because I'll never hear it again like this" and then the river lulled me immediately back to sleep. Go figure. :D

Link to pics here.