Our hearts were broken and everywhere we looked were vestiges of Ruby, our four legged companion for the last nine years. Two days had passed since we put her to sleep and we needed to get away, take our minds off of Ruby and the reminders of her throughout the house, so we tossed essentials into the van and headed out to . . . Ruby Beach. Ruby Beach is in the coastal section of Olympic National Park on Washington’s west coast, about 25 miles south of Forks. Yes, that Forks. Twilight. Vampires.
We chose to spend the night at Cottonwood Campground, halfway between Forks and Ruby Beach on the Hoh River. It was late afternoon when we got to the campground. We chose a remote site and promptly got stuck in the mud as we drove into the site. Attempt after attempt to free the van failed. After an hour of trying in a light rain and with darkness setting in, Lori called AAA in the hopes they would come out to the wilds and pull us out of the mud. Two pleasant surprises, we had cell service and AAA coming to the campground was not a problem. In fact, the tow truck company knew the campground well. Freed from our mud captors, we moved to a mud free site and settled in for the night. The rain was quite loud but didn’t drown out a scraping sound on the van. It occurred several times at different locations on the van. There were no tree branches near the van, couldn’t have been that. A bear? A vampire? Sasquatch? We’ll never know.
We got moving early the next morning, on to Ruby Beach. A short path led us from the parking area to the beach. There are a number of sea stacks at Ruby Beach and, like most beaches on Washington’s northern coast, a lot of driftwood. Ruby Beach gets it’s name from the ruby-like crystals in the sand. Unfortunately, we never saw the crystals because it was high tide and the beach was mostly under water.
A little farther south is Kalaloch, home of the Kalaloch Lodge and another beautiful beach. Lori had stopped there several years ago with her cousin Laurie Ann and loved it. Unfortunately, the aforementioned high tide and the washed out stairs kept us from going onto the sand.
It was now time to head home, but first a stop at the Big Cedar Tree, said to be almost 1,000 years old. A short drive down a pothole filled gravel road came to a small parking area. It was a short walk from there to the tree. The tree had been over 175 feet tall but a storm in 2014 split it in half. We were impressed
A quick stop in Forks for breakfast sandwiches and coffee then the drive home, another adventure in the books.
For more information visit the following sites:
Olympic National Park: https://www.nps.gov/olym/index.htm
Forks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forks,_Washington
Ruby Beach and Klaloch: https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-kalaloch-and-ruby-beach.htm
To see more of my photos visit https://jmacdphoto.com/.
#Photography #LandscapePhotography #Landscape #Seascape #SeaStacks #Driftwood