Rialto Beach

This morning we drove out to Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park, to hike to the Hole in the Wall and a bit beyond, We hiked a bit more than 3 miles.
There are several signs warning of dangers of hiking along the ocean beach. It's very important to know the tide schedule. We knew we were hiking at high tide and would not be able to hike through Hole in the Wall, but could hike over the headwall there to the other side safely.




Pano looking west near the south end of Rialto Beach

watching the waves roll in

It was a bit foggy as we started out

a raccoon or otter left tracks on the beach

There were only a handful of hikers on the beach until we were almost back to the start of the trail.
Some nice large rock formations and sea stacks near the shore

Hole in the Wall and headwall, we would go up on the trail to the right of the tree on the saddle of the headwall

sea stack

There is a well marked trail going up the headwall

view from the headwall looking south














view from the headwall looking down on the north side of Hole in the Wall











saw some paintbrush in bloom up on the headwall

we saw many bald eagles soaring overhead this morning

Hole in the Wall from the north side

even at high tide we saw some anemone in the tide pools

We hiked a bit further up the beach north of Hole in the Wall, the views out to the ocean with the rocks and sea stacks was beautiful

On the north Olympic Coast, the forest comes down to the beach












hiking back south toward Hole in the Wall

I love the view from the north side of Hole in the Wall

our high tide was 5.7 ft, so not extremely high, we were able to stand near the opening on the north side (there is a lot more water on the south side of the Hole in the Wall)
view from Hole in the Wall

The Hole in the Wall is large enough for a couple of people to walk through when the tide is low enough

The waves seemed more intense as the tide was receding on our hike back

juvenile bald eagle in a tree

view of the beach through some driftwood

There were probably 50 people on the beach as we returned to the parking area












some of the wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail today: