Friday, August 13, 2021

Ruby Beach


We saw that the air quality was "good" along the Pacific Coast from Aberdeen to La Push with cooler temperatures on the beach, it would also be nearing low tide when we arrived, wonderful!  so we drove out to Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park hoping to hike from Ruby Beach up to the mouth of the Hoh River. We saw a no trespassing sign at the border of Olympic NP and the Hoh Reservation about 1.7 miles up the beach, so we turned around, hiked back to Ruby Beach and then 1.5 miles south of Ruby Beach and backfor a total of 6.5 miles round trip.
The first 0.25 miles from the parking lot is 60 feet down through the coastal forest to Ruby Beach. One of the first sea stacks we saw was this one with the holes in the rock.
view from one of the holes in the rock
As we headed north, we walked along Cedar Creek, the water was so still making for gorgeous reflections.


We continued on to more sea stacks and Abbey Island as the tide continued going out. There were only a few people here on the beach at 9 in the morning.


Looking back towards the south as the fog begins to roll in.

Sun beams filtered through the trees on the cliff above us to the beach.
We stopped and explored the tide pools at the base of Abbey Island and some of the other sea stacks. Rocks covered in anemones.


There were many sea stars















The blue sky, fresh ocean air and gorgeous scenery lifted our spirits today.
We found more tidal pools around this large sea stack
Were happy to see so many sea starts today.




a large jellyfish washed up on the beach
As we hiked north up the coast, I turned back for this beautiful view of Abbey Island reflecting in the water over the sand.
Sign at the boundary of Olympic National Park and the Hoh Reservation. We took a break, enjoyed being alone on this stretch of the beach before heading back towards Ruby Beach.
We were enveloped in fog for a while.
View of the forested cliff above us as the fog began to lift.
We did not see any other people until we neared the sea stacks at Ruby Beach.
Sea stack reflecting in the water.
Trees reflecting in the water on the beach at Ruby Beach.
On our way south, we headed to these large rocks/tide pools on the south side of ruby Beach.



sea gulls on the rocks
Although the tide was coming in, we found sea stars, anemones and large barnacles and muscles along the edges of these rocks.






Walking past the sea stacks as we continued south




We continued south, our turn around point was the other side of this small headwall north of Beach 6
small cave at the base 
view of the headwall from the south
We easily returned and passed this cliff base just south of Ruby Beach well before mid tide.
view from a small cave in this cliff
We would see blue sky at the beach between the fog 

There were a few wildflowers in bloom at the base of some of the cliffs.
  

Beautiful razor clam shell under the water on the beach, reminds me of the sunbeams we saw earlier this morning.





 

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