Backpacking Olympic National Park: The North Coast/Rialto Beach to Point of the Arches

Spring Break seems like a dream three weeks after I was self-emerged in loneliness along the Olympic National Parks wild coast. I focused this 7day/6 night backpacking trip on the North coast section of the Park, which runs from Rialto Beach to Point of the Arches and Shi Shi Beach. I only saw about 5 day hikers the entire trip and enjoyed every camp along the way to myself. I wanted solitude and got it.

Some of the best sunsets of my life were witnessed on this trip as well as a ton of wildlife encounters. On really low tides as well as really high tides this coast line, pock marked with tide pools and studded with sea stacks, is a magnet for all sorts of life. I also enjoyed some hot crackling fires under cold and clear star lit nights, lost in my thoughts but found in spiritual arrival. I really enjoyed staying up late till the flames burnt down, leaving red hot coals and a shadowless forest. I never once felt alone or lost while sleeping amongst the trunks of great spruce trees.

The lasting memory I will have is the presence of the Pacific and how it never goes away. The Ocean's energy never stops. It is the main character on this type of adventure and left me feeling vulnerable, alone on what seems like the edge of the world. You grow use to its pounding booms, hissing gravels, gentle laps, gushing rivulets, and constant roar. It is a great place for perspectives and reminders of the limits of man.