A couple weeks back I went on my annual summer camping trip with my friend Danielle. Last year we went to Mt. Rainier. This year we headed to the coast to the La Push area, which was beautiful. We laughed because she would put on a swimsuit and go swim in the ocean and I would sit on the beach in my long pants and long sleeve shirt, jacket, and big hat because I’ve acclimated to living in 90 degree temperatures. not the low 70’s and high 60’s that we experienced. I told her, “These are night time temperatures where I live!” It was so refreshing and a wonderful break from the heat over here in Eastern Washington.
First Beach was closest to our campsite so we visited it often, including watching the sun set behind these rocks one evening in an absolutely incredible gradient of color.
This is First Beach facing the other way. We frequently saw surfers, especially later in the day. They wore wet suits, sometimes even with hoods over the head to help them stand the cold of the ocean.
All of the beaches had these incredible ancient trees washed up on their high tide lines. Some still had the webbing of their root balls still intact, creating fascinating shapes. People and perhaps waves put stones in their crevices and “shelves”.
The Washington Coast almost always has a breeze and that makes it great for kite flying. I love kites. They are magical and almost alive in a way. I especially love kites that are unusual shapes (koi, birds, fish, airplanes).
We hiked the 1.5 trail down to Third Beach which had the atmosphere of a secluded cove, except for the fact that it was FULL of people camping in tents on the sands, nestled in among the driftwood logs. The tide must not come up all that high this time of year. I would definitely want a tide chart if I camped down there. It would not be fun to wake up to find the ocean coming to visit me in my tent in the middle of the night.
We walked down Rialto Beach to "Hole-In-The-Wall” a literal hole, now an arch, in one of the rock outcroppings . The tide was in enough that we couldn’t walk into it so I painted this instead. It was early in the morning when the air was still full of mist with the sun just starting to break through.
This is the “Tree of Life” at Kalaloch Beach. It stands on the high wall that abuts the beach and the soil is eroding out from under it. It won’t be able to hold itself up for much longer. While I painted, people walked by and took selfies with the tree. Some people jumped up and hung from the roots, which made me groan in sympathy for the tree.
We spent an entire day at Ruby Beach and I painted constantly. There was so much to see!
A lighthouse in the distance.
There were many rock outcroppings and there was some drama when a teenage boy climbed to the top of one and got stuck and couldn’t get down again. Luckily a passerby who had rock climbing experience was walking by and he went up the rock and talked the kid down. It was his 18th birthday! Happy Birthday to him! (And his poor mother who was watching with her hand over her mouth the whole time.)
The beaches were very popular and we saw out of state license plates in the parking lot, which startled both of us because we sort of think of this area as a “Washington Place” not something that people outside of the PNW know about but there were license plates from the Midwest and East Coast as well. What a long drive!
I’d like to come back to the coast during a shoulder season (fall or spring) and paint because I bet the atmosphere and weather that happen during those more turbulent times would be so dramatic! I would need to pack my all weather gear though and there would be no camping for sure. I’d have to find a cabin or Airbnb. Still-a fun idea!
Have you gone anywhere fun this summer? Do you have any places you think I should explore to paint in the PNW region?
