The hike in was a little muddy, but even without waterproof boots it was no problem. Some nice person had left a perfectly good walking stick at the trailhead (which I subsequently did when we left) so I had a nice stick to help me balance some of the trickier sections of the walk. It was super useful when I had to balance on a small log to get across a mudpit.Getting there was interesting. You pay the Park Service for access to the park, but then you have to drive through the Makah Nation, so you have to pay them for access to their Sovereign nation. Park Service said access to the Makah land was $7...when Nillin paid for it the guy at the counter said $10....hmm...did we get ripped off?
Next we had to pay for parking at an old ladies house. Again, park service said $5, sign on old ladies property said $10. Oh well, it was worth it. Back to the story.
After the 2.0 or so mile pretty much flat hike, we got to the top of a bluff overlooking the glorious Washington coast. The fog had not burned off and was just sitting off shore a little ways impedeing our view of the massive rocks that lay off shore. After a steep hike down the bluff, we were spit out onto the beach. The tide was coming in, so we hiked quickly down the beach to find our campsite. After a few sites that could have been inhabited, we found one that was nice and cozy. Nillin and I set about making a fire, which to our dislike did not go well. All the surrounding brush was too wet to get started and once we did have a bit of dry stuff, the wood was too wet to take. So we gave up and prepared hot water for hot drinks and got into our long underwear.
The fog stayed with us for the majority of our night. We ate some dinner and went for a walk along the beach. A long photography session ensued with long exposures being the focus. I'll have to post those later...they're on my machine at home. When we got back to camp, the weather decided to turn a little, so we cleaned up a bit and got into our tents. The rain was pretty minimal, didn't really get anything wet, but the wind is what made the night a little restless.
Someone had either found or hiked in a tarp and hung it up. That thing flapped loudly for half the night until it got so unbearable I finally got up the courage to get out of my sleeping bag. Let me tell you, getting out of my sleeping bag at probably close to 3:00am in the middle of some high winds on the Washington coast is not the most fun I've ever had. There is a caveat though.
When I finally had my wits about me and the tarp had been securely stowed in the overhead bins, I took a little walk to use the restroom. While out on the beach, I happened to notice that the winds had blown away all the cloud cover and stars were out to greet me.
I stood out there for a good 5 minutes and tried to locate all of the constellations I know (that actually only took about 2 seconds since I don't know any other than the Big Dipper and Orions belt). The Milky Way was out in full force and taking up what seemed to be the whole sky. When the windchill became unbearable I went back to the tent and got back into my bag and slept so comfy and contented. No one else saw the stars there the way I did...everyone was asleep (or trying).
We awoke the next morning to just the tiniest amount of fog. After a warm breakfats of oatmeal and coffee, we set off to find the Point of Arches. The pic below is Pizza giving the triumphant pose of not getting washed out to sea.
This is long enough. The rest was mostly uneventful, although the Kelperidoo that Nillin made was quite entertaining. I'll post more photos and maybe a video too when I have the files.
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