Rialto Beach. Olympic Peninsula

After the waterfalls, we stopped in the town of Forks (an hour by car), took the keys to the room and went to meet the ocean sunset - another 20 minutes.

The beach greeted us with coolness and smoke. The first thought was that the forests were burning - we heard that Oregon was burning, but did not know that it had come to us. Spoiler - it will come the next day. But it turned out to be simpler - people were sitting on the shore and making fires. But they were mostly huddled near the parking lot, so as we walked further, there were fewer people and fires.

By the way, the highest peak of the peninsula - Mount Olympus - was visible from the parking lot. I did not expect to see it at all - it is 70 kilometers away, and we are on the very shore.

A half-hour walk later, we ran into rocks - one is called Split Rock, the other - Hall in a Wall. The first one looks solid from the side, but if you go around it you can see that it’s as if someone divided them, and the water splashes in the gorge between them. And even the trees somehow survived on their tops.

The other one has a large hole (3-5 meters high), where you can go further. But you need to watch the ebb and flow, otherwise you can end up cut off from the main beach. By the way, there were quite a few tents along it, which also had fires and people were drying their things. There’s no other way - even without rain, moisture comes from the ocean, and things can’t stay dry for long.

We also wanted to sit by the fire, and we were lucky (because we weren’t ready for such a turn of events) - when we returned to the part of the beach near the parking lot, we spotted a fire that could still be lit. It was surrounded by stones and looked like it was often used. We threw some wood in there and warmed ourselves, looking at the waves and the darkening sky.

And then the stars started to appear. First, the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. Venus. Arcturus. Jupiter. Then smaller stars started to appear between them. And then even smaller ones. And more. The entire sky, shining through the clouds, turned out to be strewn with them! After all, there were no cities nearby (yes, there is an Indian settlement there, closed to tourists because of the virus), no light pollution! And there was even a stripe hinting at the Milky Way. It was hard to stop looking at them. Those were magical minutes...

Our YouTube video

Happy visiting Rialto Beach! :v: