Time for a coastal trip. But first, a stop along the way for a night of soaking in some super secret hot springs that no one else on the whole planet knows about. While we soaked, the cold, refreshing rain fell on us, and then later millions of stars came out, and we watched as the constellations rolled lazily over our heads throughout the night and into the early morning hours.

Saturday morning, we headed to the Third Beach trailhead. Every shade of green imaginable are in the rainforest, the iridescent silvery lichen clinging to the trees, the white trillium and bright orange rotting logs being the other beautiful colors. We stopped many times simply to listen to the soft musical sound of rain and seep drip, drip, dripping onto grand old fallen trees, onto the new leaves of groundcover, plopping into pools of water, and the distant whisper of the ocean. The trail to Third Beach is a sloppy, muddy mess, but it winds through the beautiful rainforest (and takes you to the ocean) making it a worthwhile endeavor. The ladders are in excellent condition, but many of the wooden steps leading down to Third Beach are rotten ankle busters, so check before you step. I know of at least one broken step you no longer need to worry about. Trekking poles would be helpful, as some places provide only slippery clay to kickstep into, and other parts of the trail require big upward lunges or downward plunges, difficult for a klutz with a backpack on. Please be prepared for a muddy trip. Leave the cloth Nike boots at home, and wear rubber boots that enable you to tromp through the center of the mudholes. The edges of these goopy maws usually aren’t any better, and you are only helping to create bigger mudholes that eventually destroy the aesthetics of the already ailing trail. Bring a winch – you may need it to extract small children who get stuck in the mud.

The shelters have been torn down by the Parks Service, so if you’re into storm watching, don’t count on the shelters any more! And speaking of storms, a beautiful one raged all Saturday night and into the early morning. We had screaming wind, crashing waves, slanting rain and general mayhem –all the proper ingredients for a great time on the coast. The storm stopped around 8:30 am, and after a great breakfast, we reluctantly packed up and took our time hiking back to the trailhead.

It's startling to see the garish, bright colored vehicles in the parking lot after seeing nothing but the greens of the rainforest and soft greys and mist of the ocean.

My buddy spoiled me with good food and wine. My utilitarian ways of backcounty ""cooking"" are merely pitiful attempts at sustaining life. Nothing else will be good enough now!

April 1-2 Third beach to Toleak Point. Trail was great. mud in a few spots is certainly to be expected. Ladders were not a problem. Watch tides carefully, almost got stranded for a few hours, but squeaked by. Had beautiful weather both days. 8 Bald eagle sightings with 5 being in one spot! Otters, seals and many birds to see. Wonderful year round hiking. Quite a few people on trail, most day-hikers though. I had no problems with the raccoons, although signs warn of this. Bear canisters required.

It looked like rain but after the sundance chant and visualizing sun it came! Unbelievable...

Lots of cars at trailhead so we expected to see people. Trail is good almost to Third Beach, gets slick on downhill approach. Many campers at Third Beach so off we went to Scotts Creek (many there too). The ropes and ladders were slippery but it was fun! Lots of mud on the trail overland to Scotts Creek so step cautiously. The dead whale was on the beach still just past Scotts Bluff. Pretty cool bones. We saw a family of river otters, sea lions, bald eagle, porpoises, tide pool stuff and a few dead seals on the beach. Weather was awesome...shorts and T's. The meteor shower was pretty spectacular too. Dumped buckets on the way out so be preparedd with rain gear ... it is very unpredictable. Get tide chart at Ranger Station in Forks and bring hard sided plastic containers to store your food from racoons! Enjoy!!!

Our group hiked from Oil City to Third Beach during the week following the 4th of July. The beach portions of the hike are mostly smooth sand but the overland portions were very muddy. Took us 5 hours to cover the 3.5 mile trail around Hoh Head. There is a way to drop down to the beach just north of Hoh Head but we were told it was a very sloppy half mile with only ropes to assist footing. Cable ladders are in good shape. During our hike we had moderate high and low tides. During very high tides some sections of the beach would require climbing over drift wood or racing the waves. Out houses provided at Mosquito Creek, Toleak Point, and Scott's Bluff. Dead whale on beach between Scott's Bluff and Taylor Point. Crossing at Goodman Creek was only 1 foot deep at moderate low tide. No trouble with animals but we did hang our food supplies each night. Took our time on this 17 mile hike and enjoyed it much.