Rialto Beach and Hole-in-the-Wall — Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026

What a rare amazing day for January on the Washington coast. We arrived about 30 min after high tide at around 11:30. Quite a few cars in the lot for winter, but with a gorgeous day and a holiday weekend it was not surprising. Still plenty of parking. We were 3 adults and 4 kids ages 3.5-7.5. We could start moving down the beach but waves were still coming pretty high up and required navigating. We moved slowly, had lunch not too far down the beach, and got to Ellen creek about 2.5-3 hrs after high tide. After evaluating we decided not to try to cross. there was a high log crossing that the adults would have been fine with but having to navigate young kids with a deep pool below was not desirable. Probably at lower tide you could cross where the creek meets the ride but those we saw crossing there were taking off shoes and were getting water to their mid calf because the creek was in a pretty tight channel. So we decided to turn around. We saw seals, we think a porpoise, and whale blows far out! Also saw several overnight parties and quite a few more folks out walking as we returned.