It was a beautiful day for a coastal hike. We made the long drive from Seattle to beat the heat that was expected in the city and and eastern Washington. We arrived around 11AM and were greeted with a cool, pleasant ocean breeze. We needed jackets at the start of the day. The parking lot was starting to fill up, but we found a spot without issue.
The hike along Rialto Beach is more of a stroll really. Although rocky at times, I did most of the hike in sandals. Once we were about 1/2 mile away from the beach area immediately adjacent to the parking lot, the crowds started to thin out. We took our time walking to the Hole in the Wall rock formation and saw three bald eagles and seals. When we reached the Hole in the Wall, the tide was still too high to cross through it, so we hiked up and over it along a steep dirt path where the trees meet the beach. There is a sign there to let you know there is a trail.
On the other side, we found a sunny spot to have lunch and wait for the tide to go out to explore the tide pools in Hole in the Wall. Around 1:30, it was low enough the hike through and we saw beautiful turquoise sea anemones, but no starfish. As we were heading back toward our car, we noticed it had gotten more crowded. We also saw a large plume of smoke in the distance. We later found out from a Park Ranger that a stack of very dry driftwood had caught fire, but he wasn't sure what had caused it. We were driving out right as a fire truck showed up. Hope everyone stayed safe and there was not too much damage!
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