Bottom Line:
A beautiful smooth, black-pebble beach with an island reachable at low tide just north of the trail outlet; Olympic National Park beaches are stunning any time of year although you might find yourself dodging rain squalls and fog! The sand (which reminded me of some beaches on Hawaii's Big Island), and the acrobatics from the ocean currents here, were mesmerizing - I did not want to leave. Good tide pools around the island. You can walk north or south for miles, but careful of tides and headlands than might cut off your return.
Stats:
- Distance: Relaxing ~3 miles of beach rambling, heading north
- Duration: 1-1/2 hours
- Road/Parking: Kalaloch Beach #4 has a large parking lot off Hwy 101, about 10 minutes north of Kalaloch Lodge. Restrooms available.
- Weather: Rain, hail, snow and the occasional fleeting sunny period; the nice thing about the ocean is that the weather can move out pretty quickly and you might get a decent sunset even when the weather has been bad all day; 30Fs; moderately gusty with windchill
- Trail: A short trail crosses the bluff to a viewpoint over Kalaloch beach; backtracking, a forest trail through large, gnarled trees begins a moderate descent to the beach, ending with a well-maintained set of stairs; after crossing a bridge spanning a creek flowing onto the beach, a wide-open beach awaits exploration; the beach is backed by a bluff of giant trees, and consists of small, smooth black peddles - beautiful and easy to walk on barefoot, although you may sink in in spots. The tide was out, so we climbed up the small island to the north; CAUTION: stay on the barnacles for traction, otherwise the rock is VERY slippery (this is not somewhere you would want to full into the ocean and be crushed against the rocks by frothy, turbulent seas); fresh critter tracks in the smooth, recently exposed sand, but did not see any animals; the ocean was too rough to spot otters, seals or whales (see video)
- Takeaway: This is a BEAUTIFUL beach, IMHO much more so than the southern parts of Kalaloch beach (e.g. near the lodge); the pebble beach reminds me of Rialto beach farther north; at low tide the ocean currents create some interesting effects in the surf - check out the video for the bizarre cross-waves!
Just phone pictures this time. The attached 4K video has a clip of the bizarre interference with the ocean waves - looked like torpedoes running parallel to the beach, some crashing into one another! A clip of just that is at the Instagram link.
Comments
mato on Kalaloch - Browns Point
Very nice! Looking at earlier reports during the summer months, there is definitely a different ambience this time of year, and you captured it perfectly. Loved the video, and the phone pics are better than my camera ones!
Posted by:
mato on Mar 01, 2024 06:01 AM
Alpine Wanderer on Kalaloch - Browns Point
Thanks so much! The vibe is definitely different in the winter - the best part of this beach walk is that we were alone and making fresh footprints in the beach! It was serene and lovely. Outstanding! We came prepared for a sudden change in the weather, but lucked out (this time) :) PS. My phone has a wide-angle mode that is often better than my camera too - especially for an expansive beach like this one!
Posted by:
Alpine Wanderer on Mar 01, 2024 10:41 AM
Alpine Wanderer on Kalaloch - Browns Point
BTW, love the sentiment in your WTA profile :)
Posted by:
Alpine Wanderer on Mar 01, 2024 10:43 AM
Bob and Barb on Kalaloch - Browns Point
BEAUTIFUL photos and video!
Posted by:
Bob and Barb on Mar 01, 2024 02:56 PM
Alpine Wanderer on Kalaloch - Browns Point
Thanks, B&B! Everything about this evening was perfect - we were very lucky with weather timing! :)
Posted by:
Alpine Wanderer on Mar 01, 2024 03:59 PM