[raising3hikers]

My oldest son, Jayden, just turned 10 a week and a half ago and wanted to go camping for his birthday. I had to give him his wish so we went to the Olympics this weekend. We set up camp at the Mora campground at around noon and then headed to Rialto Beach. The weather was overcast to begin with but at least it wasn't raining like most times to the coast. After telling the kids right away to stay dry, they were both wet. It's way too much fun to race the in coming waves. There were many people out on the beach and the weather kept getting better. We hiked north towards hole-in-the-wall along very impressive driftwood that has come down the rainforest rivers and pushed back on shore by the waves.

Jayden already getting wet

wife and kids by big driftwood

We were really impressed by the many sea stacks we saw. We came to the hole-in-the-wall head and crossed on top of it because the tide was too high to go through the hole. At the other side we continued going north another mile passing many more unusal rock formations. One that I liked was the one where the bedrock formed many parallel grooves.

hole-in-the-wall

parallel grooves in the rock

a lot of grey

We eventually turned around after crossing another head. On the way back the sun was coming out and we knew if we took our time, we would see a nice sunset. We sat around for a while and the kids continued to get wetter. They had fun playing with the tide and any driftwood they could carry.

the boys on the beach

future surfers?

We slowly made our way back to the truck and enjoyed the views a lot. There were many colors in the sky and the kids were even impressed by this. We got back to the campground and was surprised how many other people were there also. I guess we aren't the only ones who camp in February. I wish we would have tried to camp along the North Coast Beach like we saw some getting ready for on our hike.

reflection pond

little tree on a big rock at sunset

sunset

Day 2 We got up early because it was really cold last night and re-started the fire. Then some bald eagles got our attention by chirping at each other and flying across the river we were camped by. We packed up and headed on the road. I saw Bcfc53's Elwha river report last week, so I thought today would be a good day to check that area out on the way home. I have never been to the Elwha valley before, so we drove around a bit before settling on the Whiskey Bend road. We started out on the upper trail towards Humes ranch. At one of the cabins, we saw 4 deer and they didn't care about us at all. We sat 10 feet away from them for about 15 minutes before we got bored and left them. We went to the bridge over the Elwha and took a break.

deer

more deer

Elwha bridge

We talked to some people at the bridge and they told me that we could take another way back by going through Krauss bottom and Rica canyon by going along the river. We went that way and saw another side trail to Gobblins Gate. That was a nice area. There were some pretty big trees stuck in the river there. We made our way back to the truck and went home after a great weekend in the Olympics. I always love going there and there is much more to be seen.

a few tall trees above the alders

big trees at gobblins gate

[gone]

Great report and pics - that sunset is beautiful! Definitely going to have to check out Gobblins Gate. Thanks for sharing this!

[Hikingqueen]

Lovely report, your boys are so lucky to have a cool dad that takes them all over hiking and camping.. I like the sunset pic best.

[Go Jo]

[Highwalker's Daughter]

Great pictures! Rialto is one of my favorite spots.

[bobbi]

r2h...... glad to read that my little TR inspired you to take a trip to the elwha! great photos ...but no photos of the boys sitting on my ledge you're a great dad granting birthday wishes! i'm more impressed that your son, Jayden, chose the olympic coast! he's got great insight on what's important as gifts!

[kathyb/oldgrrrl]

My vote's for the reflection pond. Some pictures just make me sigh..... heavenly...

[raising3hikers]

bcfc53 wrote-r2h...... glad to read that my little TR inspired you to take a trip to the elwha! great photos ...but no photos of the boys sitting on my ledge Jayden wanted to get up on that ledge but I wouldn't let him. You're pretty brave for getting up there. Anyways, I had to stop both boys, the day before at Rialto, from trying to go straight up a wall by hole-in-the-wall

boys trying to climb straight up the wall