Miles: 1.4 miles RT, further if you walk along the beach up to a mile to the south.
Elevation Gain/Highest: 93ft/200ft
Map: Green Trails La Push No 163s, my GAIA track.
Favorite Eats After Hike: Pacific Pizza, Sunsets West Co-op, Kalaloch Lodge, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
My hike:
11/22/2018
This was a quick hike we did in between periods of rain and cooking Thanksgiving Dinner while we stayed in the Mora Campground of Olympic National Park just outside La Push, Washington.
The trailhead started just off the main road into La Push. There were two parking lots, one right in front and one just before that was much larger with a small path along the road. The trail started out by a small fish hatchery and over a quaint bridge. I looked to see if Pooh was inside but alas, I missed him.
The nurse logs were fascinating as we made our way along the relatively flat course and you can see how the coastal winds wreck havoc on the trees with their twisted and contorted branches.
After about half a mile, the trail begins its descent to the beach on wide steps.
Coming out on to the sand, we were presented with a barricade of driftwood to navigate to get down to the water. Despite being wet, it wasn’t as slippery as I thought to climb over. The rock formations of the Quileute (Quillayute) Needles National Wildlife Refuge offered a sharp contrast to the pale ocean swirling around their bases.
The famous hole in the beachhead was on our right and so we wandered that direction first. The tide was high, leaving us very little actual sand to walk on and by the time we got to the arch we had to step up on the cliff wall a bit to not get doused by the waves.
Although we didn’t have a sunny day for our beach walk, the misty skies and foamy seas made it a wonderful time! We stayed awhile longer but did not venture south on the beach due to the tide, that will have to be for yet another winter adventure to the Washington Coast.
Directions: From Highway 101 Port Angeles, make your way to the junction of Highway 110 and Highway 101 in about 52.8 miles. If you get to Forks, you missed it. The junction is, also, 1.5 miles north of Forks. Turn west onto Highway 110, and proceed 12.5 miles to the Second Beach trailhead on the lefthand side of the road, just outside of the town of La Push, on the Quileute Reservation. There is room for a few cars right at the trailhead but the larger parking lot is just before and a short walk away.
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