Took a 3-day trip to Kalaloch Beach. We thought our trip from 2 weeks earlier would be the last beach trip of 2022. However, the weather was still sunny and dry. Very unusual for this time of year in the Pacific Northwest. So, we decided to go on yet another 2022 beach adventure. Camped at Kalaloch Beach. This time it is off season so no reservations. It is first come first serve. Unlike the busy summer that books up months in advance, we had no trouble finding a spot.
Travelogue
Day 1 – 10/18/22 Tuesday
Left home around 11am
Stopped at the store for a few groceries and then at Costco for gas.
Drove south to Olympia and then west to WA beaches. North on 101 to Kalaloch campground.
It is off season and first come first serve. We got there around 3:30 and found a nice spot. It was on the road right along the beach but not on the beach side. There were a couple of sites on the beach side, but they weren’t level and small. Our site (A24) was great (A21 would also be good) because it is flat, large, and close to the beach access trail and not too far to the restrooms.
We set up the tent, then went to pay for our spot. Also went to the little store to get some firewood.
Back to the site and then a hike along the beach. Went about 1.75 miles north toward beach 3 (3.5 miles round trip). Tide was high.
Dinner was going to be grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, but I brought the wrong soup (chicken tortilla), so we scrapped that plan and made meatballs with tomato sauce and French bread. Has a good campfire too.
Tracey wore her giant alpine climbing parka that she used when climbing Mt. Rainier. She was not cold this time. But it wasn’t really that cold out, probably 55 degrees.
Day 2 – 10/19/22 Wednesday
Got up and ate breakfast. It was kind of foggy but not wet.
Went to the store and bought a can of Campbell’s tomato soup to make with grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.
Drove up to beach 4 and hiked it. This was previously our favorite Washington beach. Saw the tide pools but the tide was high so not as easy to see the creatures. Hiked further north and found lots of cool beach rocks.
Looked on the maps and saw “gorilla rock” wasn’t too far but further than we wanted to hike so we went back to the car and drove a few miles further north to Ruby Beach. When we visited Kalaloch previously, the Ruby Beach parking area was closed for construction, so we hadn’t seen it. It was cloudy/foggy and windy when we parked. Tracey was cold so we sat in the van for a bit and ate lunch. The sky started to clear, and the beach looked really nice. We hiked down to the beach and the skies completely cleared. It was beautiful. Saw gorilla rock and lots of other rocks and islands. This is now our favorite Washington beach. We hiked a little further north and came upon a dead beached yearling humpback whale. It was sad to see but also very interesting.
We walked around on the beach for a while and took lots of pictures. Eventually we went back to the van, but it was still nice out, so we sat in the van and watched the beach for ~45 minutes before eventually heading back to the campsite.
Set up another campfire. Used a bunch of woodworking scraps I brought from home to get it started. Made the grilled cheese sandwiches (mozzarella and pesto on sourdough) and the Campbell’s tomato soup. The soup was really sweet. Not nearly as good at the other soup I left at home. But it was good enough for dipping a sandwich.
Day 3 – 10/20/22 Thursday
It started raining lightly around 8am. That lasted until 10am. Had some hot chocolate in the bug/rain tent. Glad we have it. Makes rainy (or buggy) days not so bad. Although the rain stopped it was still really cloudy and foggy, so we just packed up and headed home.
Stopped at the Elma rest stop and had some lunch. Stopped at a Tacoma area Costco for gas, got home by 3pm.
Had to set the tent back up and rinse it off and dry it before packing it away.