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Mai 2011 - Point of the Arches
In October 2009 I came for the first time in the Olympic National Park and I was also hiking for an afternoon to Shi Shi Beach and the Point of the Arches. Not just the images I had seen before in the Internet, but also what I saw during my afternoon visit at Shi Shi Beach, were deeply impressing me. What a fascinating, rough and rocky coastline at the Pacific Ocean! I was sure that I had to come back again to take pictures of this gorgeous coast at sunrise and sunset. However, for such a visit some preparation was necessary, because I had to camp at the beach. From the car park at the Trailhead it takes about 2 hours to Point of the Arches. The first part of the trail is leading through rainforest and the second part along the beach. That would be too long and too much to hike in darkness before sunrise or after sunset.
In May 2011, I again planned to travel to the Northwest of the United States, and this time I took everything with me, what I would need for camping: tent, sleeping bag, backpack, cookers, etc. Unfortunately the weather in the West of the United States was very bad almost in the whole month of May, with plenty of rain and cold temperatures, so I saw my plans already bursting. But suddenly the weather forecast changed its mind, predicting a 4-day period without rain but with sunshine. I immediately changed my travel plans and turned North again to start my hike to Shi Shi Beach.
In the morning I started from Portland/Oregon to Port Angeles at the eastern border of Olympic National Park. I went to the visitor center of the National Park and bought a Wilderness Camping Permit to camp for 3 nights at Shi Shi Beach. I planned to stay only for two nights, but if the weather would not be like expected, I wanted to have the possibility to stay longer. I also had to rent a bear canister for food storage, and I took the smallest size because the canister was rather bulky and hard to store in my backpack. Such a bear canister is mandatory in the backcountry for the storage of all food, garbage, and scented items such as toothpaste, deodorant, sunscreen, toiletries. The bear canister can be returned at any other National Park Office, so you don’t have to take the same route out after your trip.
It did not take much time at the Visitor Center, because I apparently was the only one who required a Wilderness Camping Permit, probably because the weather was too bad during the last few days and it was at the beginning of the week.
However, I did not take permits for next day because I planned to stay for two nights in a motel in Forks, one of the few towns in the Olympic National Park. On the one hand, I wanted to revisit Second and Third Beach, on the other hand I still had to wait for the predicted good weather to come. I must confess that I am pretty uninformed about Forks and Twilight, except that the story is dealing with vampires. Vampires shy away from sunlight, and therefore Forks is probably a convenient place to stay for these creatures, because it is the place with the highest rainfall rate in the United States. However, I was lucky twice, firstly because I did not meet any vampires and secondly because the weather was relatively good, so that I could photographs at the nearby Pacific Beaches.
After the second night in Bagbys Town Motel I left Forks, driving North to Neah Bay in the Makah Reservation and continuing to the Shi Shi Beach Trailhead. Shortly before entering Neah Bay there are signs informing visitors that you are in the reservation, and that you need a permit. From my former visit I knew already, that I need a recreational use permit for 10 US$ for visiting the reservation. You can get the permit in the small town of Neah Bay at various places, including the museum or the gas station of the town.
 
The permit is valid for one year, but probably very few will have the chance to use it several times per year. Together with the permit you get a simple map showing the directions to the tourist highlights of the reservation. These are mainly Cape Flattery at the northwestern corner of the United States and Shi Shi Beach, which is located in the Olympic National Park, but can most easily be reached by passing the Makah Reservation.
At the border between the Reservation and the Olympic National Park is a small car park at the Trailhead, but overnight parking is not permitted. For overnight parking, it is advised to leave your car on the private property of native families living nearby. You have to pay about 10 US$ per night, but it is a safe place for your car. The last house before reaching the trailhead, about a quarter mile away, belongs to Donna Wilkie, where I left my car beside a few other parked vehicles. Similar to the procedure at some campgrounds, there is a self-registration system. You write the dates of your trip and the number of days you want to park the vehicle on an envelope, and put the appropriate amount of money into it. Neither when I parked the car, nor when I pick it up again, I saw anyone of the persons living in the house. There was just one little dog – not a real guarding dog.
After I had shouldered my backpack weighting approx. 25 kg, I marched to leave. First, I followed the paved road to the Trailhead, then the trail entered the rainforest. The excellent map “Wilderness Camp site Information” provided by the National Park shows that it is only about 5 miles to walk to the Point of the Arches. Therefore I did not care too much about my very heavy backpack.
Partially the trail in the rain forest lead over wooden planks, but the closer I came to Shi Shi Beach, the muddier became the trail, because it had rained so much in the last few days. I was glad that I had my hiking sticks with me. The sticks were a great help when I tried to find a save and dry way through the mud. The sticks helped to keep balance, when jumping from a slippery stone to a similar slippery piece of wood, trying to find a dry route through the mud, and all this with a heavy backpack on the shoulders.
After about 2 miles in the rainforest, one could see for the first time the Pacific Ocean through the trees. Shortly after, the trail led approximately 70 m steeply down to the Shi Shi Beach. Then you walk along the beach, always searching for slightly firmer ground, because walking in the sand with the heavy backpack is rather strenuous. Behind the broad beach, the terrain increased steeply and was densely wooded. It was not quite clear to me where one could safely build up his tent, without the risk of being flooded at high tide. One could see that at high tide, the water may go close to the forest, because the stranded goods and jetsam washed ashore covered almost the entire beach. I had forgotten to ask the Park Ranger, how to find a suitable campsite? But soon I found the answer to this question. I saw a buoy hanging on a tree in the wooded, steep coast behind the beach. After a closer look, I realized that there were two small terraces in the forest, one for tent and another one for a campfire. On my further way along the beach I saw several of these marked places. Some campsites had only place for one tent, while at other sites many tents could be build up.
I chose a site where only one tent could be built up, because I wanted to be on my own, if eventually more campers would arrive later. There was a lower terrace with a fireplace where I could prepare my meals and where I stored the bear canister at a certain and safe distance from my tent, if any animal would be attracted by the smell of food.
There was a small creek nearby, where I filled up my water container. Of course the water had to be treated or boiled for drinking. The color of the water was brownish, but I had read that the color was caused by tannins. Why should something that is a kind of quality criterion for a red wine, not be as good in the water?
After building up my tent and stowing the bear canister 50 ft away from the tent, I started to explore the surrounding area. First I walked south along the beach to the Point of the Arches, which was about half a mile away. It was afternoon and the tide was near its maximum. Therefore one could not continue further south than the Point of the Arches, because the beach was under water. On the beach lied a dead seal, without any obvious injuries. As I looked interested at the seal, someone called “Hello” from some distance. It was a Park Ranger and I thought he wanted to control my permit, which I left the tent. But the Ranger was only seeking someone to talk to, because he spent some hours sitting here and waiting for the low tide. He planned to go further south along the beach however the water level still was too high to continue. The Ranger’s name was Pablo, who originally came from Hawaii and now was working in the Olympic National Park. He planned to make a coastal hike for several days to check how conditions changed during the winter, because this hike is very popular in summer. After a few days a colleague would pick him up at Lake Ozette. The same colleague had brought him to Shi Shi Beach trailhead at such an unfortunate time, that he had several hours to wait for low tide to continue his hike. We chatted for some time, but then I wanted to get back to the tent to eat something, in order to be ready to come back to the Point of the Arches for some sunset shots. On my way back to the tent, I saw a few sea gulls and an eagle eating some dead animal on the beach.
At sunset I photographed extensively at the Point of the Arches. It was low tide, and the long rocky edges came out of the water, providing an excellent foreground for the arches with the setting sun in the background.
Unfortunately, the sunset was somewhat too far in the northwest at this time of year and not behind the arches.
Most of the time I was alone taking pictures, except for a couple that had taken a nearby campsite in the afternoon and shortly came by to watch the sunset on a beach. When I was back at the tent it was already dark, and I instantly went to sleep because I wanted to photograph again at sunrise. I felt slightly moldy, because I knew that the temperature drops almost down to the freezing point at night, and my camping equipment was not really meant for such temperatures. Therefore I wore nearly all the clothes I brought with me to be prepared for a cold night.
I was not unhappy when my alarm clock rang at 4:30 pm, because it had become quite cold and I had spent a restless, chilly night. Now I could get up and move to get warm and comfortable again.
Unfortunately, light fog moved in from the sea this morning and the sun firstly found its way through the clouds well after sunrise, when the light was no longer ideal. I went back to the tent to have breakfast.
Around 10:00 am, the sun had won against the fog and I broke up for exploring the northern part of Shi Shi Beach. There should be some interesting rock formations and also some tide pools. So I walked north along the beach for approximately 2 miles. I passed the place where the trail leads down to the beach and went slightly further climbing over some rocks into the next bay.
But at the end of this small bay it was too dangerous to continue, because despite low tide it was hard to find a save route over slippery rocks to get further to the North. However, there were a few beautiful tide pools with many sea stars and sea anemons. So I had lots of interesting things to photograph.
In this small Bay, I discovered two other campers who had pitched their tent on the beach. However, it had remained dry during high tide. After a few hours, when the high tide came back slowly, I returned to the tent. I felt quite tired because of the chilly and sometimes sleepless night. I decided to go back into the tent and try to sleep a bit at these very pleasant temperatures. I slept for almost 3 hours.
In the evening there was the same procedure again as the day before. First I had my meal at the campsite and then I went again for the sunset to the Point of the Arches. This time I was not alone, because two photographers from Colorado were also hanging around with their tripods and cameras.
The following night was somehow more pleasant than the night before, because I really dressed in all the clothes I had available. At sunrise I met again on one of the two photographers from Colorado. This time was better light than the morning before, but sunset is definitely the better time to take pictures.
After breakfast I saw no reason to stay for another night, so I pulled down my tent and grabbed my backpack. Around 10:00 pm I started my hike back to the car. On the hike to Shi Shi Beach I did not check the time it took and hence, I was surprised that I was back at the trailhead after about 2 hours. Another quarter of an hour along the paved road and I was back at my car. Probably because it was Friday, there were many more cars parked in the yard of the native family, nearly no space left.
Before heading back to Port Angeles, I briefly visited Cape Flattery. Around 4: 00 pm I reached again the visitor center of the Olympic National Park in Port Angeles and I returned the bear container. Although it was rather busy now in the visitor center, and several people wanted to have permits for the weekend, the Ranger recognized me and asked whether I took good photos. “I hope so”, was my answer, because unfortunately the weather conditions were not as ideal as I wished they could have been.
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