We were able to get a permit for 3 nights on one of the most popular trips in Olympic National Park. Surprisingly though, we saw most folks only at the beginning and at the very end. We had our pick of great campsites along the way, without having to deal with loads of people.
We started out from Port Angeles with a large, delicious breakfast from the The Blackbird Coffeehouse . Seriously, they have great coffee and awesome breakfast sandwiches. Also, they had this cool bread pudding bar thing that Dan didn't really like, but I loved. Solid dose of energy for the start our trip. It was a good 2 hours or so to get to the trailhead from Port Angeles. The ride was beautiful, but as we neared the coast the cloud layer closed in, clinging to only the coast.
The first few miles to get to the coast were through dense rainforest, partly on boardwalks covered in moss. It was an easy hike out. And we saw some wildlife almost right away - including a "nature chicken"! This enduring pseudonym was dubbed thus by a fellow hiker we ran into and passed along the trail. The so called "nature chicken" was actually a healthy looking grouse! Dan took excellent pictures with his new zoom lens.
When we got to the coast, the clouds were still very low but it gave the whole scene a cool, eery feel. Plenty of animals were enjoying the light mist and cloud cover. And the soft cloud cover provided good lighting for pictures.
The whole first day was basically this level of socked-in. This beach was a bit tough to walk on at our normal pace because of the soft pebbles and sand. It gives too much for you to walk at a normal pace. Therefore, we probably averaged under our normal 2 mph (like when we are hiking in the mountains). This was probably more around 1 mph average. That worked out though because we could take it all in and watch some wildlife as well. We saw several deer on this trip. And one we thought was just a lone mama deer, but then we spied her adorable baby fawn with fresh white fawn spots! Squee!
We arrived at our first campsite, Yellow Banks, late afternoon with plenty of daytime left (despite the clouds). If you end up doing this backpacking trip, take note that most of these campsites are just inside the tree line, not right on the beach. However, for stretches with long parts of the beach, there may be beach sites. We didn't know where most of the campsites were at first (there aren't a lot of signs!) so we ended up just trying to look for campfire sites somewhere on the beach. We ended up finding this awesome Gilligan's Island campsite, complete with table, stools, campfire, clothes-lines, etc. - all made from driftwood! Despite the shallow slope and clear indications that high tide comes up almost to the entrance of the campsite, I figured even at the highest tide (which we avoided based on the time of month we came), we wouldn't be inundated with water. So we set up camp.
We had time to relax for dinner with our bagged wine, which we bought at the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. Despite the weight, it was a great addition to a backpacking trip! We then had our staple dessert when we're backpacking: oreos. Perfect end to a great start on the beach! Onward to day 2!