Vacation 2005: Hoh Rain Forest – Big Trees and Ruby Beach

2005 Summer Vacation – August 3rd – Day 5

After visiting the Rain Forest we set out to see a couple of big trees and spend some time on the beach.

We drove south till we came across a road sign between mile posts 170 & 171 that proclaimed “Big Tree”. We followed the signs down and around the forest service roads for about 4 miles to the largest Western Red Cedar. The sign at its base declares it to be 178 feet tall and 19.4 feet in diameter! What was interesting was that it looked like a large standing piece of driftwood due to the lack of large neighboring trees to shade it and countless tourists asaulting it.

We then continued south on Highway 101 and found near Beach 6 a sign for Big Cedar. The tree has been dead for many years but is being used as a standing nurse log by many other trees and plants.

We then travelled back north to Ruby Beach, located at the northen end of a string of beaches in the Kalaloch area. The beach gets it name from the redish sand that occasionally concentrates in patches. The book Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula for Dummies describes the beach:

Towering stacks of basalt stand at the mouth of Cedar Creek, which pours into the ocean here. The stacks are remnants of cliffs that were slowly, but steadily, pounded into sand by the waves.

We walked north about a half mile to one of the large basalt sea stacks that was uncovered by the low tide. Here we were able to find numerous starfish and anemone.

The kids spent the better part of an hour digging in the sand and playing in the waves. But not more than knee deep since rogue logs (as seen piled at the top of the beach) would win any encounter.

Kyle noticed the people next to him looking up so he hollered over to Kevin that there was a hawk overhead. Kevin noticed the white head of the bird and corrected Kyle that it was a Bald Eagle. I watched it as it went overhead and down the beach searching for a meal.

The tide started to come back in so I gathered up the kids and we all headed back to the car, hungry and tired!

More Photos:

• Big Trees
• Ruby Beach
• 2005 Summer Vacation