Backpacking to Hole in the Wall
I’m doing so far in posting pretty regularly despite having to juggle between my day job, freelancing, and also my UX class. But I’m also long overdue when it comes to writing about the weekend (or weekday) trips I’ve done during a year when there is nowhere else to go but to go outside.
A few months back, I did a solo backpacking trip to Hole in the Wall. I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner but I really didn’t feel like having to mingle with my ex’s family for yet another year. Plus, the pandemic provided a great excuse to not have to socialize. So I thought, what’s better than trying to solo backpack on the Olympic Coast than a rainy Thanksgiving weekend?
I did some quick research using a few resources and opted for an easy, short walk to Hole in the Wall. It really doesn’t require much effort as the hike itself was about 3 miles long - 1.5 miles to Hole in the Wall and 1.5 miles back to my car. I wasn’t feeling extremely adventurous either and I was also pretty anxious about the tides and the weather. So I decided the night before I drove out that Hole in the Wall it is. I got my permit online (still required during the ‘off season’ so don’t forget that) and packed everything frantically and headed out the next morning. I think I had a 3-day weekend so I decided to stay the night in Port Angeles before driving out to the coast. Although I wasn’t feeling extremely adventurous, I still wanted to maximize the time spent in the outdoors.
My itinerary ended up being staying at an Airbnb in Port Angeles, driving out to Rialto Beach the next day, and then car camp at Kalaloch after I return from my backpacking trip. I thought Kalaloch was going to be pretty open but I suppose families really like to bring their big ass RVs to a campground that is not recommended for RVs. Everyone was trying to opt outside. The itinerary went as planned. The tides didn’t really get in the way despite me sleeping in way too late the day of having to hike out. I blame myself for being extremely tired after working the holidays in retail.
This post is probably going to be more of a photo essay than me providing productive information on how to plan a backpacking trip in the Olympics. Firstly, it’s a lot more different to get permits in the off season than any other time after Memorial Day Weekend. Things fill up quick. But being it was the middle November, no soul would want to torture themselves by sleeping out on the beach.
Heading out to Port Angeles
I drove out to Port Angeles after I got off work. So I suppose I actually started packing frantically on Monday night. The good thing about 6am shifts is that I get off early enough to squeeze in the time to drive somewhere. My Airbnb either thought I was a lonely fuck or I was just this outdoorsy woman trying to find my soul out on the coast during Thanksgiving. Nonetheless, they were extremely hospitable and I never felt like they were invading my private space. I was also staying in a shack next to their house which gave me a ton of privacy.
Tuesday night was really underwhelming. I loaded everything into my car on Monday night so I haven’t even organized my backpacking stuff but staying at the Airbnb was a good idea since I had nothing to do but to pack. I went to get takeout at the only restaurant that was opened. I wanted to get beers but realized I had a billion beers in the back of my trunk so I passed on the alcohol.
Packing for a one night trip seemed like I was packing for a month-long expedition out to the wild. I definitely need to get better at packing but one downside about the Olympics is a bear canister is required at all backcountry camps. While I didn’t see any bears, I was still happy to have my bear can with me because there were actually more critters than I anticipated. Plus, I heard raccoons were a real problem but thankfully, I didn’t see any. I was bored out of my minds at the Airbnb so I decided to lay everything out and do that Instagram-worthy shot of all my gear. This will probably eventually be helpful when it comes to sharing how I pack for a trip.
Every time I look at my pack, I cringe because if I plan on doing longer hikes, my back will probably snap in half - I definitely want to start shedding some weight. I blame everything on the bear can though.
There were fresh eggs from the farm at the Airbnb. The fish and crab cake were from the night before. Perfect breakfast on Thanksgiving day?
Driving to Rialto Beach
I stopped by the Visitor Center since the Airbnb was located right next to the entrance to Hurricane Hill Road which was unfortunately closed for the season - the snow ploughs haven’t made their way out yet. Since I was already anxious about the tides, and spent the night before studying the tide chart hardcore and going to different websites to hopefully get the most accurate chart, I was still anxious. The visitor center was closed. But I still picked up a few maps and brochures because I thought that was such an adult thing to do. I also like to just stop by the visitor center just so I could tell people that hey guys, I’ve been here (but really though).
The drive was smooth. There was hardly any traffic. Sometimes my mind gets so indecisive that there are times that I don’t stick with my itinerary. I thought about just calling it a day and pitch camp at Mora since it was conveniently on the way to Rialto Beach. But I powered through and drove all the way to the beach. There were a good amount of cars but I felt like a cool kid when I drove into the 'backpacking lot’ because yes guys, I am going backpacking and I’m about to embarrass myself because I might quite literally get swept away by the tides (but I didn’t).
I sat in the car for a pretty long time - reassessing the life decisions I have made. I’m not exactly sure why I was having a hard contemplation about camping out on the coast. My mom worries about me all the time when I’m out and about doing solo trips. I even bought a GPS so I could stay connected with her. But this time, the GPS was deemed pretty useless because I forgot to update the app on my phone. And typing on the Garmin inReach Mini really isn’t fun.
After contemplating for a long time - it was 3:30pm. I was losing daylight. If I was going to hike to Hole in the Wall, I better get going. I didn’t exactly want to hike in the dark. But I knew it was going to be low tide. Another example of my adulting real hard because I actually read the tide charts correctly. Kudos to me. I finally got out of my car and put my back on and set out for the short 1.5 mile to Hole in the Wall.
Hiking on sand wasn’t fun - so I’m glad I opted for a quick hike that day. Quarantine has definitely gotten me lazy. And the fact that I was alone - I felt like I was in no rush to reach my destination. It was rainy and gloomy. And then I was alone on Thanksgiving - I don’t usually get affected by seeing families or couples but it hit a little differently this time. I felt like I should be spending time with other people. Although a huge part of me was also telling myself that this was my choice, follow through damn it. I did eventually make it to Hole in the Wall. I didn’t have anywhere to set my pack so I tried my best to not slip when I was climbing over some pretty slick rock just to tell my friends that I hiked under Hole in the Wall. All the kelp and seaweed that were stuck on the rocks seemed to be making life way more difficult than it had to be. I snapped some photos and went back the way I came to find a spot for camp. I’ve never camped on the beach before but I knew I should at least camp above the tide line and potentially find a good amount of logs and rocks to shield me from the wind.
It was a great decision because despite me trying to be cautious about finding a spot, the howling wind (and rain) definitely kept me up all night.
Camping on the Beach
I’m lazy and didn’t try to gather any firewood to build a beach fire. Besides, I was by myself so a lot of the beach camping experiences didn’t seem important. I set up camp. Put a few rocks over my stakes hoping that my rain fly wouldn’t get blown away. I’ve seen photos of other people’s tents getting destroyed. I wasn’t ready for that for sure.
Once I set up my tent, I just wanted to stay cozied up inside my tent so I just made dinner in the vestibule. Cracked open more beers than I needed to because I didn’t want have to carry the beers out the next day even though it was short 1 mile walk back to the car. I also didn’t have anything else to do but to listen to the waves and wind, and also reading a book on my Kindle. The immediate thought was just to try to drink as many beers as I could and hopefully pass out.
I passed out for the first hour and then I was easily awoken by the wind and rain pouring down on my tent. I like to think that for most of my trips, I’m still learning how to pitch my tent correctly. One of the stakes kept falling out. Still half-asleep, I set out to look for the biggest piece of rock that I could find, hoping the rainfly would stay in the place. I think the same thing happened at least 3 times before I finally got it to really stake to the wet sand. I ran out of beers and eventually I just laid there until my eyes felt heavy again and fell asleep.
Pretty sweet spot for camping out on the beach.
Probably one of my favorite beers - waiting for the tides to retreat.
The next morning, I woke up pretty early but I knew I was still extremely tired because God knows how many times I’ve woken up during the night. For some reason, I usually feel extremely restless out camping even though I knew I was extremely tired. I waited for the tides to recede to a reasonable level before hiking back out to my car. Since it was the day after Thanksgiving, there were a lot of people hanging out on the beach. I usually feel pretty safe about social distancing in the outdoors but the beach was definitely starting to get crowded and I started seeing more maskless people roaming around. I was like, oh hell no, I’m peacing out.
I quickly walked back to my car and set out for Kalaloch. As mentioned above, the campground was pretty packed. The remaining campsites were not ideal but I had nowhere else to go other than maybe try to sleep in my car. Eventually, I found a spot right next to the highway - what a prime spot. I did manage to still find a little solace despite being right next to the campground. The night was extremely underwhelming. I spent the night listening to music and reading a book my kindle. Since I was no longer as exposed as I was out on the beach, I had a better night of sleep.
Ruby Beach
The next day, I set out for Ruby Beach since it was somewhat on the way home. I did a quick detour. It was surprisingly sunny despite having 2 days of constant rain. Ruby Beach was crowded as usual but I did spend some time taking some pictures since a sunny day in the Pacific Northwest is quite rare during the winter months. As the crowds grew larger, I packed up and started my drive back to Seattle.
Nonetheless, the Olympic Coast is always a good option for year-round backpacking. If you’re up to face a little rain and wind, you’ll find your own version of fun and adventure along the coast. I know most people are longing for the sunny days but the Pacific Northwest has always been known with overcast skies. For some reason, I felt like everything looked prettier and more alive when the skies are grey. There’s something about that color palette that really gave life to the trees and the ocean.
Thoughts
Camping on the beach when it was raining with constant winds blowing probably isn’t for everyone but I did manage to try to have a good time despite being myself. I don’t want to go into too much details but part of the reason why I’ve been doing more solo trips is aside from the pandemic, I really needed the time to go out there to just think. I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels comfort when I’m outside. But I knew this trip was important. Going through a huge amount of stress and also constantly feeling I haven’t been doing enough, I needed some reassurance that I was still capable to have fun despite being alone. And sometimes, being alone is when I could really allow my thoughts to form and then reassess the actions I need to take in order to make things better. In my opinion, being alone doesn’t equate feeling lonely. I knew I needed the time to just go out there to somewhere where there wouldn’t be any judgment or unnecessary noise because taking care of your mental health has been one of the most important things in 2020.
While there are times that I wish I had company (which I anticipate a summer full of company), 2020 was a pretty dark year for me. There were a lot of good things that happened but I can’t discount the not so great things that also happened. It was a year that I had to relearn how to have fun again. I felt like I was constantly being pushed back to square one and constantly challenge. All in all, it was good year to learn about myself and do some self-discovery. For the longest time, I felt like I was living in someone else’s shadows, always trying to please someone else other than myself.
I realized spending time alone in the outdoors was one of the things that really helped me heal.