After our strenuous hike at Rialto Beach, the next day we decided to visit another nearby beach slightly to our south called Ruby Beach.  We had read this was a beautiful and easily accessible beach.

When we left the campground at Forks it was a bright sunny day with a temperature around 80.  At Ruby Beach we walked down the short trail from the parking lot to the beach and we were very disappointed to see a heavy marine layer which prevented us from seeing more than a quarter of a mile. 

We saw lots of driftwood and a creek by the name of Cedar Creek flowing into the ocean.  In the middle of Cedar Creek was a rather unique sea stack.  Geomopology – Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/Sea-Erosion-Landform_fig57_322951064 [accessed 11 Aug, 2018]

Usually sea stacks are only found in the ocean but this one was in the creek water and had two holes worn in the middle.  

We walked around for awhile and sat on some driftwood but didn’t stay as long as planned since the mist got worse, reducing visibility to about an eighth of a mile. After we drove a short distance from the beach it was once again bright sunshine and warm. 

On the way home we stopped at two unusual trees located on state land.  One was named Duncan Cedar and is the world’s largest western red cedar with a height of 178 feet and a diameter of 19.4 feet.  The tree is still living and has a little green at the top but it certainly was not a very pretty tree and had seen better days.  But the old fella deserved a visit and our respect. 

The other tree was a very unique twisted tree, we took a picture of both sides of the tree.  

We found geocaches at both trees.

Bill and I were talking the other day about the fact that the west coast of the United States does not have thunderstorms like the east coast.  We have been on the west coast all spring and summer and have not had a single storm with lightning and thunder. I did a little research and it all has to do with the Pacific Ocean being so cold and the air in the west being so dry.

On a different note there has been quite a lot on the local Seattle TV news about the shrinking number of Orca whales in the Bay of Juan de Fuca.  Researchers say it is due to noise from boats and a dwindling food supply due to overfishing  being the greatest factors.  For several days every night on the news they were discussing one whale they were keeping an eye on who was losing considerable weight. They estimated she only has days to live and were trying to figure out ways to get salmon to her without other sea life eating it. You might have also seen on the news about another mother whale whose baby died.  She pushed the dead baby around for many days, refusing to accept it was dead. We learned that whales give birth to one offspring every one to six years. This mother whale was really grieving. So sad.

Next up:  A visit to the rainforest. In Washington state???