In case you’re just tuning in, this is part 2 of our “Winter Olympics” hiking trip to Shi Shi Beach in Olympic National Park. Here’s part 1 in case you missed it.

The previous day, we had hiked down to Point of the Arches for a closer look and we’d gone too early in the day. The tide was still too far in, which meant it was still mostly covered up by water. We would have had to hang out there in the rain for 3-4 hours to wait for the tide to go out enough to explore it in the way we wanted to. We’d opted to walk the mile or so back to camp and to return to Point of the Arches the following day. It’s a really good thing we did because the return trip at low tide was an absolute highlight of our trip!

On this day we set out from our camp after lunch, as low tide was predicted to be in the late afternoon.

One of the highlights of our 2020 trip to the Olympic Coast, was getting to see the tide pools, and particularly the starfish and sea anemone. If you’ve been out that way, you’ll know what I mean. This is not something we routinely get to see in the Southeast US, and we find it to be exceptional and exciting! One of the reasons we wanted to wait until low tide to explore point of the arches, was to hopefully get to see more sea creatures. We were on constant lookout for wildlife.

Hopefully, if you’re reading this, you’re ok seeing *nature* even if it’s kind of the opposite of a sunset.

As we walked, we scanned the beach for rocks and whatnot. We came to a 2nd very small creek that we needed to cross, and Shannon said “This one is called Willoughby creek! “This thrilled me to no end because Willoughby is special to me.

• Side note – My Great-Grandparents were Hazel and Jim Willoughby. Jim came over on a ship from Cornwall in the early 1900’s with a couple of his brothers. They were copper miners, and were looking for better opportunities in the US. They settled in Calumet, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula which is in an area*famously* known as “Copper Country”. Somehow through a long series events, the women in the family have become known as the Willoughby Sisterhood. It started when some of us were reading Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells. Anyway, as Jim and Hazel had no sons, the daughters and grand-daughters and great-granddaughters (and beyond ) want to keep the name alive because we love it.

At Willoughby creek, Shannon found the greatest find of all. He found a piece of a vintage Japanese glass fishing float. We knew it was really old, and that link says that they were made from the 1840’s to the 1940’s. We found it absolutely amazing that he found something like this that is prized by collectors! Modern glass balls that are intact are said to be replicas, and it is believed that the Japanese glass floats are the only ones that remain.

As we got close to Point of the Arches, we could tell immediately that the tide was out a lot farther than the day before. Also, the clouds had completely moved out and we had a beautiful, clear sunny day! In February!! The first thing we saw was this interesting geological rock formation, that presented like lines of rocks. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like it but evidently, it has to do with it being located near the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate. As I’m writing this, I searched out some more info and I don’t know enough about geology to be able to make sense of it. I read that it’s the “youngest continental arc” and also that it’s the “hottest end member among subduction zones worldwide”. Here’s hoping that you can make sense of it on your own. There’s also a Juan de Fuca Ridge that plays into the current geology. And this is where I leave you to read about it if you want to know more.

I was in awe as I’ve never seen anything like it. In the center photo above, there’s a round rock that’s sort of stuck in the middle of some square ones. Here’s a video of Shannon explaining to me how he believes the rock became round among the squares.

Next, we wanted to get a closer view of the rock we’d been looking at from our campsite. Shannon is standing about 50 yards from it in the photo below and needless to say, it was much larger in person.

As we got closer, we realized there were some caves in the rocks that we could explore a little bit

This is where I’d like to remind you, in case you’d forgotten, that I had/have an injured ankle. I’m actively nursing and being treated for some long-standing tendonitis that is giving me a really hard time. Scrambling over the rocks this time was more of a challenge because of it. At first I was trying to “be good” and “rest” my ankle but the adventure of discovery in this place overtook me completely and I decided to ignore my wise mind and fully immerse myself in the moment. I heard Shannon call out “come look at this!”

We were excitedly exploring all around the rocks, and Shannon was considering trying to get all the way around the inside of the bay beyond Point of Arches. This spot is completely impassable at anytime other than low tide.

While he scrambled over the seaweed rocks, I watched the little crabs and fish in the tide pools around him

As the tide receded further and further, there were more and more rocks uncovered. Most of the newly un-covered rocks were completely covered in barnacles like this:

After some time of exploring the newly un-covered rocks, I heard Shannon yell “Starfish!” This is when the starfish started to appear and boy did they ever!!!! Wherever the starfish are – there are also the beautiful green anemone. I cannot begin to express how much fun it was to discover each and every starfish and anemone we found! We were both excitedly pointing and saying, “look! Another one!” It was so much fun!

When we’d first gotten to Point of the Arches, we’d seen and heard these black oystercatchers. From that link: ‘The black oystercatcher is the signature bird of the rocky intertidal coastline. It is a permanent resident on all five islands in the park, being restricted in its range, never straying far from shores and particularly favoring rocky shorelines……. It hunts through the intertidal area, searching for food visually, often so close to the water’s edge it has to fly up to avoid crashing surf” They were first standing on some rocks that had just been uncovered by the tide, and seemed to be eating whatever is inside the casings of the barnacles on the rocks. As the tide receded, it was fun to keep watching them and to see that the rock they were feeding from hid some starfish. I loved this scene so much, and also loved that the pair were completely un-bothered by our presence.

After we’d found each and every starfish and anemone near Point of the Arches, we walked out onto the beach, and I noticed a bald eagle sitting up on a rock. We watched it for awhile until it took off in flight. It flew around the rocks in a way that was completely captivating. A dramatic backdrop for this giant majestic bird-of-prey. I kept focused on it because I wanted to see it catch a fish, but that’s not what happened. It made a big loop and picked up a 2nd bald eagle and they flew back toward us.

The pair of eagles landed together on top of a rock in such a way that we could see them both fully. They were poking and stomping around on what appeared to us to be a nest. We believe that we found ourselves a nesting pair of eagles!

After we’d had our fill, we headed back to camp. Another next level sunset to end our day.

The next morning we decided to hike out a day earlier than planned. Rain was expected later in the day, and it was expected to continue raining all day the following day, which is when we’d originally planned to hike out. Shannon’s pack was way too heavy to take on rainwater. Also the trail back to the parking lot had the potential to be super muddy and wet in a way that was hazardous to *yours truly* with the injury.

Shannon prefers for me to mostly stay out of the way while he’s packing up camp. The morning we left, I was sitting by the fire pit burning some paper to reduce the amount of trash we had to carry out, and drinking hot chocolate. I was looking out at the water and ya’ll….I saw a whale launch itself strait in the air and “breach” the surface -right where I was looking!!! I screamed and yelled “I just saw a whale breach!” I was not holding my phone, so I grabbed it and hurried to the edge of our campsite with Shannon right behind me. Lo and behold it launched itself again and we saw it breach the surface! This time I caught it on camera.

• Side note – on the way here we stopped by the Olympic National park visitor center and talked to a park ranger who told us she’d never seen a whale “from the shore”. She’d only ever seen them on whale watching tours. This made it all the more unexpected.

We stood there for 10-15 minutes watching the whales breach a couple more times, and also watched them “blow’ or “spout. Turns out both of those terms are correct according to the blowholes Wikipedia page. There are story boards and resources all over this area that describe the different species of whales and how their particular puff of water out of their spout looks. We were too far away to be able to differentiate. Here’s a video of two whale spouts, one at the beginning of the video and one toward the end. They’re both slightly to the left of the triangle rock.

The hike out wasn’t bad. Well it wasn’t bad for me. Shannon didn’t want my pack to be too heavy which meant that he carried out most of the weight. I think I had some dirty clothes, toiletries, and a couple of plastic bags. Shannon carried all our gear plus 25Lbs of rocks we found on the beach. Let’s compare his pack to mine

The 3.5 mile hike out was about a mile in the sand along the beach, and then another 2.5 miles on the trail to the parking lot.

I know I’ve mentioned before that after a few days of eating dehydrated hiking meals, we usually come out wanting something hearty. I usually want a cheeseburger and a regular coke. Shannon is nice enough to go with my food cravings in these circumstances and had me search out the closest burger joint. As we were still on the Makah Reservation, we headed over to Neah Bay to Bigginz Burgers and Seafood! This cheeseburger was everything I wanted it to be! It was excellent! We ordered burgers and fries and cokes, and ALSO a fried seafood platter to snack on in the car. We have no regrets at all whatsoever – it was outstanding!

After we ate, we drove back to the Holiday Inn Express in Sequim before heading back to Seattle for Valentine’s Day. I’ll tell you all about it next!

And because we can’t let you leave disappointed, here’s a blooper reel for your amusement.