La Push - Beach 2

Another glorious sunny day so we are off for another day at the beach. This time we headed to La Push to check out their beaches. We decided on Beach 2. There was a .7 mile hike through rain forest and something like 77 steps down to the ocean. Some of the steps were rather steep for short legs but with the help of my hiking poles, we got to the beach. When we got to the end of the trail, this was greeted us.

OK, we can turn around and go back up to the truck and try another beach or we can climb over the logs like the others on the beach did. Now, this quandary wasn't John's but was mine. I have a real fear of falling and injuring myself. It was such a beautiful beach that my stubbornness kicked in. I had John lead the way as we stepped on logs to get to the beach. A couple of logs were so large that I had to sit on them to get over them. I was doing well until I saw a snake on a log. OK, I freaked and although he appeared dead, I had John come over to knock him off the log so I could get by. John told me that if the snake moved, he was going to be gone! I'm glad it was dead or I might have been stranded in the middle of the logs. It was with great satisfaction and relief when I finally made it to the beach.

The beach was well worth the effort as it was beautiful. About two miles of shoreline with just a handful of people with gorgeous views of sea stacks (former headlands were erosion has worked its magic) and tide pools.

With the tide out, we were able to find many tide pools to see if we could find any sea life.
We were able to find several brightly colored starfish clinging to a rock just waiting for the tide to come back in.
Look at the beautiful lime green sea anemone.

After our tide pool experience, we decided it was time to eat the lunch we had brought in hopes of enjoying on the beach. We found a nice log to settle down upon, when all of a sudden John goes "we're out of here!" I looked down and saw a snake in the sand. Boy, I can pick them up and put them down pretty darn fast when I want. John followed carrying his hiking poles and mine. Oh yeah, I forgot all about them. We soon found another log and made sure there were no slithering things around and settled down for a nice lunch in the sun at the beach. Ah, this is living.

When it was time to head back, we had to go back the way we came. We found an easier (shorter) path over the logs back to the trail. It was with another sigh of relief when we made it back to the trail and there were no injuries. We ran in to another beach goer who was not so lucky. She had slipped on the sand and gave herself quite the knuckle-size lump on her forehead when she hit one of the logs. She said she should have brought her hiking poles. I told her that I wouldn't have tried going over the logs without them as they helped me balance quite well. I told her that we have learned to pretty much take them with us on any hike because you just don't know when they will come in handy. She said she had learned her lesson.

The trip up the 77 steps went quicker and easier than we thought it would have. From Beach 2 we decided to drive over to Rialto Beach.