Even before I moved to Seattle in the fall of 2000, I had set my sights on a long hike up the beach on the northwest coast of Washington but 6 years later and I haven’t been north of Long Beach.

It occured to me yesterday while watching the Seahawks squeak by the Cowboys that I have a unique opportunity to do some exploring and shouldn’t pass it up. So starting in a few hours, I’m taking the first Edmonds to Kingstong Ferry and am hitting the Peninsula. The plan is to not have a plan. I have no idea where (or even if) I’ll be sleeping, or where I’ll go. For safety reasons and to keep my family from freaking out and calling the coast guard at noon today, here is my rough draft:

1) Monday: Rialto Beach to Hole in the Wall (low tide is at 9:54 am), will likely stay somewhere in Forks
2) Tuesday: Point of the Arches & Shi Shi beach
3) Wednesday: Ozette Loop?
4) Thursday: Crescent Lake?

The weather? I’m not looking for a sunny day here. Meteorologists are expecting a pretty good storm to roll in off this part of the coast tomorrow afternoon and I’m hoping to see some pretty impressive surf. Other than mist, most of the rain forms between the beach and the Olympic Mountain foothills 20 miles inland, that being said, I’m still expecting to get extremely wet.

Point of the Arches from the air

I’m taking my good cameras and hopefully there will be some decent pics here in a few days.