Camping on the Ocean

In mid-August, we went out to Shi-Shi Beach and took our first backpacking trip. While we've camped before, it has always been car-camping, where we drive to a campsite and unload. This is the first trip we took where we packed it all on our backs and hiked to the campsite. It was a 2-mile hike to the beach, and then we walked another 2 miles down the beach to find a nice spot. It's a popular beach for camping, there were probably 40 groups there, but spread over the 2.5 miles of beach meant we had no one within 100 yards of us and a nice stretch of sand in front of us.

We brought frisbees and cooked freeze-dried pasta, beef stroganoff, and chicken and dumplings, along with hot dogs and (of course) roasted marshmallows. It was a HEAVY load for all (we packed our water in rather than relying on filtering the streams running into the ocean) but it was downhill on the way in. The hike had lots of mud to slog through, but a beautiful trip through the forest to the beach.

The ocean was beautiful with rock stacks along the coast and a series of rock arches at the end of the beach, about a 10-minute walk from our campsite. The water, even in August, was far too cold to swim in, though we did see several otters swimming in the current, along with an eagle soaring above. A great trip!

The group before setting out on the hike

Arrivign at the beach

Jack and Henry walk ahead to scope out a campsite

Point of Arches

Joseph used his Civil Engineering training to construct a model of
the Seattle skyline in the sand

Time lapse of the sunset from our campsite!

Long video of the beach and campsite