Third Beach Backpack
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
My family’s photo books are filled with images from our annual trip to Third Beach. Each year my parents hauled three kids and all of our backpacking gear to the Washington coast for a few days by the ocean. Looking back, these trips are where my love for hiking and backpacking began, even if the 1.5 mile hike felt like the longest trip ever to a small kid. I remember the steps in the trail feeling as tall as I was, hiking through muddy puddles, and how exciting it was to get that first glimpse of the ocean from the trail. We spent our days wandering the sandy beach, chasing sand fleas, dipping our toes in the ocean, and looking for life in the tidepools. Third Beach was a place of wonder and joy.
Revisiting this place as an adult, it feels just as special. It is a rare gift, I think, to be able to go back to a place that was so formative. In the texture of the sand, the sound of the waves, and the taste of the tannin-y fresh water, it sometimes feels like time is not so linear for a few moments. The echoes of my childhood memories overlap with the present, like the waves that wash over each other at my feet.
This year, when an unseasonably warm forecast showed up in early May, I messaged hiking buddies to see who wanted to drive the 4.5 hours out to the coast on a weekday. I was joined by two friends who had never been here, and for one it was her first multi-night backpack ever.
The drive is long, as always, but conversation made the time pass quickly, combined with lunch on the way and the giant bags of cherries and grapes that Jenn had squirreled in her car. At the trailhead it was sunny and the light breeze smelled of the ocean. After getting our packs settled, and helping the new backpacker shove her borrowed things into a pack, we set off, and I was shocked once again to realize how short the hike to the beach is. That 1.5 miles feels like nothing now, after years of hiking steep and long trails all over Washington (and thanks to an adult’s stride length, too!).
Arriving on the beach is a reminder of how dynamic the environment is, especially along the coast. The driftwood is always piled in a new jigsaw puzzle to clamber over. And this year the slopes above the beach were slumped and had slid in many places, re-writing the pattern of the shoreline in a different way. With high tides forecast - +8.6 - we headed down the beach to look for a large spot that could fit our three tents. Thankfully, on a weekday there isn’t any competition for spots, so we could peruse half the beach observing the lines in the sand from the prior night’s high tide, and looking for a spot with the biggest margin between tents and the ocean.
Setting up camp is always one of my favorite elements of backpacking. There is something so fun, comforting, and peaceful about creating my little home away from home (minus the giant slivers in my finger from moving a small log, which took 30 minutes and a lot of patience to remove. Thank goodness I have excellent tweezers in my first aid kit). Once my finger was happy and the tent up, it was time to relax on the beach in the sun until dinner time. Leaning against a log and warmed by the sun, I was reminded how wonderful camping on the beach is. No bugs, comfy places to sit, and the pacific ocean twenty feet away.
The second day of our trip began with a laugh, and a lesson. When camping on the coast you are required to carry in bear cans (hard sided large plastic bins that are unwieldy and hard to fit in a backpack) to store all food and scented items. Even with a few reminders, our new backpacker forgot some snacks in a pocket deep in her pack. An easy mistake we’ve all made at some point early in our backpacking careers, but she got unlucky – during the night, a gaggle of marauding racoons raided camp. I heard something scrabbling around and fussing with my pot at midnight, but when the sound abated, I figured it had left. Little did I know, just out of my earshot the racoons had an absolute heyday unzipping every part of the pack (they have apposable thumbs!), tearing a few holes, and scattering her belongings over a ten-foot radius in search of the snacks. While I never want animals to get a food reward like this, I also didn’t want the new hiker to feel bad and the damage was already done, so we all found the humor in the situation and laughed about the muddy footprints on and how meticulously everything had been scattered about. And, I'm sharing this story here in the hopes that it might remind others to be really careful about food storage on the coast.
After rounding up all of the belongings and enjoying a leisurely breakfast, I worked on my first painting and my friends looked for creatures during the low-ish tide. After a winter focused on computer work and home-studio time, it was so exciting to finally be painting outside again.
The first painting I made looked out at the sea stack formation called the Giant’s Graveyard. This view, etched in my mind since I was a kid, felt extra special to paint and film for an upcoming class in my Adventure Art Academy program. No painting ever goes exactly as planned, and this one had sand embedded in the sky and some extra rocks to prove it, but I finished with a huge smile and a whole lot of gratitude. As a kid I never could have imagined that I would not only build a business, but also have the opportunity to go to places like this for work and share this experience with hundreds of people around the world.
With the painting done and the tide rising again, it was time to head south on the coast to explore further beaches. While the distance isn’t far, the hike is varied and exciting! After walking south on Third Beach you come to the first wood-rung cable ladder that leads you up the hillside and onto the forested headland. The ladders can be intimidating to folks who are afraid of heights, and I always bring a lightweight pair of garden gloves to protect my hands from the ladder and the frayed ropes tied to help you up. I learned from rangers later on this trip that they maintain the ladders, but the ropes are added by regular folks, so always take a look at how they are attached before trusting them fully.
Between the ladders and the magic of hiking into the headland forests and new beaches, this is one of the most fun days of exploration in Washington. It feels like such a unique adventure, and I loved sharing it with folks who had never been here.
My second painting, and part two of the watercolor lesson for the Adventure Art Academy, was made at a lovely spot between Strawberry and Toleak points. While my friends hiked farther, I sat down to paint! By this point the sun was high in the sky but filtered through an interesting cloud layer. While I love a bluebird day on the coast, there is also a very unique and striking beauty to a cloudy day where the colors of the beach change. I found myself fascinated by the hints of purple in the sky and the hazy blue-greens of the ocean. My painting focused on a single sea stack to anchor the patterns of clouds above and water below.
Near the end of my painting I looked at my watch, and the height of the ocean, in mild confusion. Hadn’t high tide occurred hours ago? Why was the water so much closer now? That can’t be right! Sure enough, I quickly realized that right as I started painting I’d looked at the tide chart and asked my friend what time it was. She accidentally gave me the wrong time, and we were now hiking back at high tide, with a short stretch of beach nearly under water. Since the larger and potentially dangerous headlands on our route back had bypasses around them, we decided to hop a few rocks and take our chances with wet feet instead of waiting for hours for the water to go down. Much hilarity ensued as we hurriedly made our way across the short stretch of rocks. Jenn in sandals had it easy, and with trekking poles I was able to balance and keep my feet mostly dry even with a shallow wave that washed over my ankle, thankfully repelled by my pants. Julie was not so lucky, and ended up with sodden boots, but was an excellent sport about it.
The rest of the hike back to camp was not nearly so eventful as we retraced our steps up and over the headlands. Arriving back at Third Beach, I was reminded how this is one of the premier beaches on the coast. The camp options are the best (if you like to be on the beach and not in the woods), and it is large and sandy and has stunning views. I happily settled back in camp for a warm dinner watching the sea stacks glow ever so slightly gold as the filtered sunlight deepened shadows and cast misty rays through the trees.
The next morning I woke up at 5am to birds chirping outside my tent. Knowing we had to hike out later that day, I hopped out of the tent to make the most of the time left on the beach. With hours before my friends woke up, I had breakfast and watched the tide go out and worked on a painting. While I added colors to the page I watched the distant headlands and sea stacks disappear in layers of grey cloud. As the rain got closer and closer my page took longer to dry, and I finished the painting just as the first misty raindrops fell, leaving little white stars in the pigment. The mist completed our suite of quintessential northwest weather, as it wouldn’t be a trip to the Olympics without at least a little bit of rain! After drying the painting in my tent for an hour we packed up and headed for home, waving farewell to one of my favorite places in the world.
I am always reluctant to leave the coast, and already look forward to returning!
