Rialto Beach north to Hole in the Wall

May 6, I drove to Rialto Beach northward to assess the area for overnight camping.  I arrived at the trailhead 4 hours before high tide (a moderate 6.5 feet).  I walked to Hole in the Wall, noting the softness of the beach in most areas.  A push-off at the end of a step did little beyond leaving a greater impression of one's forefoot.

A photographer trailed me by about 2 minutes.  I paused to let him catch me at Hole in the Wall.  We climbed over the headland trail and shot pictures from the other side, he with a Canon mega-SLR camera clamped to his carbon fiber tripod, me with my little Sony point-and-shoot screwed to my little tripod.  After a few shots, he proclaimed the light too "contrasty" and left for another planet.  I used a feature in the Sony called High Dynamic Range HDR, which shoots three frames, pulling out details in shadows and highlights, then reconstituting the way someone would in Photoshop.  Not too "contrasty."

Hole in the Wall

  

Standing in camp next to my clear tarp.  At night, it's an observatory.  At twilight, no other shelter gives as much light!  We can always use more light here in the Pacific Northwest.

Two hours before sunset, three men loitered on the beach just below my camp.  An hour later, five more men arrived--soon all eight had very large digital cameras on tripods.  All the shooters stayed long after sunset, shooting really wide angle (15-20 mm focal lengths) lenses on full frame 35mm digital cameras.  They shot using long exposures from 1 second on up.  I now clearly know that film shooting has died, unless one is a photography student or likes to shoot black and white film (maybe).

Because I had a history of photography with some expensive film gear, I felt a little self conscious with my little camera/tripod, but shot anyway.  I also looked at some of the shots the others made.  I began to understand photography in the Northwest as I had never done before in one word:  water.  What one does with water makes or doesn't make a photograph appealing.  If I didn't wish for a very expensive, heavy and capable camera, I wanted a neutral density filter to make my camera shoot at slower shutter speeds, even if my little Sony had no filter threads to accept one.  I'd have to hand-hold the filter, although I'd still have no control over depth of field nor would I have outrageous wide angles with the little Sony.  I'd like to use a polarizing filter sometimes too.  (but wait, someone makes both an adapter and a polarizing lens that attaches magnetically.  So clever!)

Great place for a tilting lens board!

Motion, stability and texture all in one?  Really.

Yes, so many photographers shot this hunk of rock, that if it lost a bit of itself from having its photo taken, this would be just a flaccid lump today.  You don't even have to hike two miles to get here.  

The sun had pretty much dropped beyond the horizon.  The camera meter took over exposure times

No!  Not again!!   Yes, again.  When at home viewing shots on my computer, I let Picasa do the hard work.  Yes, free software from Google, perfect for pictures shot with a little Sony camera.  The picture could use some more pimping--I just haven't learned that part yet.

On the next morning, I broke camp and walked further up the coast, traveling over soft sand, rocks, boulders and logs, again at high tide, taking two hours under changing skies to make 2 miles, bringing me to the Chilean Memorial, near where a schooner and crew of that nation went to Davy Jones' locker.  The memorial, a metal plaque mounted on a boneyard style headstone, sat on the beach, visible to anyone looking for it, with a few shrubs in front.  Getting a closer look I discovered stinging nettle.  The park service ranger who arrived confirmed the loss of the only campsite to a mudslide.  Recalling a forecast of rain for the next day, I turned back.  A little water makes for dangerous, slippery travel over logs and mossy rock.  As I walked back over the intertidal zone, my running shoes crushed small barnacles on the rocks on the way back to my camp at Hole in the Wall.  I set up camp and read more of Jonathan Goldstein's Ladies and Gentlemen:  the Bible.

A hiker with a large pack came from Cedar Creek (past the Chilean Memorial) bound for Rialto Beach.  He started at Rialto Beach and had sprained his ankle causing him to delay his departure for two days.  I forgot to ask if wet rocks or logs caused his mishap.

Evening brought more photographers, as part of a photo tour, and a few others shooting snaps.  The photo tour students included people from Massachusetts, Iowa and Italy.  Marc Adamus, said to have made the big time, led the tour.  He walked among his attendees, giving tips--he didn't have his own gear with him.  All stood in the water, getting cold and wet to the knees.  I didn't think to ask:  Why don't very many women shoot landscapes?  No interest?  What does it mean when a woman says, that's a beautiful photograph of that shore, forest, mountain, etc.?  Maybe they don't want/need more than to see the place, without spending a king's ransom for the gear to capture the essence?

The final morning brought a fine mist, barely wetting the tarp.  I cooked quinoa flakes with not enough cinnamon or sugar, packed my gear while under the tarp, took down the tarp and left for the car.  Along the way, I saw flat enough areas for maybe a half dozen fine campsites, three of which I poked around.  I like this place for a simple overnighter as well as for introducing a newbie to camping in the wilderness--a short hike, good campsites and many logs for firewood if one had the tools and desire to cut it.  I stopped at the Three Rivers Fishing Resort for their World Famous River Burger--I Googled that and saw they captured the top three results.  Someone knew their HTML coding.  Someone else knew how to make tasty burgers and yummy onion rings.

Then the rain began, quietly at first, building slowly, and then, it fell hard, as if it had been crossing its legs for two days (it was two days since the last rain).  Driving back to Aberdeen, I saw two women thumbing for a ride.  They looked clean.  Hailing from Belgium, one had worked as a ski instructor and the other as a painter in Vancouver, B.C. for two years, saving $ to travel.  They had stayed in Seattle free for three nights, couch surfing.  I drove them to the south end of Cosmopolis, where they hoped to hitch a ride to Astoria on southbound US 101.  One took a group selfie for their Facebook page.  I am now in positive balance by one for hitchhiking points.  

Notes to self:  

1. add side pullouts to the tarp to improve interior space;  
2. try one less side guy-line, i.e. 4 corner guy-lines and 2 side guy-lines;  
3. maybe make the tarp 2' wider, (9x10 final) to improve headroom.  
4. Shock cord the tarp pole, please
5. Check your water purification tabs before your next trip.  Maybe buy a Sawyer mini, or not.
6. You forgot the olive oil;  it was on your checklist!
7. add more spice to your food!
8. You ate three pounds over 40 hours, good job.  Eating by the clock wasn't so hard, was it?  Next time, eat a little bit more.
9. Frostline gaiters rode up back of right heel.  Sew a loop on shoe heels and button on gaiter?
10. Convert center release buckles on fleece shorts/legs to 20" separating zipper?
11. Maybe make insulated arm warmers to replace fleece warmers?

Corresponding file names for the above photos:  640 652 694 695 702 713a 725 736 747b.