Ruby Beach
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Location: North of Kalaloch, Jefferson County.
Length: About a mile.
Level of difficulty: Moderately steep trail leads down to this sand-and-cobble beach on the Pacific Ocean within Olympic National Park.
Setting: Ruby Beach, located at the northern end of the stretch of beaches in the Kalaloch area, gets its name from the reddish sand that concentrates there in occasional patches. The trail leads down to the beach through a coniferous forest, emerging where Cedar Creek empties into the ocean, flanked by piles of driftwood logs. Sea stacks lie just offshore, remnants of eroded headlands that were once part of the mainland. Signs near the parking lot describe the area's shoreline geology, and describe what to do in case of a rare tsunami.
Highlights: Abbey Island lies just offshore to the north, named in 1866 by a U.S. Coast Survey because of its supposed resemblance to an ancient abbey. Most islands along the Olympic Coast are part of a national marine sanctuary, a critical link along the Pacific flyway that also protects habitat for one of the most diverse marine mammal fauna in North America.
Facilities: Handicapped restrooms.
Restrictions: Leash and scoop laws in effect. No bikes. Have a tide table handy and don't walk past the narrow southern part of the beach when the tide is rising, or you'll get cut off. Use caution when walking the beach — occasional "sneaker" waves can reach much farther than the other waves and will soak your shoes or worse; be careful of driftwood logs floating in the surf.
Directions: From Interstate 5 in Olympia, take Exit 104 to Highway 101, then take Highway 8, which joins with Highway 12. At Aberdeen, take 101 north; the sign for Ruby Beach is eight miles north of the Kalaloch ranger station. Or, you can take Highway 101 around the north end of the Olympic Peninsula; Ruby Beach is about 20 miles south of Forks.
For more information: Call 360-565-3130 or see www.nps.gov/olym.
Cathy McDonald is coauthor with Stephen Whitney of "Nature Walks In and Around Seattle," with photographs by James Hendrickson (The Mountaineers, second edition, 1997).