Backpack - Rialto Beach to Chilean Memorial

Meet at 9 AM Friday on the front porch of the Olympic National Park Wilderness Information Center (WIC) at 3002 Mt. Angeles Road in Port Angeles, reached by heading west on US 101 to Port Angeles, turning left at Race Street, where a large brown sign directs you to Olympic National Park.  Continue up the hill on Race Street past where it becomes Mt. Angeles Road.  The WIC will be on your right at the south end of town.

At the WIC the leader will register the entire group, pay fees of $8 per night per person over 15 and pick up required no fee bear canisters for those needing them.  Approved bear canisters are required by Olympic National Park to hold all odor-emitting substances overnight.  They cannot be conveniently attached to the outside of a pack, so those  borrowing them will need to repack their gear so they can fit inside the pack.

We will caravan from the WIC to the backpackers' parking lot at Rialto Beach, reached by heading west from Port Angeles on US 101, turning right onto SR 110 and right again onto Mora Road.  The Rialto Beach backpackers' parking lot is at the end of the road on the left.  The drive from the WIC to the trailhead parking lot will take about 1.5 hours.   

The hike to our campsite at Chilean Memorial Cove will take about three hours and involve rounding two headlands with some boulder hopping after we pass through the Hole-in-the-Wall.   Chilean Memorial Cove has a nice beach where we camp on the sand beneath a monument to the sailors shipwrecked there over 90 years ago.

Our optional day hike on Saturday will take us around two headlands, involving some boulder hopping, and over a third before arriving at a long beautiful beach, where we can enjoy our picnic lunch while taking in the magnificent scenery.  There is little elevation gain in this trip, but the limited boulder hopping moves it into the moderate category.  

 We'll have an optional meal stop on the way home at the Hungry Bear Restaurant, on US 101, a short way east of the junction with SR 113, which is about a half hour drive from the trailhead.