washington coast

oh where to begin. 
this post is so big it just might break the internet. 

It all started about two months ago.
A late night of conversation and dessert led to talk of adventure. 

Where to go. What to do. How to do it.

We decided we wanted to explore the Washington coast, you know, because it's so close to Utah (it's not. at all. oh well.)

We made travel plans, gathered gear, got time off work, and crossed our fingers for sunshine (it worked!)

Our day started at 4am when we loaded up the car and set out on our 1200 mile adventure. 

22 hours later, exhausted, delirious, and laughing at everything, we arrived. 

kind of. 

....we still had to hike. 

We  grabbed our packs, flipped on our headlamps and hit the trail in the wee hours of the morning.

Through the rain forest with shadows darting across the trail, we made our way down to the beach. As we got closer--we couldn't see it, but we could hear the roar and crash of the waves. 

We climbed up and over piles of driftwood, navigated our way around a dead whale (yes really), tossed up our tents and called it a day (we'd all been up for over 24 hours at this point....)

The next morning I woke up to this out my tent door

We ate our breakfast as the waves rolled in, loaded up camp and hit the trail again. 

breakfast:

at home I pre mixed rolled oats, almonds, coconut, chocolate chips, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and brown sugar. We boiled some water to add to our oats and threw in some cream packets I grabbed at the gas station.

We climbed up off the beach and into the rain forest. 

Every shade of green you can imagine--in every direction--with a leafy canopy overhead.

Back to the beach.....we basically had it to ourselves. We'd pass another hiker every now and then, a tent here and there, but for the most part, it was all ours. Bald eagles soared overhead and we even saw a deer run down the beach.....a deer! We see them every day here in the mountains, but it looked so odd and out of place on the beach to me.

We climbed over rocks trying to beat the tide rushing in.....and made it out salty and soaked up to our waists. 

We stopped for lunch in the sunshine where the forest met the beach and tried to take it all in...impossible.

lunch: 

smoked salmon and cream cheese on bagels

Rainforest, beach. Rainforest, beach. Repeat. 

We wove our way in and out for about 10 miles--crossing creeks, climbing ropes and feeling like we were in a foreign country.....it was just so....

beautiful, perfect......everything.

Camp.
We let our packs fall to the ground, shoulders and hips aching, but all the pain forgotten as we looked out over the bluff at our view of the ocean. It was all worth it.
We reluctantly dipped ourselves into the freezing creek for a quick wash and bundled up as the sun set. A fire was started, dinner was enjoyed as we overlooked the water.
Dinner:
I found a rice and bean mix to add boiling water to, and we put it in tortillas with some avocado and hot sauce. It tasted the like the best taco I'd ever eaten after a day on the trail.
We watched as the sun turned pink and sank into the sea, and then gathered around the fire to warm ourselves before bed.


Sleeeeeeeeep.
We had a fairly easy day of hiking planned--just 5 miles this day so we slept in and took it slow in the morning. Breakfast (oatmeal again) on the bluff, and then we packed up and headed out for our next campsite.

My favorite day.
( I blogged more of the details HERE, along with the craaazzzzzy sunset)
Our campsite was right in the trees, a few steps away from the beach. We hung out in the sand, acted like kids exploring in the beach grass and driftwood, froze ourselves in the ocean and played played played until there was no light left in the sky.
We gathered around the fire again with the best conversation and stories and laughter while we ate our late night dinner.

lunch in the sand: 
apples, pistachios, jerky, Probars.
dinner around the fire: 
good old fashioned "just add water" soups. Teriyaki and Szechwan raman. 
Surprisingly delicious after a long day, and so easy for a quick late night meal.

We woke up the next morning, still a few hours of hiking left to do, but just a little bit heavy hearted that we had to say goodbye. I fell in LOVE with this place.
To say it was magical would be completely cheesy......but so true.

all photos taken on the coast of Olympic National Park in Washington.
50mm f/1.4. I felt limited that I couldn't shoot wide but I wore my camera the WHOLE time--it was so much lighter and smaller as I was climbing up ropes and crossing creeks than one of my bigger lenses would have been.
I'd like to thank my lovely and talented model friends and husband for letting me have my camera on them non stop. Robby, Mike & Ali, Shane & Monica you're the best.

other snacks:

chocolate. so much dark chocolate every night before bed. it just tasted so good.
lara bars. 
almonds. 
apples. 
THIS jerky is awesome
we had extra tortillas from our tacos and I had brought some small packets of Justin's nut butter to put in the tortillas and we never ended up making them. 
dehydrated berries to eat with chocolate and put in our oatmeal.

This trip renewed me. To walk through a corner of the earth this beautiful....I just felt lucky. 
And to do it with the best of friends was even better. 
Robby and I haven't been on a trip together in years--it was so good to spend time together, and made me love and appreciate my kids so much more as I missed them.
I came home with a new appreciation for my family, a heart full of thankfulness, and a greater desire to live life more simply.

.....so.....a pretty good trip.

a sunset

We have spent the last few days backpacking on the Washington Coast....have you been to Washington? It's an incredible place. Are you from there? Lucky you!

Now I'm no world traveler, but I am most certain that the western half of United States is the absolute best place on Earth. We have it all--mountains, forests, deserts, plains, beaches.....I just love it out here and feel so lucky to call The West my home.

I have so many photos and stories to tell about this trip, and I first wanted to share this sunset and a few simple thoughts about the day we took it slow...

We'd hiked five miles this day. Down the beach, up cliffs into the rain forest and found the perfect campsite to call home for the night. We set up tents and spent a lazy afternoon on the beach, laying in the sand and dozing in and and out of conversation with friends. 

No phones, no gadgets, no service, no to-dos.

All clear.

We played ultimate frisbee on the beach, followed by a quick dip in the freezing cold ocean.

As the sun began to drop from the sky we headed out to the tide pools to explore the rocks and sea life.

Like kids we collected shells and stones to fill what little empty space we had in our packs. 

As the sun sank lower it bathed us in golds and oranges and pinks, and we stopped and watched it's final moments as it fell deeper, deeper, deeper, and was slowly swallowed up by the sea.

We made our way back to camp, the sky still pink and the sliver of a moon rising to replace the sun. 

Around the fire we ate and laughed until the moon chased the sun down into the ocean and thy sky was dark again.

A day with no schedule, no plans, nothing to do except just BE.

note: the real life sunset was exactly 1 million times prettier than these photos

I think this was the best sunset I have ever witnessed.....anytime, anywhere. 

It was in a beautiful place with best of friends and I was so happy I was able to stand there and be present in that moment, feet in the sand, eyes on the sinking sun.