First Backpacking Excursion: Rialto Beach

We have been dying to camp. Campgrounds around the Peninsula and throughout the National Park have slowly begun to open, but with that comes crowds and tourists. We've decided to do our best in avoiding the main crowds, including finding off-the-beaten-path trails, and scouting out opportunities to enjoy the wild outdoors all the while social distancing. We fell on dispersed camping and permit camping: Enter beach backpacking excursion.

We only have one solid backpack for backpacking, so we had to borrow one from a friend and then converted our travel bag into a backpack, since that is what it is made for. Brad carried most of the gear and we readied ourselves for the adventure of backpacking and beach camping on the coast.

Now, this is not our "official very first beach camping backpacking trek": I need to clarify. Back when Madelynne was just 7 months old, we took her on her first trek to Cape Alava, which you can read about there. But as a family of four, with an older Madelynne and an eager to see the natural world Jaxson, and me, actually carrying a backpack with weight, it was real enough for us to test out what a short excursion to the beach would entail, how our kids would do, and if we could do longer treks in the future.

So Rialto was our choice. The weekend promised beautiful, clear, weather. The tides were to be around negative one, and we were thrilled. We found a lone campsite on top of this overhang, behind a large lump of washed up drift-logs. The site was probably big enough for a two person tent, rather than the 4-man that Brad decided to lug out with us (note: probably didn't need it--extra weight and we could have easily fit in something much more compact). The spot was perfect. It was right at the base of the climb before journeying to Hole in the Wall, and the two sea stacks adjacent Hole in the Wall were perfect for low tide exploration. Plus, not many people venture the entire route down to that end, so the crowds were not too terrible.

The weather: well, that was a love-hate relationship. The average temperature was about 60 degrees, maybe mid 60s, so relatively pleasant. The marine layer, however, only ceased on Saturday afternoon for a few hours, but that bugger stuck around the entire weekend. So my envisioning of beautiful sunset pics and starry night milky way captures was obviously not happening. That was the disappointing part. However, it didn't deter us from exploring tide pools, seeing the resurgence of the starfish population after suffering from the starfish wasting disease, and playing endlessly on the beach. We had a wonderful bonfire directly on the beach. We enjoyed laughter, fun, and just enjoying our excursion as a family.

It's always an adventure!