La Push 9/26

I went to La Push likely for last ocean trip for the year, for the day. The conditions were a bit lumpy, the forecast was for 6-7’ swells @ 10 seconds, the steep waves made landing interesting but there was not much in the way of wind so it was for the most part manageable.

Launching right in front of the parking lot at First Beach was easy (its free as well), as there is some protection afforded by a jetty and James Island. Leaving the protection of James Island it was much rougher so I headed south to a series of rocks and sea stacks called “Cakesosta” on Google Earth. I found a big bunch of kelp between some wash rocks, was tying on a jig when a sea otter pops up right in front of me. Like all the sea otters I’ve seen on the Olympic Coast, it is extremely shy it takes one look and dives back down. After jigging around for a while, I find some chunky black rockfish but no lingcod in that particular reef/kelp patch.

Off the Olympic Coast there are a number of off shore rocks and islands with evocative, imaginative and sometimes descriptive names like “Giants Graveyard”, “Father and Son”, “Cake Island” and “Point of Arches”. They are cool to look at what can I say . I decided to check out some nearby rock formations and stowed my fishing gear and rockfish.

A few miles later and after Passing Third Beach, I spotted a water fall emptying right into the ocean and pedaled closer for a better look. All of a sudden another sea otter pops up in my line of sight as I am about to taking a picture of the waterfall, 4th picture down. The sea otter appeared to be eating for a few moments and tolerated me long enough to get a few pictures before diving down.

After the fishing and the touring I was heading in to ice my rockfish and play in the surf. I keep thinking how small the surf looks and it is indeed quite small so I lazily make my way in. The next thing I know I see a wave, much much bigger than anything in the past few minutes, coming right at me and there’s no alternative but to go for it. At this point I am strapped in with thigh straps and holding my paddle so I try to get some speed as fast as I can before the wave breaks. It must have been the adrenaline or something but the next few seconds went by very slowly and were memorable. The back of my kayak went up and up and up and I see the bow of my 16 foot kayak digging into the water. I lean as far back as I can but I see my kayak starting to veer to the right. At this point the wave starts to crumble on top of me and I lean hard and brace to the right. The wave shoves me sideways and my right leg pops out of the thigh strap but I am still onboard and sliding in sideways towards shore. One more brace and I land parallel to the shore, upright on the sand and cobble. What a great way to end the season!

Nice. Glad you got out there one last time. No place like it on the planet.

Cool Pics. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful!

Nice pictures, must add that to my list.