We spent Labor Day weekend as it should be spent: not working. We took a ferry to the Olympic Peninsula, where we did three days of light hiking, first to Olympic Hot Springs, then to two beaches on the Washington coast. Olympic Hot Springs has 21 pools, so every group gets a private pool. The sulpher smell is very strong there, so it is easy to tell when you have reached the end of the 2.5 mile hike. Our pool was extremely hot, to the point that we couldn't put our whole bodies into the water, so we soaked our legs and splashed water onto the rest of our bodies. That's what I'm doing in the picture. On day two, we drove to Neah Bay and the Makah Indian Reservation. The Makah have a trailhead to Shi-Shi Beach on their reservation, which we used to reach the water. That afternoon, it rained heavily, so we visited the Makah museum. You may have heard about this tribe on the news, because they resurrected the traditional whale hunt a few years back. On the way out, we accidently discovered the unique burial customs they have developed. The Makah were Christianized a long time ago, so they use a mix of burial customs, most notably characterized by a large number of objects placed on the graves. They put everything from basketballs to bead necklaces on the graves, as you can see in the photo. On the final day, we went to Rialto Beach, where we hiked to Hole in Wall, which is a rock formation with, as you probably guessed, a large whole in it. There we saw enourmous driftwood, colorful sea stars and crashing surf. Note the beautiful rock formations that characterize the Washington coast. It will never be a resort area due to the ruggedness of the land and weather, but it is certainly beautiful.
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