Rialto Beach — Where the Park Meets the Pacific’s Full Force
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Transcript
Rialto Beach is a useful antidote to the idea that a shoreline is a fixed boundary. Waves, tides and storms constantly move sediment and reorganise driftwood. Offshore sea stacks are remnants of rock that erosion has isolated from the mainland.
Large logs on the beach can look picturesque, but they are evidence of the scale of coastal energy. Rivers deliver wood to the ocean; waves return it to shore, sometimes moving trunks that no person could safely shift.
The intertidal zone also changes character twice a day as the tide rises and falls. Organisms living here must tolerate immersion, exposure, salt, waves and rapid temperature change.
Olympic protects a long stretch of relatively undeveloped Pacific coast, but the park boundary is only one part of a more complicated cultural landscape that includes tribal lands and treaty rights. The wild appearance should not be mistaken for absence of human history. This coast has been travelled, harvested and understood for generations.