Ruby Beach
US-101
Kalaloch, WA
The most photographed beach on the Olympic coast, where sea stacks and the dark hump of Abbey Island rise from sand faintly tinted red by crushed garnet.
Ruby Beach is the picture most people carry in their heads when they imagine the Washington coast: a broad strand scattered with sea stacks and driftwood, the dark, forested mass of Abbey Island rising just offshore, and mist softening the whole scene into something out of a dream. It is the northernmost of the Kalaloch beaches and the easiest of the great Olympic coast beaches to reach.
The beach takes its name from a quiet detail underfoot. Tiny grains of garnet, washed down by Cedar Creek, give the sand a faint reddish, ruby cast in the right light. Between that colored sand, the offshore stacks, and some of the finest sunsets on the coast, Ruby Beach earns its reputation as the most photographed shore in Olympic National Park.
What Guests Love
- The dramatic sea stacks and the tree-crowned bulk of Abbey Island
- The short, easy walk down to the sand from the highway
- Tide pools and driftwood tangles at the north end
- Fiery sunsets over the Pacific and the offshore rocks
Worth Knowing
- The short access trail can be steep and slick near the bottom, and the last stretch crosses driftwood
- Check the tide table; low tide opens the tide pools and the walk around the point, while high tide shrinks the beach
- The famous ruby tint of the sand is subtle and shows best in certain light, not a bright red
- Come layered for coastal wind and fog, and keep well back from sneaker waves and drifting logs
Details
Kalaloch, WA
Learn about Ruby Beach
Sea stacks and Abbey Island
The rocks standing offshore at Ruby Beach are sea stacks, the eroded remnants of a coastline that the Pacific has been slowly dismantling for ages. Waves attacked headlands until only these harder pillars remained, stranded in the surf and topped, on the larger ones, with wind-bent trees.
The signature landmark is Abbey Island, a tree-crowned hump of rock near the shore that anchors nearly every photograph of the beach. At low tide you can walk out close to it across the sand and explore the tide pools sheltered in its lee, where sea stars, anemones, and small creatures cling to the rock between tides.
The ruby in the sand
Ruby Beach is named for the flecks of garnet in its sand. Cedar Creek, which empties onto the beach, carries down grains of the reddish mineral, and where they concentrate they lend the sand a faint rosy tint, most visible in low, warm light near sunrise or sunset. It is a subtle thing, not a scarlet shore, but a lovely one once you notice it.
The creek also stains its own outflow a tea-brown with tannins from the forest, so the meeting of dark creek water, pale surf, and faintly red sand gives the north end of the beach a painterly quality. Add the piles of silvered driftwood the sea throws up, and there is texture everywhere you look.
A living, changing coast
Like all of the Olympic wilderness coast, Ruby Beach is protected within the national park and is home to a rich intertidal world. The tide pools reward slow, careful looking, and the offshore rocks are important seabird habitat, so this is a place to watch rather than disturb.
The mood shifts with the weather and the tide. Fog can wrap the stacks in mystery, storms can send spectacular surf against the rocks, and calm summer evenings bring glowing sunsets. Because the tide can quickly cut off the walk around the point, a glance at a tide table before you scramble out among the rocks is always wise.
The Kalaloch coast
Ruby Beach anchors the north end of the Kalaloch area, the stretch where Highway 101 hugs the ocean and a string of numbered beaches drop down to the surf. Just south, the small Kalaloch Lodge and campground sit on a bluff above the sea, and the famous Tree of Life, a spruce clinging to life over an eroded hollow, draws its own crowd.
Inland, the rest of Olympic National Park beckons: the mossy depths of the Hoh Rain Forest up a nearby river valley, and the wild driftwood shores of Rialto and the La Push beaches to the north. Ruby Beach makes a perfect first or last stop on a loop through this extraordinary corner of Washington.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Kalaloch
Kalaloch and the Tree of Life
About 5 miles south
A bluff-top lodge and campground above the ocean, and the much-photographed Kalaloch spruce that survives with its roots suspended over an eroded hollow.
Hoh Rain Forest
About 30 miles north and inland
A cathedral of moss-draped spruce, hemlock, and bigleaf maple along the Hoh River, one of the premier temperate rainforests in the country.
Rialto Beach
About 35 miles north
A wilder Olympic coast beach near La Push, famous for house-sized driftwood, offshore sea stacks, and the tide-pool arch at Hole-in-the-Wall.