Ruby Beach

Beautiful rugged wild beach
Do not miss this amazing place I could sit on the driftwood and rocks all day and stare at the ocean
It’s a short walk down to the beach from the car park which is easy but when you get down there you have to climb over lots of driftwood to get to the beach and it’s a bit tricky so wear sturdy shoes

Be prepared to have your breath complete taken away by these amazing views and rock formations. I saw a ton of photos taken at Ruby Beach as I planned for this trip, but nothing could have prepared me for seeing this in person. I was completed in awe at this incredible location.
I could spend the rest of my life wandering here.
This is, hands down, at the top of my «must see» spots in Washington.

Beautiful. Only open during day light hours– wish we would have gotten here earlier but glad we got to see it! There were bathrooms available.

We visited back in July of 2015 so this review is long overdue! (thank you Richard R for inspiring me to finish!)
As a first-​time visitor to the rugged beauty of the Northwest and its coast line, I can tell you the beauty totally sucked me into a vortex of total awe and amazing disbelief as I drove along Hwy 101 on a one-​day insanity-​spree to see everything there was to see… short on time, due to itinerary, to this totally amazing place! I’ve never seen anything like Ruby Beach… its sheer, rugged wild beauty. It’s simply breath-​taking.
The Hoh Rainforest is not far from this place, and I was glad I decided to drive here as I was sorely tempted to just drive back to the hotel after an all-​day affair (super tired). We were able to squeeze Marymere Falls, Rialto Beach, Forks, the rainforest and Ruby Beach in one day. I wouldn’t recommend this route, but we were able to do it in one day and I’m glad my all-​day trip ended at Ruby Beach, one of the most magical places I’ve ever been in the world (and I’ve been all over, including Egypt, Isreal and Europe).
If I missed Ruby Beach I would never have the memories I do now and this is the top ten of my life experiences!
If you are from Hawaii, you’d think it very strange to drive straight into a tall stack of trees to get to the beach, but that’s how it is on the Olympic Peninsula. We drove straight into some woods and were greeted with a beautiful sight of the ocean and the majestic ocean in front of us.
It’s a short hike down from the dirt parking lot on an unpaved dirt path down to the beach but after that the magic unfolds.
The grand panoramic vista unfolds in front of you as you descend from the parking lot onto the pebble and rock-​strewn beach with a large pond to your right and the Pacific Ocean stretched out before you on the left with a view of the tall islands and sea-​stacks standing tall, magnificent and proud in the distance. Miles of dark sand stretch ahead of you and miles of pebbles and rocks behind as you look up into the sky and see eagles soaring overhead. Breathe it all in. It’s magic and it’s beautiful and it fills your lungs with such capacity that you feel like you are going to burst… that’s how free and beautiful this place is.
I fell asleep on the rocks for about two hours on a towel while my son built a ‘fort’ of rocks around me while the sun went down (it was still light out at 8 PM in the summer). I woke up refreshed, and although I slept on rocks, I’ve never felt more invigorated after a nap in my entire life than I did here, at Ruby Beach.
I’ll let the photos do the talking as there are just no words to describe this amazing place.

Ruby Beach is breathtaking. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the Pacific Northwest.
It’s free to park here and roam around the trees and the beach. It’s a short, steep but not bad hike down from the parking lot to the beach. The seastacks are tall and strong with one rock about two men tall right on the beach. There’s driftwood galore, and campfires are allowed.
Ruby Beach gets its name from the way the red rocks in the sand glow from the sunrise/​sunset.
Near other beautiful beaches in the area on 101, this is a must see whether it’s sunny and warm or cold and stormy.

Two friends of mine who live in the Olympic Peninsula told me about this place and I had to see it for myself. Ruby Beach is along Highway 101 about 30 miles south of Forks. It is the first beach you will hit along this stretch of the road and the most picturesque. Ruby Beach stands out among the other Kalaloch area beaches with its prominent onshore arch, sea stacks, river draining to the sea, tunneled bluffs, washed up trees and more opportunities for diverse photos.
Ruby Beach is named for the reddish sand that occasionally gathers on the beach. I was hoping to see some but I didn’t see any when I was there.
People tend to congregate in the small area immediately at the entrance to the beach but few people tend to venture north of Cedar Creek and around the rocky bend.
Cedar Creek to the north by the big rocks is crossable at low tide and if you want you can trek approximately 3 miles north on the beach to the mouth of the Hoh River, one of the best places to see salmon and bald eagles on the southern coast. Make sure you know the tide schedules so that when you return you will be able to safely recross Cedar Creek. The creek may be swift and the high tides may further add to the complication of you reaching the path back to the parking.
Traveling south is an easier trek as the beach widens on flatter, finer sand. It tapers to a razor thin headland that can only be rounded at low tide, about a mile and half from the beach entry point at Ruby Beach.
This is the kind of place that is beautiful at any time of the year. I will definitely be back.

Absolutely breath taking! stick your feet in the pacific, walk across the smooth river stones, feel the ice cold water of the rivers flowing down the beach to meet the ocean. I could have spent an entire day here, it was just so pretty and peaceful. Another big plus for dog lovers was that dogs are allowed here!

So beautiful and breathtaking I been to beaches in Virginia, and California but this one is my favorite. I just love the atmosphere and feeling I get.

This is a Beautiful beach to spend Time with the family, we loved it very much. The sand is super soft and we had a perfect day! We wish that parking was a little better, but everyone was polite and nice, so that helped. I like that it has a smaller pool for kids to play in. The first view you get while coming down is breathtaking. Maybe fix the fence a bit! Looks like many have used it to stand. So changing the boards every once in a while would make it sturdy and better! Over all Beautiful! A definite Must See!

Great place to view some impressive Pacific Northwest coastal nature.
I almost prefer it to be raining and windy when I visit, mostly because it captures the intense weather that’s shaped the coastal landscape!

One of the most special places ever. The way the tide comes way in and then recedes wayy back was new to me. I’ve never been to beaches that had HUGE rock mountains right at the shore, that you can go inside of like caves and watch the waves violently crash up against and then the tide rushes and pools into the scramble of rocks and rushes back into the ocean just as quickly. The tidepools weren’t as interesting to look at as Cannon Beach because there just wasn’t as much living, but there are still tons of mussels and some anemones. Walk along the beach and you’ll find a bunch of dead tree logs that have been washed over by the sea and pools of water that have formed small lakes up on the shore. Pretty striped and colored rocks everywhere, too. Magical. A great place to come and think and feel inspired.

This is the first time I have seen Ruby Beach on a sunny, calm day. No heavy waves crashing into the shore, no dark skies making me feel like the world is coming to an end. This is such a stunning place on the coast that I can never drive past Ruby Beach.

This is likely the best beach on the Washington coast. I can only think of better beaches I’ve seen in Oregon.
We stopped here in January and while it was freezing, the sun was out and it was gorgeous. We found many sea urchins in the tide pools for my daughter to look at, but apparently the sea stars have a disease and they are dying out. We hope some marine biologists are able to help the sea stars! Regardless of that, there is plenty of open beach to explore and enjoy, and it was not very crowded at all. Definitely a very northwest experience –you will have to trek through the woods to get down to the beach, and you may need to wade through a stream once you’re there.

Shared a truly once in a lifetime experience with the travel honey here. Pictures don’t do this place justice.
The fact that we came on a misty fall afternoon made it that much better. If I never make it back there the memory will last a lifetime.

Gorgeous coast line. A must see. Just a short walk down from the parking lot with breathtaking views the whole way. A must see!

We stopped by this beach on the way to Hoh Rain Forest, and I have to admit, I might have liked this beach more than the rainforest.
The beach is pretty easy to access: park in the parking lot, and walk down the path for a few minutes to the beach. The sea stacks will remind you of Cannon Beach in Oregon, but I like this beach better. Although Ruby Beach has lots of rocks on it (at least until you get to the water’s edge), there are more things to see and climb over: rocks, caves, etc.
If you are on the west coast of Washington, then you definitely have to stop at Ruby Beach.

I have visited this beach twice. The first time, by myself late last October, and then again this past weekend.
The first time I went, I was mostly just looking for a nice beach to walk around and take sunset pictures on, and I was not disappointed. I took dozens of sunset pictures of what couldn’t have been a much better landscape. There were a lot of ducks swimming around the Ocean, ducking under the constant waves, and it was entertaining to watch and photograph them.
The second time I went, I wanted to show a friend who was visiting the area, a cool Pacific Ocean beach, and that I did. We spent a couple hours exploring the tide pools north of the entrance from the parking area, and it was a lot of fun! At first, I was excited to see hundreds of tiny clams suctioned to the rocks near the edge of the tides, and saw a couple sea anemone. However, after going further North, I saw hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of clams all over the huge rocks, from the ground up to several feet high. It was quite amazing. I saw several starfish, and hundreds of sea anemone. Plus, we found about a dozen shells there.
There are so many wonderful opportunities for photographs there! I recommend bringing a change of socks or some sandals, as there is one area that can be hard to cross without getting your socks and shoes soaked, and the water is quite cold. Also, I recommend going when the tides are lower, as you can go much farther towards the Ocean to the better Rocks (which is where the great tide pools are). You can find out what the tide schedule will be at the nearest Visitor Center. I also recommend having a sunset picnic on the beach if you have time, you won’t be disappointed!
For those interested in photography, this is your chance for some wonderful sunset photos! If your camera has the feature, I’d set up your DSLR camera on a tripod, focused on where you think the sunset will be spectacular, with some of the large boulders sticking out of the ground as a backdrop, and set it to take pictures in intervals. That way, you can get a spectacular time lapse of the sunset, while you just sit on some driftwood or a rock, and enjoy the serene sunset.
The beach is all the way west, and is only a tenth of a mile walk from the parking lot. The beach itself is not wheelchair or cane accessible, as you must climb over some driftwood and a lot of rocks to get to the sand part. However, there are benches from which you can watch the sunset, at a couple spots on the «trail.»
Warning: I highly recommend not using the bathrooms there, unless it’s an emergency. Looking back, I should have just found somewhere behind the enormous rocks and peed, instead of going in those bathrooms. They lack ventilation and are nothing more than a johnny in the spot style trench in the ground. Absolutely rancid smelling!

Wow really spectacular introduction to the Northwest coast. We walked down through the tall trees to the rocky coast. Folks had placed stones on a falled trunk and created a horizontal cairn. Glacial remnants stranded off shore were home to seagrass, plants, trees. The waves’ relentless roll heightened my awareness and the ebb and creep of fog draped the monsters of the sea in mystery.

We came here specifically for this beach. We have visited many areas in Olympic National Park, but not Ruby Beach. I wanted to take pictures of the sunset. We arrived around 5 PM. There is a sign telling you it is ahead (even though I had the GPS AND I knew where it was from a previous visit when I passed by without stopping.) There are restroom facilities. Enter at your own risk.
It was about 45 degrees or so. We went down the trail that leads to the beach. You have to climb over driftwood to get to the beach. Cedar creek opens into the ocean as you come out of the trail. It isn’t that deep, but the current was rather swift until it spread out across the beach. We made our way out onto the beach after observing the creek.
My boys decided to play in the water by stomping, creating their own tide pools and running away from the waves. My 8 year old worked on overcoming his fear of heights by climbing on a huge rock that was part of a sea stack. He came back down — unassisted — with a huge smile on his face. I was very proud of him. Normally, if he gets up more than 5 feet, he freaks out and needs someone to help him down.
While they frolicked in the water and sand, I took the opportunity to snap some pictures of the sun, Abbey Island and the surrounding area. This beach has many different sized cobbles. I didn’t see any wildlife. We searched the tidal areas, but nothing. I’m not sure if it’s the time of the year or perhaps just bad luck. We found lots of wildlife in the tidal pools of Kalaloch Beach 4 back in September 2012. There is also a lighthouse in the distance. I could barely make it out, but I’m certain that is what it was.
The tide came in rather fast. It had covered the beach about 20 minutes after the sun had set. We had a wonderful time exploring and wandering around. Beautiful sunset and beach.

Excellent beach, especially during sunset. It’s a short 5-​minute hike, downhill, towards the beach.
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