Let me be your guide

Welcome to my first personal blog spot, OPtopian, a name I came up with to describe a person who lives on the Olympic Peninsula in this western Washington state of mind.
The much greater Olympic Peninsula runs from Brinnon to Kalaloch (Hood Canal to the Pacific Coast) and from Port Townsend to Quilcene, Discover Bay, Sequim/Blyn/Dungeness Valley to Port Angeles, Joyce, Forks, Clallam Bay and Neah Bay.
While the rim of OPtopia is where most of the people live, the heart of the Peninsula is Olympic National Park and its sister park, Olympic National Forest, with more than 1,000 miles of hiking trails between them.
I moved here more than 15 years ago, finding a safe haven to raise three daughters, far from the East Bay Area of Northern California and Dallas, Texas, where I last worked at daily metro newspapers.
Today, I work for the Peninsula Daily News, which covers all the above-mentioned Olympic Peninsula communities.
I love living here. From my home I am blessed with spectacular views of Hurricane Ridge to Blue Mountain on the south and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, north to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in Canada.
I invite you to visit the Olympic Peninsula. Have a question? Email me at jchew@olypen.com.

Ruby Beach

This is one of my favorite places on the Peninsula's Olympic Coast.

On our first trip to the coast, I took my daughters there and we saw our first gray whale. Unfortunately, it was a 20-foot-long carcass washed up on the beach. Seagull were perched upon it, picking away. Massive bones were beginning to protrude from the blubber and the stench of decomposition was offset only by a sweet ocean breeze.

We wondered how the sea took the beautiful once-floating mammoth . . .

To get to Ruby Beach, travel south on Highway 101 from Forks to the coast and follow the signs. It is southwest of the Hoh Rain Forest and inside Olympic National Park.

So named for the pinkish sand composed of tiny red garnet crystals, Ruby Beach is easily accessible via a 0.2-mile trail off Highway 101’s scenic coastal stretch south of Forks and the Hoh Rain Forest. It's a wide sandy beach ideal for walking and an easy three-mile beach hike to the mouth of Hoh River. Ruby Beach, with a meandering creek near the entrance trail’s end, is known for its spectacular sea stacks — spires of stone with trees and vegetation growing on them — just off shore. Tidal pools filled with brightly-colored sea urchins, anemones and starfish also dot the shoreline. Caves, colorful cliffs, magnificent sunsets and plenty of driftwood can be spotted along the shoreline. A large parking lot with rest rooms can be found on the bluffs at the end of the entrance road. Directions: 27 miles south and west of Forks off Highway 101.