Ruby Beach

Ruby Beach is the northernmost and most visited of the coastal beaches within Olympic National Park, and one of the most photographed wilderness beaches in the Pacific Northwest. Located where US-101 meets the Pacific Coast after passing through the Hoh Rain Forest, Ruby Beach greets visitors descending a short forested trail with a scene of extraordinary wildness: an enormous field of bleached and weathered driftwood piled above the tide line, multiple sea stacks rising from the surf, and a vast expanse of dark gray-brown sand stretching in both directions beneath towering spruce and fir-covered headlands.

The "ruby" in the name comes from the garnet and ruby-colored gemstones that were historically found in the dark sand — though the concentration has diminished with coastal erosion over time, the name endures. The beach itself spans about a half-mile of accessible shoreline from the main parking area, with excellent tidepooling around the bases of the sea stacks at low tide, where sea urchins, sea stars, anemones, and hermit crabs are commonly observed. The combination of old-growth temperate rainforest immediately behind the beach and the raw Pacific wilderness makes Ruby Beach feel genuinely remote despite being visible from the highway.

Ruby Beach is located within the Olympic Wilderness section of the national park — a designation that means no development, no food services, and no overnight camping at the beach itself (backcountry permits required for coastal backpacking). The experience is deliberately primitive: a short forested boardwalk from the trailhead parking lot, then open beach in both directions. Photography at sunset when the light catches the sea stacks and the driftwood casts long shadows is among the most rewarding landscape photography experiences on the entire Pacific Coast.