WHAT
As the sea retreats on the Park’s Pacific beaches, pools of sea water—tide pools—expose a variety of marine life. Purple, red or yellow starfish, spiny sea urchins, hard shelled limpets, anemones and crabs scuttling in the seaweed are just some of the delights that await you.
WHY
Tides that are low enough to expose these pools happen infrequently, and so proper timing is your challenge and exceptional access your reward.
WHEN
From March through September, 2018, tide pools will be exposed on the dates and times shown below. Dates and times that are red are considered exceptional days to view tide pools because they will be exposed for a minimum of two hours and up to three hours during those times. Times on the calendar include opportunities between 5:30 am and 7:30 pm daily.
| TIDE POOL DATES & TIMES | |
| March – October 2024 | |
| black=good / red=better | |
| PACIFIC BEACHES | SALT CREEK COUNTY PARK |
| MARCH (PST) | MARCH (PST) |
| Thur. 7, 4:30pm, -0.67 | None |
| Fri. 19, 5:13pm, -1.04 | |
| Sat. 9,5:54pm, -1.10 | |
| Wed. 13, 9:33am, -0.56 | |
| APRIL (PDT) | APRIL (PDT) |
| Mon. 8, 6:55am, -0.54 | |
| Tue. 7:41am, -1.30 | |
| Wed. 10, 8:26am, -1.68 | |
| Thur. 11, 9:13am, -1.65 | |
| Fri. 12, 10:02am, -1.26 | Fri, 12, 12:46pm, -1.47 |
| Sat. 13, 10:55am, -0.62 | Sat. 13, 1:36pm, -1.06 |
| Thur. 25, 25, 8:14am, -0.69 | Thur. 25, 11:00am, -0.86 |
| Fri. 26, 8:50am, -0.78 | Fri. 26, 11:36am, -1.20 |
| Sat. 27, 9:31am, -0.71 | Sat. 27, 12:16pm, -1.36 |
| Sun. 28, 10:17, -0.52 | Sun. 28, 1:02pm, -1.34 |
| Mon. 29, 1:54pm, -1.16 | |
| Tue. 30, 2:53pm, -0.85 | |
| MAY (PDT) | MAY (PDT) |
| Mon. 6, 5:53am, -0.77 | |
| Tue. 7, 6:39am, -1.68 | Tue. 7, 9:28am, -1.33 |
| Wed. 8, 7:25am, -2.23 | Wed. 8, 10:07am, -2.11 |
| Thur. 9, 8:10am, -2.37 | Thur. 9, 10:49am, -2.45 |
| Fri. 10, 8:55am, -2.14 | Fri. 10, 11:31am, -2.37 |
| Sat. 11, 9:42am, -1.64 | Sat. 11, 12:17pm, -1.97 |
| Sun. 12, 10:32am, -0.98 | Sun. 12, 1:05pm, -1.34 |
| Mon. 13, 1:57pm, -0.59 | |
| Wed. 22, 6:43am, -0.81 | Wed. 22, 9:25am, -1.03 |
| Thur. 23, 7:19am, -1.24 | Thur. 23, 9:56am, -1.60 |
| Fri. 24, 7:56am, -1.52 | Fri. 24, 10:32am, -2.01 |
| Sat. 25, 8:36am, -1.63 | Sat. 25, 11:12am, -2.23 |
| Sun. 26, 9:19am, -1.58 | Sun. 26, 11:55am, -2.26 |
| Mon. 27, 10:05am, -1.40 | Mon. 27, 12:43pm, -2.07 |
| Tue. 28, 10:55am, -1.08 | Tue. 28, 1:34pm, -1.65 |
| Wed. 29, 11:48am, -0.64 | Wed. 29, 2:27pm, -0.97 |
| JUNE (PDT) | JUNE (PDT) |
| Mon. 3, 7:49am, -0.59 | |
| Tue. 4, 5:39am, -1.53 | Tue. 4, 8:27am, -1.67 |
| Wed. 5, 6:27am, -2.16 | Wed. 5, 9:06am, -2.39 |
| Thur. 6, 7:12am, -2.46 | Thur. 6, 9:46am, -2.72 |
| Fri. 7, 7:57am, -2.45 | Fri. 7, 10:27am, -2.71 |
| Sat. 8, 8:40am, -2.19 | Sat. 8, 11:10am, -2.43 |
| Sun. 9, 9:24am, -1.75 | Sun. 9, 11:54am, -1.94 |
| Mon. 10, 10:08am, -1.19 | Mon. 10, 12:39pm, -1.31 |
| Tue. 11, 10:51am, -0.57 | Tue. 11, 1:25pm, -0.56 |
| Wed. 19, 5:41am, -0.62 | Wed. 19, 8:20am, -1.10 |
| Thur. 20, 6:21am, -1.23 | Thur. 20, 8:54am, -1.74 |
| Fri. 21, 7:01am, -1.73 | Fri. 21, 9:32am, -2.25 |
| Sat. 22, 7:42am, -2.08 | Sat. 22, 10:12am, -2.60 |
| Sun. 23, 8:23am, -2.26 | Sun. 23, 10:56am, -2.75 |
| Mon. 24, 9:06am, -2.24 | Mon. 24, 11:41, -2.64 |
| Tue. 25, 9:49am, -1.98 | Tue. 25, 12:27pm, -2.23 |
| Wed. 26, 10:33am, -1.48 | Wed. 26, 1:14pm, -1.45 |
| Thur. 27, 11:18am, -0.76 | |
| JULY (PDT) | JULY (PDT) |
| Mon. 1, 6:41am, -0.55 | |
| Tue. 2, 7:24am, -1.46 | |
| Wed. 3, 5:29am, -1.63 | Wed. 3, 8:07am, -2.05 |
| Thur. 4, 6:17am, -2.02 | Thur. 4, 8:49am, -2.35 |
| Fri. 5, 7:02am, -2.18 | Fri. 5, 9:31am, -2.39 |
| Sat. 6, 7:45am, -2.15 | Sat. 6, 10:13am, -2.24 |
| Sun. 7, 8:24am, -1.95 | Sun. 7, 10:54am, -1.93 |
| Mon. 8, 9:02am, -1.60 | Mon. 8, 11:35am, -1.48 |
| Tue. 9, 9:38am, -1.13 | Tue. 9, 12:15pm, -0.87 |
| Wed. 10, 10:13am, -0.53 | |
| Wed. 17, 7:06am, -0.62 | |
| Thur. 18, 7:47am, -1.28 | |
| Fri. 19, 6:00am, -1.34 | Fri. 19, 8:29am, -1.88 |
| Sat. 20, 6:43am, -1.92 | Sat. 20, 9:13am, -2.35 |
| Sun. 21, 7:24am, -2.33 | Sun. 21, 9:57am, -2.63 |
| Mon. 22, 8:05am, -2.50 | Mon. 22, 10:41am, -2.62 |
| Tue. 23, 8:45am, -2.37 | Tue. 23, 11:24am, -2.24 |
| Wed. 24, 9:24am, -1.92 | Wed. 24, 12:07pm, -1.46 |
| Thur. 25, 10:05, -1.17 | |
| Tue. 30, 6:09am, -0.94 | |
| Wed. 31, 7:01am, -1.33 | |
| AUGUST (PDT) | AUGUST (PDT) |
| Thur. 1, 7:51am, -1.53 | |
| Fri. 2, 6:08am, -1.48 | Fri. 2, 8:38am, -1.57 |
| Sat. 3, 6:50am, -1.60 | Sat. 3, 9:21am, -1.49 |
| Sun. 4, 7:28am, 1.57 | Sun. 4, 10:00am, -1.30 |
| Mon. 5, 8:02am, -1.39 | Mon. 5, 10:37am, -0.97 |
| Tue. 6, 8.33am, -1.06 | |
| Wed. 7, 9:03am, -0.59 | |
| Thur. 15, 6:25am, -0.52 | |
| Fri. 16, 7:17am, -1.08 | |
| Sat. 17, 8:07am, -1.58 | |
| Sun. 18, 6:19am, -1.74 | Sun. 18, 8:53am, -1.91 |
| Mon. 19, 6:59am, -2.06 | Mon. 19, 9:37am, -1.94 |
| Tue. 20, 7:38am, -2.07 | Tue. 20, 10:20am, -1.59 |
| Wed. 21, 8:16am, -1.73 | Wed. 21, 11:02am, -0.82 |
| Thur. 22, 8:54am, -1.06 | |
| Thur. 29, 6:39am, -0.58 | |
| Fri 30, 7:37am, -0.53 | |
| SEPTEMBER (PDT) | SEPTEMBER (PDT) |
| Mon. 2, 7:01am, -0.63 | |
| Sat. 14, 6:46am, -0.62 | |
| Sun. 15, 7:40am, -0.84 | |
| Mon. 16, 8:27am, -0.79 | |
| Wed. 18, 7:06am, -0.87 | |
| Sat. 21, 12:01pm, -0.53 | |
| Sun. 22, 12:50pm, -0.99 | |
| Mon. 23, 1:43pm, -1.06 | |
| Tue. 24, 2:41pm, -0.80 | |
| OCTOBER (PDT) | OCTOBER (PDT) |
| None | None |
WHERE
Pools exist on the Park’s Pacific beach at Hole-in-the-Wall, a forty minute walk north from the Rialto Beach Parking lot; and at Beach #4, four miles North of the Kalaloch campground. There are also tide pools outside of the Park boundary; Salt Creek County Park and Campground, 20 minutes west of Port Angeles, is a good alternative. Travel west on Hwy. 101 to the intersection with State Route 112, turn right and travel 5 miles to the intersection with Camp Hayden Rd., turn right. The road ends at Salt Creek Park. Tide Pools, Salt Creek Park.