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Mora Campground and Rialto Beach
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Replacement of the Three Rivers Bridge on Mora Road has resulted in the detour this summer for visitors trying to reach Mora and Rialto Beach.
Detour signs are posted on Highway 110 (LaPush Road) at Quillayute Road, 3.2 miles from Highway 101, that direct visitors to Rialto Beach, Mora Campground and Manitou Lodge Bed & Breakfast.
You turn right on Quillayute Road and drive seven miles to the intersection of Mora Road bypassing the bridge construction site.Turn left to reach Manitou Lodge which is 12.5 miles from Highway 101.
Turn right to Rialto Beach 13 miles from Highway 101.
Rialto Beach is easily reached from a maintained parking lot.Part of the parking lot was destroyed in winter storms in 1995, but a new 100-vehicle unpaved parking lot has been opened'adjacent to the older portion. There are a million skipping stones on the beach among the giant driftwood logs.
At Mora Campgrounds, ranger naturalists provide guided tours and give interpretative talks beginning July 1. One loop is open all year with full services.Two other loops are available if needed.
K.O. Erickson, who came to La Push in the 1880s, built a trading post at Boston, in 1900.Later he named it Mora for his birthplace in Sweden.By the .1920s, a thriving community with a hotel, dance pavilion, store and cabins existed at Mora and Rialto Beach. Most of the buildings burned at different times in the 1930s.
Ships wrecked on this coast long before the white man came. Chinese junks now live only in Indian legend. A 3.0 mile hike north of Rialto Beach is Cape Johnson. On the way, you pass the Chilean Memorial, which marks the common grave of the 20 Chilean crew members, including the captain, his wife and baby son. They died when the W.J. Pirrie crashed against Cape Rock in 1920. Nearby, the chilean bark Lenore was wrecked in 1883. Four and a half miles north of the cape is the Norwegian Memorial, which commemorates the three-master bark prince Arthur, which ran ashore on 1903. two survived and 18 were lost.
Credits to the Photo above to Ross Hamiltom Photography
P.O. Box 179, Sequim, Washington 98382
