Beatty Cove to Rhyolite Cove

Sep 9, 2021

The weather cleared up overnight and I trundled down to the beach with coffee in hand to watch the stars and read my book for an hour before waking the others. We hiked out in a gloriously warm sunshine for a fairly easy trek today. The few scrambly bits on the shorline were dry and quickly traversed. We climbed a small mountain and had an early lunch break at a lookout on the summit and then met the first people of the day, a woman following a guide with an umbrella strapped to his pack.

Rock slabs easy today as they are dry and grippy

Handy bridge across a creek

One of the many views

We stopped at Mermaid Cove for a second lunch and then met a solo hiker who informed us that we were in for a treat for the last couple of kilometers to Rhyolite Cove, our destination for tonight. Climbing a little further on the rocks we could then see the campsites on the other side of the bay. The gals were slowing down on some of the boulder fields, so after I waited a few times, we agreed to split up so that I could scoot ahead and secure the best campsite before any other parties arrived. The next three quarters of an hour of hiking at my own pace was beautiful as it crossed broken rock beaches, polished slabs, and finally a long section of grippy lava, which allowed hiking up and down slabs at impossibly steep angles. I arrived at the sandy camp beach and explored the two sites which were both nice, finally deciding on the second one as this one was positioned better to catch the morning sun. The girls arrived another forty minutes later and we spent the afternoon lazing on the beach and (briefly) going for swims in the cold water.

Lunch break

Rock scrambling in the sunshine

Lava hiking into Rhyolite Cove

Cooling off the feet at camp

Hiking time: 5.25 hours

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