Beach · Olympic National Park
Low-tide pools reward the short, steep path down to the coast.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Olympic Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Olympic National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Olympic audio tourRecorded for this place
Kalaloch Beach Three: A Pocket of Rocky Shore“You're coming toward the Kalaloch Beach Three pullout, for a small pocket beach with rocky coves and tide pools.”
Plays as you drive up to Kalaloch Beach 3 in the Parkwolf Olympic Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Kalaloch Beach 3 is a small pocket beach on the Pacific shore of Olympic National Park, reached by a short, steep trail from Highway 101. It is known with neighboring Beach 4 for tide pools, so it earns a stop near low tide if you are comfortable with steps on the way back.
The beach mixes sand and pebbles with boulders, driftwood and rocky coves. Look carefully into the pools for marine life; the small shoreline details are the draw here. For a photo, put a tide pool or rock in the foreground and leave the ocean beyond it—the textures say more than a frame of open water.
A small, limited roadside pull-off serves Beach 3, about three miles north of Kalaloch Lodge. The descent has steps and can feel steep, so wear shoes with grip. Check tide charts before walking the shore: high water can make sections of the Olympic coast impassable, and surf can move large driftwood. The restaurant at Kalaloch Lodge is a separate stop back south along Highway 101.
Wildlife
710 sightingsOlympic MarmotMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
30 sightingsHumpback WhaleMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
42 sightingsGrey WhaleMost seen around noonSighting map
23 sightingsMountain LionMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
71 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
306 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Olympic. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateBeach 3 Trail0.3 mi · 45 min · 0.1 mi awayA steep forest stairway drops to tidepools and rocky shore.
ModerateBeach 4 Trail0.4 mi · 45 min · 0.7 mi awayA stairway to Kalaloch tide pools and a rugged Pacific beach.
EasyKalaloch to Browns Point Trail3.2 mi · 2 hr · 2 mi awayTree roots and tide pools along an easy beach walk.
EasyKalaloch Nature Trail1 mi · 36 min · 2.2 mi awayMossy forest and a creek view on this easy Kalaloch loop.
EasyBig Cedar Trail (Kalaloch)0.3 mi · 20 min · 2.4 mi awayThe storm-split cedar is only the first stop on this short walk.
EasyBeach 2 Trail0.2 mi · 30 min · 3.6 mi awayA steep forest path drops to a driftwood-lined beach.
EasyBeach 6 Nature Trail0.4 mi · 21 min · 4.1 mi awayA brief forest descent to Beach 6’s rocky shore.
EasyBeach 1 Trail0.3 mi · 30 min · 4.5 mi awayA short spruce descent ends on a shore piled with drift logs.
Beach · 0.7 mi awayKalaloch Beach 4Low-tide pools, sea stars and a Pacific overlook
Sight · 2 mi awayTree of LifeA Sitka spruce with roots stretched above a bluff cave.
Campground · 2 mi awayKalaloch CampgroundSome sites face the Pacific; others sit among the trees.
Beach · 2.2 mi awayKalaloch BeachWalk a driftwood-strewn shore and watch Pacific surf.
Sight · 2.4 mi awayKalaloch Big Cedar TreeA storm-split giant still towers over a pocket of coastal old growth.
Lodging · 2.5 mi awayKalaloch LodgeStay beside the Pacific in a lodge built from driftwood timber.
Ranger station · 2.8 mi awayKalaloch Ranger StationTide charts, friendly coastal advice, and a park passport stamp.
Scenic pullout · 3.6 mi awayBeach 6 OverlookBinoculars might earn their keep on this Pacific pull-off.Parkwolf’s Olympic ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
