Scout trip — The sisters of the rogue wave

When Ryan and I first heard Rosemary tell her story of this accident, we were mesmerized and knew it was something we wanted to document and to share with others. But first we had to see the beach for ourselves.

So one Saturday morning, in early August, we made the three hour drive, down the Washington Coast, to scout Grayland Beach state park. We walked across the sand dunes and waded into the ocean waters. We stood on drift logs and surveyed the expansive lengths of the beach shores.

On that morning, we put ourselves in the shoes of Rosemary, and the four other nuns, and imagined what it would be like if another Rogue Wave were to strike. We left that afternoon with so many more unanswered questions about the events of the accident and knew the only way to better understand it ourselves would be to record the story in its entirety.

Entrance to the beach trail from the campground.

The trail to the beach takes us through these mysteriously lovely woods.

The entrance to the sand dunes. The water came all the way to the sand dunes.

Ryan MacDonald surveying the sand dunes. Peggy and Roberta said that the water came up the their waists at this spot.

We were about 100 feet from the sand dunes at this spot. There were a few logs along the beach at great distances apart. When Roberta said that they were blocks from the ocean she was not kidding. We were amazed by how far the water was, and how quickly they reported that it came rushing in. There was no way they could have run fast enough to escape the water. It was really an incredible experience to be on this beach hearing their stories in our heads. Ryan and I left with more questions than we arrived with.