We had planned several months back to do a snowcamp over these three days, but the apparent lack of snowpack made that pretty difficult. With Spring in it's early stages and a sunny forecast for much of the local area, we decided to check out the Ozette Triangle on the Olympic Coast. Great choice!
Opening pic:
Hardly a breeze to be found, and the temps were near freezing at night, but mid 50's during the day. Perfect camping weather if you ask me, and it turned out to be a unique and special trip that I will never forget.
The trip to the trailhead is roughly 300 miles (6.5 hours w/ stops) from Portland, so we set off at 6:30am and arrived by 1pm after picking up a backcountry permit from the RS in Quinault. FYI, there were permits available at the Ozette RS at the TH as well. It's still the offseason, and no reservations are necessary until May 1st. You will need to pick up a National Parks pass ahead of time however, or get one at the Wilderness Information Center in Port Angeles because other Ranger Stations are closed. Display it on your dashboard.
Setting off:
One of my friends severely broke her leg (both tib & fib) last year on the slippery boardwalk that comprises most of the overland routes of this journey. One must use extreme caution to avoid falling.
The trail splits almost immediately, we decided to head first towards Cape Alava. 3 miles later you arrive at the ocean:
Where you too can sit in the "Princess Chair":
We found many camps in the woods along the coast in the first 1/4 mile from the end of the maintained trail. From this point North and South, it's mostly a journey on the beach. Lots to see and do!
Rope swings:
Visit the derelict Makah-Ozette RS:
Play with garbage!:
Look for marine life:
Non-marine life:
We moseyed Northwards up to a headland and turned back before the cold and deep ford of the Ozette River.
We spotted Point of Arches in the distance:
This is called "The Shipwreck Coast" for a good reason. When the tide is in, the ocean is up high near the edge of the treeline leaving almost no beach. When it recedes it goes out incredibly far, revealing large and jagged lava rock.
It goes out so far that near Cape Alava you can barely hear or see the waves at low tide, just a sea of black ragged peaks and stacks dotted with tidepools as far as you can see. Read about some of the shipwrecks here.
Then it was back to camp:
for a nice fire on the beach while we watched the sunset:
We had an early morning departure to catch our low tide window while we headed South towards Sand Point. En route, you pass Wedding Rocks with their petroglyphs hidden among the large beach stones. Really amazing:
Here the tide is out and you can really see the jagged coastline:
Bald eagles eyed us from the treetops, the rocky outcroppings, the sea stacks. We lost track of how many, as they outnumbered the seagulls. Probably b/c they ate them all.
Sand Point is a large hill you can climb for nice views.
Then you come to one of the largest beaches I've ever seen. It just stretches in all directions.
A surfer told us he had been watching a gray whale playing off shore all morning, though we never saw it. Bummer.
More headlands, tunnels and passageways:
We arrived at "Yellow Banks" just barely before the tide came in and blocked our path. Some intense moments as we saw the surf crashing just feet away from our pathway!
http://youtu.be/3pl-gIs724g
Once into the cove, we were safe though there is much less beach to walk on at high tide. Therefore you really notice how much garbage has washed up. It's incredibly sad. Much of it has come over from the tsunami in Japan:
Rope and buoys EVERYWHERE! When the tide goes back out there's more beach to see and it is indeed nice:
Our campsite had great views of the ocean:
The best part is we had it all to ourselves. We settled in for another great sunset and a nice beach fire.
We got up early and hiked the 6 miles back to the car at the Ozette RS and then the 6 hour car ride back to Portland.
Around 19 miles and 1000 smiles.
