March 18-19

Some good late winter weather for a trip to Sand Pont, Yellow banks and south. Seems like much less sand on the beaches than in the past. Very sparse, trashy camping at Yellow banks. This years clean up crew will be very welcome.

NOTE: They are now charging a $15 entrance fee at Ozette since Jan 1., much to my suprise. Only a small sign annoces this and if you are used to seeing the kiosk at the parking lot, you will just walk past it. Then they leave a ticket on your windshield with your license number and time of violation.

I got on the first ferry out of Edmonds on Sunday morning, and did my best to ""make time"" out to the coast. The weather was great, traffic was light, and the icy sections of Hwy 112 and the Ozette road were freshly sanded. I chatted a bit with the ranger and bought one of the park's excellent ""North Coastal Section"" maps for $4. By then it was noon, so I hit the trail to Cape Alava.

The first boardwalks I came to weren't that slippery, so I held off putting on my Stabilicers, but then the older, crummier boards became prevalent, so on they went. Don't leave home without them! My pack was super-heavy with luxury items such as beer, steaks, some charcoal, real food like lunchmeat and sourdough bread, CD player and CDs, tarp in case it rained, etc, etc, but I still made good time due to the relatively flat trail. When I arrived at Cape Alava, I was going to head immediately south to Wedding Rocks, but the whole ""If I camped here I'd be home by now"" theory proved to be too alluring, so I stopped at one of the fabulous sites just south of the cape trail. I had the whole place to myself. Campfires are allowed there, so I had a beaut, a huge driftwood conflagration. A T-bone steak, a few cans of Heineken, and the sound of the ocean to lull me to sleep. I set up the tent but didn't use it, just used the tarp to keep the dew off of my sleeping bag and slept out on the grass.

Monday dawned fair and bright and I was itching to go, but I decided to await the outgoing tide at 11 am or so. I got to Wedding Rocks at 1 pm (it's just a mile south) and immediatety began my search for ancient native American petroglyphs. I saw several I had missed the last time I was there, mostly north of the rocks. I searched and photographed until 4 pm, including doing some scrambling around on the rocks and climbing a little path up to the base of the tall, rocky cliffs. Then I went about 100 yards south to the best campsite in the area and set up camp. I figured the ban on campfires didn't apply to a little charcoal set right on the beach sand, so another fabulous dinner was soon ready. A truly fine sunset was just the icing on the cake of the day. I used the tent Monday night due to it being clearer and thus colder, with a bit of wind. Both nights I stayed up very late, 1-2 am, since with high tides at 9:30 or 10 am, there was no morning rush. The moonlight, cool music, solitude, surroundings and general feel of the place made for some magical nightime strolling.

Tuesday was another fine day, sunny, warming nicely, with lots of attractive cloud formations moving through. I headed south towards Sand Point at noon, seeing lots of wildlife like deer, eagles, and seals, but no otters. I saw a couple of people near Sand Point, my first in over 48 hours. I went up on top of the seastack at the very tip of the point and basked in the 360 degree views. The sunset was shaping up to be a beaut, so I stayed as long as I could, but finally at 4 pm I had to bail. Those last two hours were magical. I would have killed for another day.

The boardwalks from Sand Point back to Ozette are worse than the other way to Cape Alava, so the Stabilicers really saved the day. With a pack much lighter than before, but still pretty heavy, I pushed hard all the way back, making the car (three full miles) at 5:15, no lighting needed. The roads were fine all the way back.

Headed out on the Cape Alava trail from the Ranger Station early Saturday a.m. Trail was dry and not the least bit slippery. While the rest of the area enjoyed blue skies the coast was fogged in. Temp was still pretty nice though and the clouds made the islands off the coast play hide and seek all day, at one point they looked like ghost islands floating in a sea of clouds, pretty cool effect. I wish I had remembered to take a memory stick for my camera! Cloud cover kept the conditions ideal for beach combing. Hiked north all the way to the Ozzette River outlet before returning to camp and dinner. Had fun climbing ropes along the way even though it wasn't necessary with the tide so far out. Fire regulations in effect. No fires in the camp fire pits, only below the tide line on the beach. Campsites were FULL. 1 visitor late at night (raccoon) inspected our packs, but shock his/her head at the ""Bear Vault."" The next day we broke camp and made our way along the coast to Sand Point. Again, had a blast with the ropes. Stopped to see the petroglyphs. Lots to see with the tide a good 7' down. Arrived at Sand Point around noon. Less campers and better sites close to the beach. Stumbled upon a 4 point buck sunning himself on the beach. After lunch made the trek back to the Ranger Station along the Sand Point Trial. Much easier trail than Cape Alava, less elevation gain and boards in better condition. Left Sunday night feeling like too short of a trip! Must return soon. Fabulous, even with cloudy skies. Won over a new hiker to the joys of backcountry camping!

this is a great hike marked by its diversity -- one of the best we've been on in 14 yrs--that is only 4 1/2 hours drive from seattle. it is best done planning an overnite--either in a nearby sekiu motel, in the ozette campground, or camping out in a tent on the beach. and what is unusual, this whole area is open all year around. it seems almost unknown outside of the olympic peninsula residents.

this is a triangular loop, 3 mi on each side. going counterclockwise {you can go either way}, the trail starts from the ozette ranger station {also open year around} across both the new wood-bound gravel pitwalks and the old wood planks walkways thru the forest and the beach swamps to cape alava. when you hit the beach note the red, white and black circular markers--they mark each key end of trails along the beach. the route follows the beach south past two important rock outcroppings. the first is wedding rock, the site of some 45 petroglyphs--a sacred site for the native americans {you can get a flyer that catalogs them from the ranger}. the second is unnamed, but both these crops are potentially dangerous. before leaving the ranger station, be sure to check hi tide times of the tides-tatoosh island, cape flattery tide schedule. at hi tide, both these rock crops are flooded by the pacific, and you have to take a muddy detour. the northern sides of both outcrops look particularly steep for some 20 feet. the beach between these two rock outcroppings is also particularly slippery--be careful. the last leg starts above sand point, and is the flattest and easiest leg. trail maintenance crews are working there.

wildlife is wonderful. the deer are particularly unscared of humans. off the beach on the rocks we saw dozens of white seals, couples of hooded merganzas mating, cormorants, etc. no whale sitings today.

off the coast are isolated rocks reminiscent of those off the oregon coast. too bad, however, that there are so much slippery sea kelp and slippery foot rocks on the beach. the wa beach just isn't as good.

once hitting the beach from the no. loop, you have the option of going north about half a mile to the actual cape alava, which is the westernmost point in the contiguous us. just east of the point is the site of the ruins of an indian village. the cape is a popular camp site. no of the cape, the route gets trickier at hi tide--there is a rope up the rocks to aid passage. the same rope aids are available south of sand point.

lake ozette is accessible by boat just some 50 feet from the parking lot. unlike the better known lake crescent, the larger lake ozette looks without a road circling it. there is also a good eatery just past the boat landing--last resort--good for pizza, expresso and ice cream. the whole wildlife experience was just wonderful!