I've dreamed of thru-hiking the entire Wilderness Coast Trail in one go since 1978... finally did this last couple weeks. North Coast plan was for 5 days, 4 nights; then a 2-night car-camping refuel at Mora; then a 3-day, 2-night hike for the South Coast section.

Makah section of Shi Shi trail is stellar, excellent shape. Shi Shi Beach was clean & flat. Creek water was good, easy to get to a nice-flowing spot just over the logs.

North Headlands trail was in fine shape. All ropes were intact. It was pretty dry so the rope-assist scrambles had some iffy footing due to sliding dirt/pebbles. The cliff traverses have the worst exposure but it's actually the boulder scramble just north of Duk Point that is the worst injury potential, and low-tide crossing is just as dangerous due to slippery seaweed.

Ozette River camp is in good shape; privy is in good shape; river water tastes terrible, no idea how far up you have to go to get past the saltwater but there's no trail to do so. Wading in and pumping mid-river at low tide helps but you can still taste it. If coming from the North, I suggest loading up on water at Duk Point.

Crossing Ozette River was a snap. Sandy bottom, less than knee deep, even at 3 foot tide. Cape Alava to Sand Point went well, better covered by others. Yellow Banks was ok, we planned to camp but got there early and decided to press on for Kyostia Beach. Good running water just over the log jam, much like Shi Shi.

The low tide crossing around Face (just "Face", as noted on Custom Correct map) went well but is more time consuming than most expect. We found 3 parties on the reef beach just past the Face wall, and each had made the same miscalculation as us: we just ran out of daylight about a mile short of the sandy Kyostia Beach. Water here was very scarce and most folks were camping dry. Be sure to load up at Yellow Banks or at Norwegian Memorial before doing this multi-hour crossing!

Norwegian Memorial area is busy due more to Lake Ozette boat-in campers than to thru-hikers. Makes for an eclectic mix of lawnchairs-and-baseball families and backpacking minimalists. Water, privy, campsites all in great shape.

South of Norwegian is some nice beach and reef hiking; along the reef it's not too tricky but the cobblestone and pebble sand is strenuous hiking. Watch for the streams on your map: if you miss the last one, you'll be hiking dry til you reach a seep just north of Cape Johnson.

Boulder hiking the round point just before Cape Johnson takes a bunch of time and energy, be sure to give an hour just for this seemingly easy spot. Cape Johnson itself should be treated with great care. If you miss the tide, don't try to wade through it: on its slick North face, there's a 40-60 foot section that will sweep you right out into the cove.

Chilean Memorial has an annoyingly hard boulder scramble that has a few hidden deer trails around it. These make a great alternative if you don't mind winging it and are careful not to get lost.

Several hikers had dogs north of Hole-in-the-Wall, making this area a poor choice for camping IMO. This area is sometimes choked with huge logs but this year is largely free of obstructions.

With the head-start from skipping Yellow Banks, we shaved a day off our trip: that evening and next day was a big rainstorm and we were glad to spend it getting soaked at Mora Campground instead of picking our way through slick wet boulders around Cape Johnson!

Third Beach to Toleak Point is well covered elsewhere. New privy at Toleak was a nice find. Good firewood is becoming scarce at Scott's Bluff and on the North side of Toleak Point.

Goodman Creek headland used to have the most-vertical ladder section on the Coast: this is now stacked in a neat pile and replaced by a new switchback, thanks WTA! Trail maintenance has otherwise been kept to a minimum, as it should be on a Wilderness trail. Creek crossing was 80 feet diagonal across a 50 foot flow, less than knee deep, 6" slick rocks, water flowing pretty fast. We were glad to have a pair of aqua shoes, and 100 feet of string to shuttle them between us.

Beach north of Mosquito Creek was beautiful and made a fantastic mid-hike camp. The closer you get to Mosquito creek, the more people and less firewood, but also better sunset views.

Mosquito Creek crossing was surprisingly high, the first time I've seen it as big as Goodman. Water was colder & faster but not quite as deep and rocks not as slick. This is the last bug-free place to pump water. The woods campsites are in good shape. Privy is just about full.

Hoh Head woods trail is in surprisingly good shape - again, thanks WTA! A number of new trails through recent landslides add some interesting ups & downs, a bit more exposure, and some confusion as they intersect with older sections and with deer trails. Found a disturbing pile of poo in the trail: bear? cougar? We couldn't tell, but we started making a little more noise and a little better pace!

Hoh Head South face still has the most iffy-looking rope-and-ladder section on the trail, but the worst bits of hanging metal "stair supports" are thankfully gone. Leaving this section in its current, rather daunting shape is good to discourage unprepared hikers, and to brace the more hardy for what's to come.

Diamond Head's 2-foot tide caution is just that: 2-foot tide or wet-footed hiker. The rock around that low corner is in just the right spot for the dance-between-waves scurry, but is so slick that it's almost impossible to not slip if you try to hop onto it or use it as a hand-steady. Better to wet your feet than to crack your knee.

The sand bar at the mouth of the Hoh has shifted South again, better matching the 2005 Custom Correct map; this comes & goes, though, so if you're reading this after the next big storm, it may well be back to the North, adding an extra logjam-traverse or half-mile of beach to your hike.

This hike is well worth the extra effort of shuttling cars and timing the tides. It's one of the most unique trails I've done. The variety on this trail is amazing. Sandy beach, rocky beach, thick forest, thin forest, rope ladders, ropes, etc.

I hiked south from Third Beach to Toleak on Saturday, Toleak to Mosquito Creek on Sunday, and Mosquito Creek to Oil City on Monday. The trail was passable and without any blowdowns. It seemed a little wild for a maintained trail. I'd read other reports of ladders missing steps. It looks like they've replaced those. The trail south of Mosquito Creek was quite brushy and muddy.

On the first day, I was concerned about making it around a rock with a 4 foot tide requirement. I got there as the tide was going out, planning on waiting until it was passable. The map didn't show an overland route, but it turns out that there was one.

On the second day, I was concerned about fording a couple of creeks. Luckily, it hadn't rained in a few days and the creeks were low. Goodman was mid-calf. The guidebook suggested fording Mosquito creek at low tide, but on my trip that wasn't really necessary.

I got to Mosquito early, and debated whether to complete the 3.5 mile overland section that day or the next day. I decided to complete it the next day and explore the beach south of Mosquito instead. Good choice - it didn't look like there were many, if any, campsites on the beach just south of that overland section. There were a few sites in the woods, toward the southern end of the overland.

On day 3, I did the 3.5 mile overland, a short hike on a beach, and then crossed a big pile of rocks which required a 2 foot tide. Footing on the rocks is tricky, and there are a lot of them, so leave yourself some time to cross them. 1 hour should be more than enough, but I don't recall how long it actually took.

We started from the Third Beach trailhead around 1:30pm on Sunday and passed a number of weekend hikers and backpackers heading out of the forest. The trailhead privy was well stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The 1.4 mile trail down to the beach was mellow and fairly wide.

As soon as we got down to the beach we saw some dolphins and seals playing in the surf- not a bad way to start the trip! From there we continued down the beach and up the rope ladders (not for the faint of heart) to the next few beaches, ultimately ending up at the awesome campsite at Scotts Creek. It took less than two hours to get there and we settled in for the afternoon with an early dinner and walk south to check out the tide pools at low tide. There we saw dozens of purple and red starfish and green anemones. If you're looking to explore some tide pools, these were the best we saw on our short trip.

We woke up to a gorgeous day and headed south around 9am for some more exploring while the tide was low. We made it all the way past Toleak Point where you can look out and see Alexander Island after crossing Goodman Creek. The ladders south of Toleak had some wooden pieces missing making the climb a little spicier than usual. We only saw about 2 or 3 other couples throughout the entire day and otherwise had the beaches to ourselves. We saw a bunch of banana slugs, wildflowers, birds, one bald eagle, and some seals and otters throughout the day. The blueberries were just a week or so too ripe for eating.

We had turned around and had lunch back at the south end of Toleak Point around 1pm, just in time to beat high tide at camp. It was definitely helpful to have water shoes (Chacos/Keens,etc) as the rocks were slippery and we had to wade through the water a few times coming back. The point just south of Scotts Creek is impassable at high tide but there is an unofficial trail just behind it that we found and used with ease. We made it back to camp by 4pm just in time for naps and an early dinner. Since we had to get out early the next day, we packed up and hiked 1.5 hours back to Third Beach to camp for the night, arriving just before sunset. As we woke up to pouring rain, we were happy to only have to hike out 1.4 miles to the trailhead. Overall, a wonderful and very unique adventure!