Cape Alava-Sand Point Loop

We (Myself, my husband and 11 year old daughter) started out around 9:00 am 5/8. It was 58 degrees, overcast white skies and beautiful. We hiked the Ozette-Sandpoint leg first. This was the easiest leg of the trip, through the beautiful forest on the simple wooden boardwalk. We arrived at Sand Point with perfect timing for the tide to be out and began our trek up the coast to Cape Alava. (If there is an inland trail.. I wish we'd found it! lol) We had trekking poles, and I would recommend them for this leg of the journey as most parts force you to cross basketball sized rocks, driftwood and fields of deep slimey seaweed and the poles helped immensely with balance. This three mile section was very slow, but because of the beautiful sunny weather, extremely scenic. Wedding rocks is fun to find the petroglyphs.. we only found three, but left thinking perhaps they are nearer to the campsite there inland. As we hiked north along the beach, the clouds crept behind us and the blue skies moved in over our heads- it was just breathtaking views all the way up the coast. When we arrived at Cape Alava, five hours after our start, there was only one other tent up and we had our pick of the remaining sites. We chose a beautiful site that had a 180 degree view. Lucky us, as within one hour, all the rest of the sites were taken. During our stay, we walked north on the beach and there is some gorgeous natural "patterns in nature" in the sands- well worth the mile and a half or so walk. The only four legged wildlife we saw was a chipmunk, but the variety of birds was incredible.. including three bald eagles. The tide pools in front of Cape Alava are awe-inspiring.. I don't think I've ever seen a tide pool field that large. Another unique thing here is you don't hear the tide coming in.. it creeps up the beach without a sound.. very beautiful but dangerous if you journey to the island across the tide pool valley and don't return in time! I was disappointed to see the amount of trash hikers have left behind here... please practice "Leave No Trace" if you go into any wilderness area. We found plastic bottles, old cans, bits of food packages, pieces of plastic and even a standard sized pillow complete with a froggy case left as garbage. This really made me sad as we could not pack out much more than we brought, but we did what we could (I am sure that pillow is still there). Beautiful weather in the 50s the entire weekend. We left mid-morning 5/10 and hiked the Cape Alava-Ozette Trailhead leg. As soon as you leave Cape Alava, there is a rather large mudhole on the trail heading upward that needs extra caution to go around, but other than that, the trail is in great condition. This route has many more "ups and downs" and our daughter and I started a running joke about all the steps. :) Not quite as scenic as the other route, but the Ahlstrom cabin is interesting to peek into and the meadows are very peaceful. A great hike that I would highly recommend!