South Coast Wilderness Trail - Toleak Point — Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

Olympic Peninsula > Pacific Coast

~ Tom and I headed out Saturday morning for a three day beach backpacking trip (pretty odd in February if you ask me), a bit later than we would normally leave for such a trip, but we were both tired, had things to do before we left and didn't feel like rushing. We thought that an easy walk out from Ozette past Sand Point might be nice, but we really hate the boardwalk out there (designed to protect the wetland) which is 3 ½ miles of monotony because it's slimy and you can't take your eyes off of it for a second to look at the scenery or you're on your butt. When we stopped at the WIC (Wilderness Information Center) in Port Angeles to get our permit, we changed our minds and decided to go out to Toleak Point, also on the coast in Olympic National Park. It's a good challenge with steep headland trails, points with no way around that need to be timed with the tide, walking in sand when you are on the beaches, and cable ladders and ropes in some areas, all of which are made more challenging by wearing heavy packs. Here's a slide show of this weekend's trip http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildcelticrose/sets/72157613994670837/show/ Or, you can check out individual photos here a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildcelticrose/sets/72157613994670837/ I didn't track all of our beach exploration which would add up to a lot more miles, just the main tracks in and out, plus Saturday's exploration past Toleak to show where we went. We gained 3,604 feet in elevation going up and down those headland trails where the points are impassable at any tide, and of course we lost 3,604 feet as well, so it was a good workout on all the leg muscles. Here is the Park Service Map and the Garmin track on the Google Satellite map to give a better idea of where we were... http://www.wildcelticrose.net/lisasplace/Toleak.jpg http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Ftrail.motionbased.com%2Ftrail%2Fkml%2Fepisode.kml%3FepisodePkValues%3D7643888&ie=UTF8&t=h&source=embed&ll=47.860858,-124.560585&spn=0.124387,0.30899&z=12 Tom had never been there, and I hadn't been there for 4 or 5 years. As a matter of fact, this was the first coastal backpacking trip I ever did. I wasn't sure I was up to it after having been sick and having stress related back pain, but I did fine. As a matter of fact, carrying a heavy pack in challenging conditions appears to be good for a sore back. It actually feels better now. We had a slight delay just outside of Forks when Tom got pulled over by an eager young Clallum County Sherrif for having a headlight out (it was day time) so of course, going by the book (he looked fresh out of the academy) the stop was thorough and took a while. Luckily, no ticket. I suspect that they had to back off of the border patrol checkpoints and are likely using local law enforcement and probable cause like a head or tail light out to make less controversial stops. That, or he just looked like a hippie in a slightly beat up old car smuggling BC Bud... In any event, no ticket and only a slight delay. We had already stopped at the world slowest Taco Bell (I am NOT kidding) in Port Angeles to carb up on the way so we were pushing our luck to get to camp before dark. We hit the trail head at 3:00 PM, which is pretty late to navigate what we had to and get to camp before dark, but we were determined. After a hike through the forest, We arrived at Third Beach to this view... (not bad considering that it was raining on the way out there) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3288307462_b5c25a72a4.jpg There were of course, ropes and ladders to navigate, which were actually in decent shape for this time of year... (yeah, we call this “trail” around here, note-the 2nd ladder is just past Toleak, I didn't get a good shot of the first ladder and the rope is a shorter climb than the one just North of Scott's Creek with the nasty mud) Tom chose to avoid the actual route and traverse some talus, I just climbed up the muddy rope. He gave me major crap about it, but hey, my legs were tired and it was nice to use arms and legs even if it was a bit muddy (oh, yeah, and it was the route so I'm not the only lunatic that did it). http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/3288346578_8d12dc7e95.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/3287665089_c66a035f61.jpg Tom found a cool Chiton http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3638/3288367310_8613e0ec09.jpg We arrived at Scott Creek (our destination for the first night) right at sunset, built a a nice driftood fire and enjoyed wine, cheese, crackers and shrimp cocktail (those who have backpacked with me, know my love of good food on the trail) Here was the view from our camp at Scott Creek http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3554/3288380126_c787677545.jpg There was ICE, on the BEACH in the morning... (well, it is February) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3621/3288389940_e41250aea8.jpg We slept in the next morning to wait for the tide to go down and head South towards Toleak. The weather was supposed to be rainy, but it wasn't; it was sunny and beautiful. (my luck of always having good weather on the Washington Coast is holding true) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3610/3287632239_f6b8d0a97f.jpg We had a few clouds move in during the late afternoon after we set up camp and Tom mocked my status as “weather witch”, but it cleared up and we had another spectacular sunset viewed from a bonfire on the beach (and smoked salmon for dinner) Here is the view from our camp bonfire on the beach at Toleak http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3419/3288747680_7d59814e79.jpg The next morning we went for a walk and experienced yet another unforecast beautiful day (had to go to the creek to get water and wanted to explore) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3483/3287827249_118be12bf8.jpg There was a really cool, almost entirely intact sea lion carcass out on Toleak Point http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/3287798919_b148491a30.jpg We saw otters, (I watched one run from the water and yelled, “HEY! There's a weasel!” to which Tom replied, “Weasel Hunting”; it's not just a job; it's a lifestyle,” The Bald Eagle Alarm Clocks were working flawlessly at Toleak on Monday morning, but not at Scott Creek the night before. I had to tell the first Bald Eagle I saw on Sunday morning that they were not doing their usual good job. Oh, we got SNOWED on between Sappho and Crescent Lake on the way home and drove through snow still on the ground to get there. It was a great and unusual February weekend. We were home and in the hot tub by 7:00PM (because face it, most of us aren't in peak backpacking shape in February and we were sore and tired) And as far as Valentine's Days go... I'd much rather be on the beach, in front of a fire watching a spectacular sunset while eating smoked salmon and drinking wine than waiting in line at an overpriced, overbooked restaurant. ~L