Trip Reports

The trailhead has been moved in the last few years, different from that in (our) older editions of 100 hikes in the S. Cascades and Olympics. There is a free (once you pay the $10 annual recreation fee for being on the rez) parking lot and pit toilets at the new trailhead. There are several local residences up the road that will protect your car for a fee if you are backpacking overnight. We did OK with the day use parking lot at the trailhead. The first mile is a wonderful boardwalk, the second mile was a succession of mudholes along the abandoned road, despite the record dry summer. I'd hate to see this trail is a wet year.
  The beach walk is glorious. If you have read your tide tables correctly you can pass Point of the Arches at low tide to reach another wonderful beach. We watched a mother sea otter and kit play in the tide pools, then run up the beach 20 feet from our nap site.
  We stayed overnight at Hobuck's Campground near the trailhead, mobbed on the summer weekend. Funky place with a few good sites near the beach...but the only tent campground in town.

My husband and I went on a 2-night/3-day backpacking trip to Shi Shi beach from August 10-12. Our experience was bitter-sweet. Our time at the beach was spectacular after it stopped raining, but it was painstaking and expensive to get there. By the time we paid the $10. Makah Reservation recreation fee, the $13. park service fee for two nights of backpacking, and $10. per day to park on someone's property near the trailhead, we spent over $50. That's more than we've ever spent on any backpacking trip in the last 10 years. The trail, well...be prepared for mud puddle after mud puddle. It had been raining for a few days and was raining the day we hiked in, so there was mud and large puddles of water covering the trail almost the entire way. Because the trail is so overgrown beyond the boardwalk part, it was hard to walk around the mud. Our packs kept getting caught in branches and snagged by berry bushes when we tried to walk on the side of the trail. It wasn't so bad coming out because it had been clear for two days, so there were less puddles but still muddy spots to navigate. Unless you have really good balance, I recommend taking a walking stick to help you balance on logs that people have layed across some of the large pools of mud. I also recommend you put waterproofing spray on your boots and wear waterproof socks, be sure to have a pack cover and rain gear, and take an extra pair of boots or reef walkers in case your boots are soaked by the time you get to the trail. The last 50 feet or so is a steep walk down the side of a cliff, but there are trees and roots to grab onto to help keep you from falling. A rope or railing would be nice, but that would just be dreaming...can someone tell me what our backpacking fee is paying for exactly on this trail? The trail is fairly level except for the final cliff that drops down to the beach, so it would be a fairly quick hike if there wasn't so much mud to slow you down. The final destination is worth the physical effort, though I'm not sure it's worth $53. We got a great campsite up against the cliff not too far from the trailhead but far from other campers, just above some rocks that are exposed at low tide. The only pit toilet was in the trees on the lower part of the trail, just an exposed toilet attached to a board with a hole in it. There are a couple of streams along the cliff (on the beach) where you can filter salt-free water. The highlight for us was seeing a family of three river otters playing on the rocks, a sea otter, a pair of Peregrine falcons--one was feasting on a seagull while the other stood watch on the beach, a humpback whale, two eagles, and unfortunately a dead seal that washed up on the beach. There was even a beat up jet ski that washed up during a storm. We were able to walk about a mile to the Point of Arches at low tide and see all sorts of starfish, anemones, mussels and such in the tide pools. We enjoyed this hike as a one-time trip, but we won't ever do it again and I'm not sure I would recommend it for everyone. If you do go to Shi Shi, I highly recommend allowing an extra hour or two to see Cape Flattery. It's only a few minutes from the Shi Shi parking lot and a short hike out to a beautiful overlook at the junction of the Straight of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean, where you can see Puffins and other sea birds, and sometimes whales, as well as a lighthouse and part of Vancouver Island across the straight. Don't forget your binoculars.

We chose the first wet weekend in 3 months for a family backpacking trip, but at least the intermittent mist kept the crowds down, and didn't deter the kids from clambering around the tide pools all weekend.

When we woke up the first morning, we found a dead sea lion that the tide had deposited 30 feet from our tents (about 1/4 of the way from where the trail enters the beach toward Point of Arches). He/she remained untouched, and fortunately unstinky, during the 36 hours we were there, so I'm curious how he/she's doing now -- please report!

Note that the first water source is far down the beach. We (and most campers other than one large group) stayed farther north (closer to where you first reach the beach), requiring a long walk to get water. So make sure you have a large water vessel.

There are some interesting sights north of where the trail reaches the beach. After you climb over a few rocky hills -- easy with hiking boots and no backpack, trickier otherwise -- you reach a shipwreck.

In case you're curious, there's a decent little restaurant across from the general store in Neah Bay. The other places didn't look so good.

I stayed at Crescent Lake Lodge, so was finally close enough to get out to Shi Shi Beach, a placed I've longed to go for 10 years. It took about 2 hours to get to the trailhead. After stopping in Neah Bay at the Minimart for my $10 recreation pass, I parked right at the trailhead. Many overnight hikers were parking in private lots for $10 a day, but I decided to risk it. The gal at the Minimart said there had only been one car vandalism this year.

There has been a lot of effort and money put into the first two miles of this trail. Much of it is on boardwalks or bridges. The latter 1/2 mile was rather muddy, even though we've had dry weather. I can imagine it is like a swamp in the winter. The beach itself is gorgeous and many overnight campers were taking advantage of the summer weather. The onshore winds have been keeping it foggy until late afternoon, but the Point of the Arches were still spectacular.

I'll definitely be back for a backpack trip. Parts of it reminded me of the West Coast Trail up on Vancouver Island.

This trip couldn't have been more perfect! Weather was hot, not a cloud in the sky, and very few people around. We did see bear tracks on trail but luckily only encountered chipmunks, eagle, and deer on the beach! A few mud holes but nothing that required gaitors. Definitely going back!

Memorial day weekend can be iffy weather-wise.
And Friday morning in Forks didn't look very promising.
Heavy clouds showed little promise of dispersing during the morning hours.
We escaped the clouds by moving north.
Sunny and clear by the time we stopped in Neah Bay to get our Makah Permit.
(Get it at the mini-mart, don't wait for the tribal center)
The Flattery trail was in good shape and a crew was making it even better.
("Maybe we'll get to the Shi Shi trail next year")
A few clouds at the cape but gorgeous.

The second half of the Shi Shi trail has many mudholes and the trail is getting wider as hikers attempt to keep their footwear dry. The hike down the bluff to the beach is steep and dicey. It can hardly be called a trail.
(I wonder how the guy with the full pack, surfboard and half-rack got down.)
Once we safely got to the beach it was wonderful.
But where were all those backpackers we passed on the way out going to camp?

Headed to Shi Shi Beach this weekend expecting not so great weather, and was surprised by almost perfect weather. Stopped at the visitor center in Port Angeles on the way to get a camping permit ($9) and a bear cannister ($3 donation). Stopped in Neah Bay at the museum to get a "recreation pass" ($10, good for one year) that appears to be required as well.

The parking lot at the trailhead is for day use only. Ended up leaving the car about a mile away at "Donna's" parking lot ($10). The owners of nearer parking lots were nowhere to be found, and some of the places looked a bit dubious. Fortunately the guy at that parking lot offered to drop us off at the trailhead.

The first half of the trail is immaculate and consists of lots of boardwalk. Then things get a bit muddy. Fortunately most of the mud was either dried out or bypassable. After rain or heavy use things might look different... In any case the trail is well marked.

Down at the beach there were three other parties camping, well spaced out. Didn't have trouble finding a good spot, but was glad to have a tide table handy and to be able to compare the evidence of the last high tide with the next expected high tide. There was plenty of firewood lying around, and no garbage (perhaps thanks to the recent coast clean-up day?). Should have brought binoculars to watch the sea otters, and to look out for whales...

The next morning we walked along the beach to Point of Arches and back. The tide was low at -1 so there were plenty of tide pools to peek into, and walking was easy. The only obstacle was a small stream, which could be crossed without getting wet feet on the lower part of the beach.

Seeing the Sea stacks was something we wanted to do on a hike for a long time. We decided that whatever be the weather, we would go to the Shi-Shi beach in the Makah nation.

The drive from Seattle is around 4.5 hrs, and with breaks for rest, it can be around 5.5 hrs. We reached the trailhead around 1:30 PM. The drive on SR 112 west is full of curves, but beautiful when you have the ocean around.

We went on a rainy day. It rains most of the days near the Shi-Shi beach, and the day we went was no different. The views of the ocean are filled with mist when it rains. It must be really good when sunny or even cloudy.

The trail head is easy to find from the town of Neah Bay. The trail consists of 2 distinct stretches, one from trail head to beach, and the other along the beach. Both are almost 2 miles each, so the total one way distance is around 4 miles. The first stretch from trailhead to beach was full of mudholes.It was extremely muddy, soggy, wet, some pits had lots of water, and most of our shoes got easily wet. In fact, its a very difficult hike for the first 2 miles just because of the extent of mud. Lot of perseverence is a must to cross the first 2 miles. In extremely bad portions of the trail, look out for some side trails [near the side of the main trail] and try to use that whenever you can. The trail is very very slippery and lot of caution is needed.

The hike is fairly flat but its strenuous only because of the muddy trails. Once down to the beach, its beautiful. The beach was beautiful even in the rain, and so it must be awesome on a sunny day. We could see the sea stacks and point of arches at some distance from the first entry point on the beach. The sea stacks were not clearly visible because of the mist formed by the rain. Still it looked good.

We had to hike for some 2 more miles to reach the Point of Arches where the view of the sea stack is great because you are very close to it. Hiking on the beach is a little bit tricky, because the beach is not a flat surface and it is some amount of strain on the ankles and legs to hike on such a soft surface. There are no trail markers once in the beach, and we just kept going left to a place full of sea stacks which we assumed would be the Point of Arches based on some of the pictures we had seen before.

We did not check the tide maps and stuff, but we were lucky enough to be able to reach Point of Arches easily. The view of the sea stacks was majestic, and we were left wondering how the view could have if there were no rain. On a sunny day, the sunset should be really awesome and even the views of the sea stack simply majestic. The ocean water wave crashing sound was simply great to hear and reminded us the power of nature and water. It was cold with the breeze and we were feeling colder because we had been wet, water entering our shoes, and continuing showers. But with so less people around, it was a nice place to enjoy solitude at this time of the year.

After spending some time at Point of Arches, we headed back. All the struggle against muddy trails continued, and we are quite happy to reach the parking lot by 6 PM. A drive of another 5 hours and we reached Seattle.

For those looking to visit this hike, my suggestions would be to check the forecast and go only if its sunny. The mud would probably be gone, and the sea stacks would be terrific. And if possible, make it a backpack. There are some nice places to camp in the beach away from the tides.

Bottomline: Its a must go hike just for the sea stacks but plan well for the forecast and go on a sunny day.

The recent beautiful weather has helped to dry out the trail a bit. Mud was still prevalent, but the worst sections could all be bypassed on the sides, or over wood placed across them. Be careful on the side trails - one or two of them lead to bigger mudholes than they bypass. I was told that the trail was 'pretty muddy' by several people, but it all seemed manageable with even slightly-waterproof shoes. I wouldn't hike it in running shoes, but any hiking boots would be fine. At least, until it rains again!

Finally planned the trip to Shi Shi Beach on the Olympic Coast. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't as good as we would have wanted it.

We decided that since we were driving from near Seattle we would stay in Forks the night before so that we were much closer to the trailhead. We stopped in Port Angeles for the National Park backpacking permit and a bear canister. We then drove to Forks and stayed the night.

Thursday morning we headed to Neah Bay from Forks. Once in Neah Bay stop at the Deli Mart for a reservation permit ($10 and good for the rest of the year.) We took Robuck Rd out to the trail. The trailhead is for day use only so you must use one of the two private property parking lots. The closer one was full so we had to park at "Donna's Parking." It was $10 for the night. We were fortunate enough to have a woman who was camping nearby pick us up and drop us off at the trailhead. The walk on the road would add an additional mile to mile and a half to the trip.

The trail itself is fine at first, lots of boardwalk. Then the mudholes come. There are several trails around the mud but it's almost impossible to avoid. The cliff down to the beach is a little steep but definitely manageable. Once on the beach, we walked about another half a mile down and decided to set up camp. We later learned that the toilet and fresh water source were about another mile or so down the beach. Weed did lots of walking to say the least.

The one thing we wanted to do is make it to Point of the Arches. Make sure you grab a tide book or get a chart from the Olympic ranger station. The tide pools are incredible at point of the arches. The weather was cloudy, rainy and no sunset!

This trip was a lot of work but in the end worth it. A clear evening would have made all the difference. Overall, good trip but a lot of steps and work to get there.