Oil City — Saturday, May. 23, 2015

Olympic Peninsula > Pacific Coast

Hiked in to Mosquito Creek from Oil City this weekend. Great hike, with a few challenges along the way. Boulder hoping around the first head, about a mile 1.5 miles in, wasn't bad. Ran into a couple later in the day who were told by the rangers that they could cross that at high tide; nope! They got stuck in a cove waiting the tide out. The ropes up and around Hoh Head were in good condition (one step is busted off the ladder, makes for a long reach). Trail from then on gets pretty muddy in places. Not as bad as Shi Shi Beach, but I came out pretty well covered in mud. In 3 or so places, there's been some slides, taking out the trial. One spot in particular required the shorter hikers to toss their packs up and crawl up after them. Could use a rope on that one! At the last stream crossing (heading north, just before the last head), another washout makes finding the real trail difficult; lots of boots have beaten a path down, trying to find it. The real trail stays high though; there's a rope there, and when we went by, a blue pillow case (?). Can't miss it going south. Beach was great, not a lot of camping spots, other than behind the driftwood. Keep an eye on the tide tables! Eagle nest about 1/4 mile north of the creek. Pair still hanging around with their young flying about.