Norwegian Memorial — Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023

Our stop at the Norwegian Memorial & Cedar Creek was part of a multi-night backpack from Ozette to Rialto. See our "North Coast Route" trip report for details on the full itinerary. This report focuses on campsites and the trail immediately north & south of the Norwegian Memorial & Cedar Creek.

Campsites: Norwegian Memorial and Cedar Creek are very close together and are connected by beach and/or a short overland, so in some sense can be considered all one option for a night's rest. Or even more than one night. the entire area is very nice. However, it is so nice that there is an "outlaw" trail that is only a mile walk from the logging roads, so both these campsite areas can be overrun with campsites full of a broad range of campers. Likely to be many dogs, campfires (even during burn bans), etc. If you are looking for solitude, perhaps try these camps on days other than Friday and Saturday. The campsites at Norwegian are set back in a lightly forested flat area above the beach and are spacious. The creek is nice. The campsites at Cedar Creek are similarly nice, but a little less spacious. There are about three on the bluff north of Cedar Creek, one immediately south of Cedar Creek, and one 1500 yards south of that on a creek that is a much nicer water supply. The camp immediately south of Cedar Creek is fairly spacious, but also has a massive pile of beach debris which for some reason people pile here, along with some camp garbage. Beachcombers often store their finds in the bushes behind this campsite before packing them out, so there can be some weird buoys and other 'treasures' in the bushes here.

Animals: There are some river otters in Cedar Creek. I saw them in the early morning scampering from the ocean up the beach to the pond that is the terminus of cedar creek. There are whale bones (both nearly complete skeletons and isolated bones) along the whole coast, but there is a fairly nice set about a mile north of Norwegian Memorial. We saw some seals on the rocks occasionally all the way south to Hole-in-the-Wall, and even south of that there was one in the surf flirting with all the day trippers. Lots of shorebirds. Very rich tide pools particularly just north of Hole-in-the-Wall.

Hiking: Kayostla Beach running from just north of Norwegian Memorial to just south of Cedar Creek is wonderful hiking, and a great reprieve from the rocky, slippery scrambling that runs for miles to both the north and south. Make sure to plan plenty of time during low tide to make it to your next stop, whether it be north or south. If you are taking the "outlaw" path, please pack out as much trash as you can carry (ideally more than you brought).

Water: Boiling water or pumping from Cedar Creek can be done, but most people will prefer a different water source because of the high tannins and/or because it may be hard to find a comfortable place to pump without walking a bit upstream, as the shore of the terminal pond is muddy/gravelly without easy access to deep water.