Spent 3 days on the Olympic wilderness beaches between Rialto and Norwegian Memorial. Most of the trails over headlands and the aids (wire ladders & ropes) have been heavily damaged by recent storms. All headland overland routes in this area are passable but many are mud scrambles or worse. One of the most challenging is the wire ladder on the south slope of the headland between Norweigan Memorial and Cedar Creek. The wire on one side is missing from the midpoint down. (But deer come down this hill with no aids and so can you - just be careful). Some of the usual campspots on the bench just north or Cedar Creek are unusable because a recent storm covered them with large driftwood logs.
The old trail from Norweigan Memorial to Lake Ozette will be impassable in a few years. It is now marked at the beach side as an ""unmaintained route,"" which is accurate. Lots of blowdowns to climb over and under, very brushy toward the lake and puncheon across the swampy bits rotting. The bay at the lake ozette end is now a reddy marsh and probably impssible to get into by boat. The old dock is rotting and sinking into the marsh.
Don't let my report discourage your from going. I had a great time, in the sun(!).
Comments