This classic Olympic Coast hike takes you through dense maritime forest, down a stretch of wilderness beach, and back in through dense forest to your start. Wild beaches are rare these days, and this one does not disappoint.
We stopped at the Port Angeles Ranger Station on our way out to get a permit and were surprised by how busy the place was at 8:30. We were pretty proud of ourselves for getting such an early start, but clearly plenty of other people had no problem getting out early. The Park Service also has a strict policy on bear canisters -- apparently they are concerned about the raccoons on the beach having a buffet from campsite food. We found the crows to be more of a nuisance (especially if you leave your breakfast on the table while you stroll down to the water with your morning coffee). You can rent one there for free, or take your own. You also get to pick if you want to camp at Sand Point or Cape Alva. Cape Alva allows fires but has less of a beach; Sand Point has a nicer beach but doesn't allow fires. We opted for Sand Point for the full beach experience, though a fire would have been nice.
We did the trail going to Sand Point first. The parking lot was pretty crowded, and we passed quite a few people going out. There were lots of families with kids. My favorite was two tow-headed boys carrying a surfboard, one with another tow-headed kid in a carrier on his back. The trail through the woods is really a long wood plank bridge, as it gets incredible muddy and boggy in the rainier winter months. So whenever you pass someone, you have to sort of awkwardly stand to the side while they maneuver around you.
The trail was flat, flat, flat, though. After our last weekend with such extreme elevation gain, the flat easy trail felt like a little stroll to the coast. We took in the huge trees and giant ferns -- even a purple mushroom! -- and before we knew it we had popped out onto the beach.
As the trail nears the beach is passes by dozens of campsites, so it gets a little confusing as to which is the main trail and which are just trails to sites. The trail also isn't visible from the beach, so many people the taking the look in the counter-clockwise direction asked us where to catch the trail back through the woods. After a little wandering, though, it all became clear. Luckily, we were there on a Sunday night so we pretty much had our pick of campsites. We picked a nice large grassy site with clear views of the cove.
People get really creative with all the driftwood and other random stuff that washes ashore. In our campsite, someone had rigged up crates to serve as Adirondack chairs. There were old doors propped up with driftwood as tables, plastic fencing working as hammocks, and lots of creative driftwood seating.
We set up camp, and since we would likely be heading up the beach the next day during high tide, decided to walk up the beach sans packs to do some low tide exploring. There are some petroglyphs about midway between Sand Point and Cape Alva that we especially wanted to see. A little way up the beach we passed a seal that seemed to have gotten stranded on the rocks during high tide. We had never been that close to a seal before -- he followed up with his head as we walked around him. We were worried that he was sick, or really stuck there, but he was gone the next morning, so hopefully he got out with the tide.
The petroglyphs at Wedding Rock weren't on on huge rock as I expected, but scattered around on small rocks all around the area. A youth group that was leaving pointed out some to us, and we spent an hour or so discovering many more. Lots of moons, whales and fish. The Makah people have lived in the area for thousands of years, and archaeologists have excavated ancient houses and other artifacts around Cape Alva. I found myself imagining what it would be like to live every day surrounded by spruce, seastacks, and ocean.
We spent a long while wandering out on the rocks, looking in tide pools. We saw all kinds of starfish and sea anemones, and other creatures that looked strangely similar to pimento olives. I sat for a while on a warm rock, staring out at the ocean. I began to wish that we were staying there all week.
Eventually we got hungry and headed back to camp. We pumped water in a creek near Sand Point brown from leaf tannins, and walking back we caught one amazing sunset. There is a 50 foot high hill right on the point of Sand Point, and we ran up that to get an even better view of the sunset.
The next day we headed back up the beach, but this time with packs, and it was surprising how much the extra weigh affected us in the sand. It was slower going. Since it was high tide, we had to go "overland" in a few places -- basically up and over the bluff outcroppings instead of around them, but these were kind of fun and gave us an even better view of the coastline. Once we passed Wedding Rock and the petroglyphs, we started encountering a lot of downed trees on the beach. If it was low tide, you could have easily walked further down the beach to avoid them, but since it was high tide, we either had to walk inland all the way around them, or find a place where we could crawl under them with our packs on. Needless to say, this made for slow going.
Sadly, we had to turn back inland and leave the ocean behind. The trail from Cape Alva to Ozette has more stairs than the Sand Point to Ozette Trail, so there was a bit of up to get out. Not much, but we hadn't had lunch yet, so we were starving at this point and it just seemed much longer than the way in. There was lots of talk about where we would stop for food on the way out.
One night definitely didn't seem long enough for this place. Since it's a fairly easy walk in, this would be a great spot to bring in some books and notebooks, some wine and good food, and just spend a week.
Directions: From Port Angeles follow US 101 west for 5 miles to the junction with State Route 112. Turn right (west) on SR 112, continuing for 46 miles to the community of Sekiu. (Alternatively, take US 101 to Sappho and drive SR 113 north to SR 112 and then on to Sekiu. This way is longer, but not as curvy.) Drive 2.5 miles beyond Sekiu and turn left onto the Hoko-Ozette Road. Follow this paved road for 21 miles to the Ozette Ranger Station and trailhead.
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