trip report - backpacking on the Olympic coast
we had an absolutely lovely weekend backpacking on the Olympic coast.
we hopped a 6:10am ferry and snagged a bear can at the Olympic National Park Wilderness Information Center in Port Angeles on the way over. we parked at the Ozette Triangle trailhead and hiked the Cape Alava trail 3.4 miles to the coast, then headed north 2.3 miles to the South Ozette River campsites. the tidal restrictions were no joke! at two points just before the campsites, the coast would have been totally impassible at high tide, and still required careful navigating at low tide to avoid a gnarly fall on rocks, barnacles, and seaweed.
at camp, we found a lovely camp spot tucked in some trees and we gathered water before the tide came in. the other people camping at South Ozette River were lovely, and we joined a group to hang for a bit at their fire. R taught me how to use our camping stove, and we had surprisingly good dehydrated butternut squash daal for dinner. it was the summer solstice, so it was light until 10pm.
we both slept well, with R sleeping in until 9am (a rare feat when camping). we made oatmeal for breakfast, and packed up camp and hiked out.
the tide pools were so incredible! green anemones, ochre sea stars, little fish and crabs that quickly darted out of sight, barnacles, mussels.
we also saw bald eagles and a couple deer. we heard lore of a momma black bear and cub, but (thankfully) didn’t see them.
on our way back, we ran into a couple friends camping at Cape Alava, which was a true joy! none of us really backpack and we happened to be taking our first real backpacking trip on the same weekend at the same trail, one of those cosmic moments of coincidence.