Olympic National Park’s Ozette Coast hike will take you on one of the finest hikes on the Olympic Coast. Starting from Ozette Lake, one of the largest natural bodies of freshwater in Washington, this hike will have you exploring through maritime forests and all the “sea” scenery you can handle – sea stacks, sea otters, sea lions and ocean scenery.
The hike to the campsites at Cape Alava is an easy 3.1 miles through coastal forests and meadows before reaching the coast – most of the way walking on a cedar-planked boardwalk there to protect the lush and saturated terrain. Once at camp, there will be time to side hike along the coast in the afternoon to look for offshore islands, seals, whales and birds, or explore the tide pools.
After breakfast, the group travels down the coast past the picturesque Wedding Rocks (search for Makah petroglyphs) and then to Sandy Point to the more secluded campsites at Yellow Banks, and hiking some of the finest sand beaches in the Northwest. This part of the coast offers amazing scenery around every turn and headland. When the tide is out, we will explore the tide pools that form around the rocks and sea stacks. The distance from Cape Alava is about 5 miles.
We hike out by heading back up the coast to Sandy Point and taking a different trail through the woods back to our cars at the Ozette trailhead. The hike today is also about 5 miles with the final 2.8 miles through beautiful coastal forests.
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