During winter break I had the opportunity to get out a lot
more than normal! The weekend after Christmas a couple friends and I took a few
days to backpack the coast from La Push up to Ozette.
Taylor and I headed out early Saturday morning to stop at
the WIC in Port Angeles for permits and bear canisters before making our way to
La Push where we busted Quade out of work for some fun! Ok he was already off,
but a jail break sounds more exciting. We were shuttled over to Rialto Beach
where we donned our packs and started our journey.
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| Chilean Memorial |
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| Norwegian Memorial |
We spent two nights and three days along the rugged Washington coast, enjoying every moment of it! We stopped at the Chilean Memorial, Hole in the Wall, Norwegian Memorial, and whatever else was along this stretch of super interesting coast. Getting a later start our first day we made it to Cedar Creek at nightfall.
Camp was made on the rocky beach right
below Starbuck Mine. It’s surprising how comfortable it can be on all those
rocks! Only one pesky mouse to bother us, but we managed to scare it off…or at
least it was a little sneakier. We were alone on the beach but could spot some
headlamps off in the distance north of us. The following morning as we trekked
on we passed the campers only to find out we knew them! What a small world! We
had been following their tracks wondering if we would ever see other people,
maybe they were the ones that left the sand art for us to find as well…forgot
to ask them though, darn!
The tide was still too high to pass so we took the overland
trail up over the point. This was the first time I HAD to use the trail because
of the water level, I’ve gotten to climb along them before while out playing,
but it felt more adventurous with my pack on. Lol
Many more slippery rocks to cross for miles and miles…and
when there weren’t any of those stretches I still found a way to fall and hurt
myself! Maybe because I insisted on climbing over things I should walk under and
crawl under things I could step over. J
This resulted in slipping on a wet tree and almost falling to my demise onto a
boulder smashing me knee. It still hurts and it’s been a week! Besides the
bruising I may have done something more, it feels weird when I poke at it. :/
Our second night was spent at Yellow Banks. With dusk creeping
upon us we spotted a buoy covered site up in the yellow banks! Haha, get it!? We
set up camp on the nice rises already in place before finding some dead dry
wood for the amazing fire we had! It only took a few hours, but good job guys!
No sarcasm, I wouldn’t have gotten one started at all!
Nightfall invited us to a buoy scavenger hunt! If we aren’t
able to haul them all out might as well get them off the beach and add to the
eclectic feel of the campsite, right? We found a fishing net among the
driftwood as well and made a snazzy hammock out of it! I must say, we had the
best contribution to that site! 
Monday morning we were to continue the last leg of our trip
to meet our ride at the Ozette Ranger Station that afternoon. Since we were
close “we can be there any time” was the consensus….high tide had other plans. We
played and waited for the tide to recede enough to climb over the rocks and
make it safely around. This was a great little section!
Heading up to Sand Point we got a little distracted, there
were sand dollars everywhere! We started collecting them, decided to write out
PNW, realized we didn’t have enough, ran around collecting more, wrote out PNW,
took pictures, then were again behind schedule! So we dashed towards Sand
Point, perhaps unnecessary but fun times. We jumped onto the Ozette Loop at
Sand Point, not wanting to keep our chauffer waiting, and scurried slipperily
along the boardwalk. Yes… slipperily. Boots went sliding across the wet planks
although we mostly caught our balance. Only once was I unable to catch my
balance so I let myself go and down I went off the boardwalk…what are ya gonna
do?!
We took about an hour to get to the parking lot where we
dropped our gear and relaxed with some sort of bean concoction cooked up…..delicious!
It was now that Mother Nature decided to release the rain that she had been
holding back all weekend so we could have an amazing trip! The timing was
perfect! We then waited in the shelter for our ride, he was getting some fun in
as well with a little trail run, and sang to the passersby. Some odd looks, but
one couple that pulled up about half hour before sunset chatted with us and
explained how they had traveled there so they could stand at the westernmost
spot of the continental US. I didn’t know that was Cape Alava…I learned
something new! They weren’t going to beat the sunset, but we encouraged them to
go anyways since they came all this way and would not be able to return the following
day. Way to go!
Another great adventure for the books. Thanks gentlemen!
