Dan's Blog: Ride Around The Olympic Peninsula- Part 2- Cape Alava Trail Hike

On tuesday, my plan was to do the hike from Lake Ozette to the ocean, along the beach and back to Lake Ozette. Each leg of the hike is about 3 miles, forming a triangle. I was up early and was on the trail by 0700. It was cool and overcast when I started out, but warmed up when I arrived at the beach. I chose to hike the southern portion first to Sand Point. This trail through the rain forest is really an easy hike. It is fairly level and is mostly cedar boardwalks. It can be slick when wet.

From Sand Point, I hiked north toward Cape Alava.The tide was out far enough that there was no problem getting around the headlands that are awash at high tide. This part of the hike is a combination of sand, gravel, rocks, driftwood, fallen trees and seaweed. This makes for tiring hiking and vigilance is in order to avoid falling on some of the terrain.

From Cape Alava I hiked inland back to Lake Ozette and camp. This trail has more elevation change then the southern trail. It also passes through some meadows that were cleared by the early homesteaders. When I first hike this trail with my family in the early 60's, there was remains of the old home at Ahlstrom's prairie. I could have probably still found the remains, but did not feel like bushwacking through the brush.

I was back to my camp by 1100.