Family Backpacking the Ozette Triangle, WA – Part 2

I can’t say enough how much of an amazing hike the Ozette Triangle is. In my previous post I looked a little bit at the logistics, now I want to take some time to share part 2 of the video and talk about the hiking itself.

Day 1

We left at about 10 am from Seattle, boarded the ferry to Kingston and then drove all the way out to Port Angeles. The weather for the next three days was rain, but we wanted to take the risk. Light showers don’t scare us.

All the way to Port Angeles there was a mixture of sun and rain. When we picked up our permits at the Wilderness Center it was raining when I entered and sunny when I left.

From there it was another 2 hours of winding roads and some nasty weather. It got so bad that the wipers blew out of alignment and one of them flipped inside out! Surprisingly, when we disembarked at the Ozette Lake trailhead it had calmed down completely.

After filling up with water at the trailhead we crossed the bridge and entered the Temperate Rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula. All around are cedars, salmon berry bushes and dense foliage. The area is so wet that most of the paths are elevated boardwalks. We were warned of them being slippery, but the kids took the advice of their parents and navigated the course carefully.

About a quarter mile up the trail we arrived at the fork. The Ozette Triangle is just that. the trail drops down to the beach, then north to the next camp and then meets back at the original trail near the trailhead.

 

Being under the shade of old cedars made for a cool hike which made it easier for the kids. We spent lots of time telling stories, examining fungus and banana slugs and playing games. The next few hours blew b and we arrived at the camp with plenty of light to set up camp and make dinner.

The kids were tired, but had to push through the bushes to the beach to see the sunset and look for seals.

After a delicious dinner we slept soundly and warmly in our tents excited for the next day’s hike.

Day 2

After packing up and talking to the Park Ranger about weather and routes we consulted our tidal chart and decided to leave at around 12 pm. This gave us a receding tide and plenty of time to avoid the steep rope routes.

The weather was amazing. We had sunny skies all day as we trekked along the shore looking for crabs and other animals. For lunch we ate date bars and explored the sand for shells.

As a fun project we carved some dried out bull kelp heads into trumpets for the kids (see the video below) which they spent the next twenty minutes confusing sea lions with.

The kids had a blast taking turns navigating around the rocks to avoid fallen logs. Their trekking poles were a huge asset to their stability.

On one break a lone deer wandered by. It fearlessly stared at us from about 15 feet away and then carried on down the beach passed us.

Late in the day we arrived at the whale carcass that we had read about on the WTA site. We almost missed it as the odor had almost completely disappeared… although the crows were still looking for an easy meal. The bones were mostly exposed and we spent a little time examining it and guessing what type of whale it was.

At the camp we quickly met up with another deer and raccoon that eagerly tried to help relieve us of our dinner. Fortunately we kept the bear canister closed and the food packed away, but they gave us a good run for our money… err… dinner.

After spending a few hours playing on the beach, the kids came back for dinner covered in sand and dirt. We ate up dinner quickly and the kids went to bed listening to the sea lions off in the distance.

Day 3

We woke up the next morning to strong winds and a dark sky. We had planned to stick around until lunch, but changed our minds as rain started to spatter. We quickly packed up without any hot drinks and headed back down the trail. It turned out to be the right choice as the rain came down on us in buckets whenever we crossed an open meadow.

Buoyed by the promise of as much juice as they could drink when we got back to civilization, the kids powered ahead, only stopping for salmon berries along the way. We got back to the car tired but happy from an amazing 3 day trip in an almost untouched area.