For our fourth day in Olympic National Park we headed to Ozette Lake, the largest natural body of water in Washington. This was our longest drive from Forks taking just over an hour to reach the Ozette Trailhead.
We followed pointers for the “Coastal Trail” and crossed the Ozette River on a footbridge.
Notice regarding the petroglyphs on Wedding Rocks. By the time we were on the beach we’d completely forgot to look for these. We did run into another hiker who had seen them on a prior trip, but he couldn’t remember where. He thought they were located at some rocks near where we’d run into him, so we searched those rocks for several minutes with no luck. As it turns out he was mistaken as to where Wedding Rocks was, it is located on the first rocky headland nearest Cape Alava at the northern end of the triangle hike. We were much closer to the southern end.
Ozette River leaving Ozette Lake.
Shortly after crossing the river the trail split to begin the triangle.
We forked right onto the Cape Alava Trail. This 3.1-mile trail led through a coastal forest to the beach near Cape Alava. Much of the trail consisted of boardwalk.
Bunchberry
Slug on a skunk cabbage leaf.
Skunk cabbage
Bog laurel along the trail.
Closer look at the bog laurel blossoms.
Squirrel
First view of the ocean.
Beach bunny
Ozette Island. The signpost is used to identify inland trails that bypass the beach.
At the beach we turned left (south) and began walking along the rocky beach.
Bodelteh Islands
Heading south along the beach.
We had heard sea lions somewhere in the direction of Ozette Island as we were approaching the beach.
There is a seal in the foreground and a couple of sea lions on the rocks beyond.
Seals lounging on the rocks.
This beach hike wasn’t quite as challenging as the previous day on Rialto Beach (post) but there was a lot of slick ocean vegetation that was washed up on the shore.
One of several campsites along the beach.
Approaching Wedding Rocks. There is a bypass sign ahead if you look closely. At higher tides it is not possible to go around the rocks along the beach.
A couple of crabs taking a defensive position as we were passing by.
Wedding Rocks
On the other side of the Wedding Rocks. As I mentioned before this is where the petroglyphs are, but we’d already forgotten to be looking for them. In Heather’s defense she had started to come down with a cold the previous day and was not feeling 100%. I however had no excuse.
Beyond the Wedding Rocks we had to cross a rocky area where there were many pools.
After reaching some sand we took a break on a log before continuing on.
Looking back at the Wedding Rocks.
Robin
Bald eagle
Whimbrel
Hole in a sea stack.
Seals and cormorants
The second rocky headland where there was an inland bypass route. On the far side is where we ran into the hiker who thought these were the Wedding Rocks where he’d seen the petroglyphs before.
Path through the rocks. It made sense to us that this would be where the petroglyphs were given there were several passages between the rocks here.
Coming out the other side.
Looking back at the rocks that weren’t the Wedding Rocks.
After hiking back to the rocks with the hiker to look for the petroglyphs, which he did have photos of on his phone, we continued south to Sand Point. Along this stretch we passed a couple of large groups of backpackers heading north.
Sandpoint ahead.
Semipalmated plover
There was a use trail up the headland at Sand Point which I felt obliged to go up.
View south
One of the groups of backpackers heading north from Sand Point.
Chickweed on the headland.
We picked up a trail in the trees near some empty campsites and followed it inland along Sand Point.
There was a bit of a maze of use trails in the trees but we eventually found some trail signs and picked up the Sand Point Trail that would lead us back to Ozette Lake.
Similar to the Cape Alava Trail this trail had lot of boardwalk sections over the muddy forest floor.
Evergreen huckleberry blossoms.
Bench along the trail.
Groundcone. Heather had a sharp eye to pick this up on the forest floor.
There were a couple of missing sections of boardwalk along this side of the triangle.
Ozette Lake
This hike came in at an even 10-miles. Wandering around looking for the petroglyphs and going to the end of Sand Point instead of cutting up off the beach at the signed bypass added a little distance to the typical 9.4-mile distance.
Heather was a trooper for getting through this hike with what had now become a pretty intense cold. The cold would however keep her from our final hike and as I am writing this trip report I am dealing with the same illness. It had sprinkled off and on near the end of this hike and more rain was on the way Friday. For now we headed back to Forks and after changing clothes headed to Sully’s Drive-In for some burgers and tater tots before turning in for the night. Happy Trails!
Flickr: Ozette Triangle
wanderingyuncks 