Quick drive, ferry ride wind blowing in our hair, and another couple hour drive to the trail head. Tented up on the side of the road hidden in the woods. Awoke early to the warm sunshine to start a long hiking day. Three miles to the coast, quick and easy. Another 6-7 to our campsite, not so quick and easy...the sun scorched all non-covered skin and we wobbled our way over all types of surfaces. Sandy beaches to slippery sm-med sized rocks, to large boulders, to climbing over hillsides (which included ropes to get up and down) when the tides trapped us from going around points. Finally made it to the end of a beautiful stretch of beach, perfect campsite, with only a slight chance of the high tide getting us. Mountain house dinners taste amazing when you've hiked 8 hrs, and we watched the sunset from luxurious sleeping pad camp chairs. Too tired to drink whiskey.
Bomb campsite
Sunset #1
Perusing the maps, deciding how long he's going to make me hike tomorrow.
Beaches for days!
Day two started after sleeping in until 9, then having a leisurely breakfast. Tide was on the rise, and we greeted many a fellow hiker from our breakfast, those who had set alarms to hike early around certain points before the sea gods sent the high tides to block the way.
Another 10 mile day further south. Memories from the last time I had hiked this coast were rudely intercepted by the amount of trash littering the rocks. Boots, laundry baskets, crates with Japanese writing, endless amounts of unwanted goods now filtered into memories of long beautiful beaches.
After hiking up and over one point, the around the point trail being hidden by the ocean, we had a long lunch and spotted a small, furry baby seal pup sunning himself on the beach. Fantasia immediately wanted to make friends, but after a few warning nips, we left the seal to his sunny nap and continued on to find the next camp spot.
Campsite #2 was found in the trees, a shady spot much appreciated after baking in the hot sun all day. A dip in the warm ocean water washed away the sweat and dirt from the day, replacing it with a salty ocean cleanliness. We basked in the sunshine until dinner, then read and played cards, Fantasia winning every game while watching the sunset. We decided we might want to get up a bit earlier the next day to hit the ever alluring low tide, and not have to rope ourselves up and over land masses.
View from the tent
Enjoying my camp chair after a swim
Fantasia finding critters
Sunsets that never get old
Campsite #3 in the trees. We had some campers just down the beach, but after finding a hidden camp spot, we barely noticed our neighbors. Took a nap, then had a sunset dinner followed by a few games of Rummy, all of which Fantasia won. Again. Looking pretty tan by now.
Woke early knowing we had a long day ahead of us. And by long, I mean almost 15 miles. The first 10 were nice and sunny and we felt pretty good in our boots. We made it back to the trail head we hiked out on that lead back to Ozette, now we needed to hike the 3 miles to the second trail head along the coast, followed by at least another mile (if we were lucky) to the camp site. Being 4th of July weekend, LOTS of people had hiked the 3 miles out to the coast and were bbqing, napping, and playing in the water. Many smiling faces and hellos, although I preferred the small deer, crabs, otters, seals, and squirrels that has accompanied us so far on the trip. I wasn't yet ready to make small talk with other campers.
When I felt like my feet were about to fall off, we make it to our camp site. Beautiful two mile long beach, free of ocean current trash. We immediately went for a much needed dip. Beautiful shallow, clear blue water for about a half mile into the water, with slow soft waves lapping at our blistered feet. We swam and played in the waves until our hearts content, and our stomachs growled in anticipation of a delicious Mountain House Lasagna. Sunset was again enjoyed, this time with some whiskey we had saved for the last couple days (or were too tired to want any on the previous days). Life is good. Except that Fancy Pants Fantasia kept winning all the card games. I may or may not have had a little fit this evening when I almost, oh so close, won my first Rummy win, for him to snatch it out from beneath me at the last second, with a devious cackle.
We stayed at this campsite for two nights, with a short day (finally) in between. This day was supposed to be another 9 miler, but the high tide beat us, and when we couldn't find the trail immediately I chose to turn back and enjoy the day reading, napping and swimming. WIN!
The last morning we woke early, before 6 am, for the 6 mile hike out to sadly drive back to Seattle and fly home.
The first of the arches
The last sunset
Hiking out
All in all the trip was fantastic. Great companion (even with the card games ha!), great trails and adventures, great weather, great sunsets, great relaxation. A delay of ferry travel from the 4th of July holiday rush gave us an unexpected day in Seattle, spend walking around town, visiting the brewery's and generally relaxing.
There is always a sense of sadness when these trips are over, a realization and reminder of what is important in these short lives of ours.
Favorite picture of us from our first Adventure away from AK
