Charles Bookman
Poking my head out of my tent one damp morning on the wild Olympic coast, I spot a mother otter leading three pups into the surf. As dawn touches the nearby offshore rocks, I watch with Mountaineers companions as mama teaches her babies how to swim and catch breakfast. Above, bald eagles swoop low, their curious gargles providing constant entertainment. Other gulls, terns, and sanderlings dot the shore in abundance.
What else can be seen while walking miles along the Olympic coast? Rainforests lush with towering cedars and Douglas firs; free-flowing salmon streams and mossy glens; gorgeous sea stacks, coves, and headlands; sea lions barking on offshore rocks; and bleached whale bones. If you’re lucky, you may even spot sea otters in kelp forests, or a baby seal parked on the sand while its mother fishes for breakfast. And there is history, too — rock carvings made by ancestors of today’s Makah people, and memorials to sunken ships and dramatic rescues.
Fifty miles of wilderness backpacking is accessible year-round on the wild Olympic coast. Hardly anywhere else in the United States can you so quickly and completely immerse yourself in true wilderness.
A rainbow over the Wildcatter Coast. Photo by Joel Bea.
Coastal walking
Hiking a remote coast is a commitment. Once you start, there is no escape until you reach the other end. Navigating the varied terrain involves all manner of scrambling techniques – from rock-hopping to arm-rappelling on fixed ropes – and the sandy beaches and cobbled terrain can be hard on your calves and quads, testing your balance. There are boulders to hop, rivers to ford, and headlands to clamber over. But you’ll be rewarded with pristine views as you pass flowering shrubs and swamp laurel, forested glades with fern floors and towering trees, and clementine sunsets that sparkle over the Pacific Ocean.
When backpacking on the coast, pay attention to the tides. Carry a printed tide table (your cell phone won’t work) and plan your daily hike accordingly. The Custom Correct map of the Olympic coast indicates the tide levels necessary to safely walk around headlands. When the tide is in, you must go up and over the headlands. The National Park Service has marked headland trails with large, red and black disks, but the climbs are almost always rugged.
Coastal walking may seem fairly straightforward, but navigation becomes increasingly important when the tide is high. Once during a trip, my group got caught by the tide after making a wrong turn. Yes, you can make a wrong turn on the coast! By the time we noticed our mistake and returned to the correct headland path, we’d consumed a precious 45 minutes. Eventually the tide rose and trapped us at the base of a muddy, tangled landslide slope, leaving us unable to round the next headland. We found a small area above the tide line and settled in to wait for the water to recede.
Logistics
The Olympic coast breaks neatly into three sections from south to north: Oil City to Third Beach (just south of La Push) (18 miles); Rialto Beach (just north of La Push) to Cape Alava (22 miles); and Cape Alava to Shi Shi Beach (14 miles). Through-hiking requires a lengthy car shuttle, which can be arranged within your hiking group or by hiring an outfitter for about $75 per person.
Camping requires a backcountry permit obtainable through the recreation.gov website or from the Olympic Park Wilderness Information Center. While access is controlled, some permits on the shore are more readily obtainable than others. Perhaps the most accessible backcountry permit is for Sand Point, an easy-to-reach (three flat-trailed miles) scenic area with offshore rocks, a magnificent beach, and abundant campsites.
There are more footwear options for coastal walking than for mountain trails. I’ve hiked in mud boots, hiking boots, and running shoes. With mud boots, I rock-hop and tide-pool with abandon. With hiking boots, I stay safely away from the deepest tide pools but am more sure-footed on slippery rocks and steep trails. With running shoes, I move more easily along stretches of beach. Beach footwear is ultimately a matter of personal preference.
Keep in mind that fresh water is sparse (except for the rain!) and creeks can be brackish or tea-colored from the tannins in cedar roots. Like everything on the shore, your skin and equipment will be salty. While on a warm day you might be tempted to cool off in the ocean, without a sizable body of fresh water nearby, it is difficult to wash off the salt.
Olympic Coast map.
Planning your adventure
Wildcatter Coast: Oil City to Third Beach, 18 miles
The Wildcatter coast north of the Hoh River got its name in the early 1900s when real estate promoters sought to attract investment after finding petroleum in the area. First peoples and early settlers would dig hand wells and skim tarry goo that rose to the surface. In a local memoir, an early settler recalled skimming the oil and burning it in his Model T (he probably would have had to clean his spark plugs).
After enjoying a dinner in vampire-friendly Forks, leave your car at Third Beach and spend the night at Cottonwood Campground, just off Oil City Road. The next morning, take the trail to the ocean, which follows the Hoh River a short half mile. From the river mouth, a log-strewn beach leads to an algae-covered boulder field, then cobbles stretch a mile or more to the first headland. A handline assists your journey up and over the headland. Then, the trail stays high above the rocky shore for three-and-a-half miles until descending to the first night’s camp at Mosquito Creek. This gorgeous site rests on a bluff overlooking a two-and-a-half-mile beach. Despite the name, I didn’t experience any bugs, and the creek is deep enough for swimming.
The next day, walk along the coast’s golden strand for an hour. Just before climbing a headland, you’ll reach a rocky cove where you may be able to spot sea otters. In my experience, they couldn’t care less about being observed, as long as you safely respect their distance.
A baby seal.
With the headland behind, the trail dips and climbs. You’ll have to cross Goodman Creek – which may be deep enough to swim in depending on when you visit – before encountering another mile-long beach. In the distance, headlands rise above where you’ll camp that night. Notice Toleak Point jutting dramatically out to sea, the seals that lounge on nearby rocks, the eagles perched in tall trees, and the cedar waxwings singing in the shrubbery. There’s a spot to camp just behind the tree line on the sunset side of the point, amid all the splendors.
Driftwood fires are one of the great pleasures of beach camping. Wood is plentiful near this campsite and fires on the sand are about as safe as you can get, especially in the evening after the offshore breezes settle. Tell stories with your group around the fire as you watch the sun melt into the sea. Don’t forget to put out your fire before retiring for the evening.
The third and final day on the Wildcatter Coast involves a beach walk from Toleak Point, then a climb up and over another headland. Using a handline, drop down the bluff onto Third Beach. (Note that this beach gets its share of daytime tourists.) On Third Beach, pick up the one-and-a-half-mile manicured trail to the trailhead. Be prepared for it to feel a little unreal to reclaim your car and turn your cell phone back on.
Shipwreck Coast: Rialto Beach to Cape Alava, 22 miles
The Shipwreck Coast was a great hazard to navigation before the invention of radar. Ships that couldn’t find the Straits of Juan de Fuca ran the risk of running onto a very inhospitable shore. The walk on this fogbound coast passes memorial sites of early 20th century maritime disasters, the Chilean Memorial, and the Norwegian Memorial. When visiting this area, take care to find, visit, and honor the memorials.
I like to do this route by camping at Lake Ozette the first night (the end point for this section) and hiring a commercial shuttle to reach the Rialto Beach trailhead. The drive takes about 75 minutes.
The route begins at mile-long Rialto Beach. At the north end of the beach, an arch within jutting rock known as Hole-in-the-Wall marks a headland. There follows a succession of coves and headlands with stretches of difficult walking that traverse cobbles and boulders. The Chilean shipwreck memorial is near Cape Johnson, about four miles into the hike. Beyond Cape Johnson, the coast remains rocky and rugged until late in the day. After negotiating a steep, difficult headland, you’ll reach a glorious beach strand at the end of which lies Cedar Creek, a reliable fresh water source and a good place to spend the first night.
The walking eases on the second day, though there are still headlands to cross and cobbles and boulders to negotiate. There are, however, more stretches of sand, including the delightfully named Yellow Banks, and the extensive beach just before Sand Point. The distance from Cedar Creek to Sand Point is just under nine miles. The campsites and water source are in the trees south of the point.
The third day of this trip negotiates the popular coastline from Sand Point to Cape Alava, and then follows an easy trail back to the cars at the Lake Ozette trailhead. An hour north from Sand Point, just to the left of a large, red and black disk marking an up-and-over headland trail, look for petroglyphs of whales spouting and other designs. A Native village at nearby Cape Alava was abandoned after a tsunami in 1700. Relics from the site are kept at the Makah Museum in Neah Bay.
A whale petroglyph at Wedding Rocks.
The Makah Coast: Shi Shi Beach to Cape Alava, 14 miles
Walking the northernmost section of the wild Olympic coast, you need a permit from the Makah to enter their reservation for recreation and a permit from the Olympic National Park to camp along the shore. In addition to arranging a car shuttle for a one-way hike, it is advisable to park on private land near the Shi Shi Beach trailhead, which involves a daily fee. (Because of the logistics, I usually hike this section north to south, whereas the other sections have been described south to north.)
After a short one-and-a-half miles, the trail to Shi Shi drops over the coastal bluff to the beach. Shi Shi Beach runs for two-and-a-half miles and is girded with sea stacks. Walk south for less than an hour, then camp in the driftwood beside Petroleum Creek. Stoke a fire and watch the sun set over the mile-long headland, Point of the Arches.
The next day’s hike begins by rock-hopping around Point of the Arches. (Here is where we made the previously described wrong turn, got out of sync with the tide, and spent an unplanned couple of hours waiting to complete the walk to our next campsite.) The trail will eventually lead you to the Ozette River, which drains a large lake. The campsites along the river are lush green with dark, silent water, and the distant surf provides a pleasant background as you settle in for the night.
On the last day of this hike, you’ll need to cross the Ozette River. The water runs swift and deep, so time your crossing for low tide. I like to cross this river at the mouth, where the river is wider and the water is knee deep. From the river, it is an easy couple of miles to Cape Alava, and then a three-mile walk out to the trailhead. A lot of the trail is on boardwalk or puncheon.
Kids love the Ozette Triangle.
Sunset at Mosquito creek.
Ozette Loop: Lake Ozette to Sand Point to Cape Alava to Lake Ozette, 9 miles
If car shuttling is not for you or you have less time, you can still experience the wild Olympic coast in a nine-mile loop hike. An easy, three-mile trail takes you to Sand Point. If you’re camping, permits are easy to get here as there is so much space. From Sand Point, follow the coast north for three miles past sea stacks and headlands. About an hour north, look for the previously described petroglyphs. When you reach Cape Alava, turn inland. Walk through the camping area and you’ll find the easy three-mile trail back to Lake Ozette. I have done this walk several times. Once, I saw a baby seal perched on the beach at Sand Point. Another time, I watched with my grandchildren as a bear foraged in the sand just beyond our campsite.
The wild Olympic coast is a destination for all seasons. Plan well, pay attention to the tides, and you, too, can leave your footprints in the sand.
This article originally appeared in our spring 2025 issue of Mountaineer magazine. To view the original article in magazine form and read more stories from our publication, visit our magazine archive.
