Dates: July 7 - July 11. Route and destination: boardwalk trail to Cape Alava from Lake Ozette trailhead. Weather: varied from cold to hot, but comfortable. Trail conditions: dry (except wet, packed clay near wooden handrail bridge), several holes or missing boards, but mostly excellent condition; down hill to beach very narrow from erosion. Good supply of driftwood for campfires south of creek. Good supply of water from creek. Beach hiking conditions: to the north of Cape Alava fairly easy, but large amounts of sea grass; to the south difficult with numerous downed trees and slippery rocks at low tide. Activity level: several hiking/camping groups coming & going, but still relatively quiet. Animal life abundant: garter snakes, raccoons (mother & babies), does with fawns, seals, sea lions, otters, oystercatchers, bald eagles, sandpipers, etc.

Went out to Cape Alava with a small group of Boy Scouts for the long weekend. The boardwalk is in decent shape with only a few missing planks. The campsites are heavily used but the setting is spectacular. Eagles wheeling overhead, seals and sea lions barking from the rocks, gray whales spouting offshore, sea otters, and tidepools to explore--all capped off by a beach campfire. It rained a bit, but nobody noticed. Even the racoons were (mostly) well-behaved.

This is a bit of a day hike if you are coming over on a ferry from the Seattle-area, but it's well worth the journey. The 3.3 mile walk to the beach is pretty uneventful, except for the wet, slippery boardwalk that consists of about 2.5 of those one-way miles. It helped that we brought our trekking poles. If you bring your trekking poles, don't forget to attach the baskets to prevent the poles from going through the boardwalk gaps. Other equipement that was nice to have were gaitors, as there was quite a bit of knee-height wet grass along the trail. The reward for the long drive and somewhat uninspiring boardwalk are the views once you get to Cape Alava. I never realized that Washington had some coastline gems that are up there with Oregon's. The view is spectacular even on a misty day. Both of the pictures were taken from campsites that are literally feet from the crashing waves. After falling in love with the North Cascades last year, I thought nothing in Washington would get my attention for some time. Well, the Olympic Penninsula has my attention and my heart, too.

Just spent two days at Cape Alava. Rained off & on yesterday; today was beautiful - sunny and warm! Saw sea otters and whales last night. Trail is in good shape and the stream at the Cape was flowing. Came home to rain and reports of tornadoes - what the heck?!?!

We parked at the trailhead around 12:30am (the usual time) and there was only one car in the lot (and it turns out that they were at Sandpoint!) We were on the trail by 1:00 with our headlamps blaring. The trail was in pretty good shape: we had to duck under one fallen tree, there was a broken bit in the boardwalk, and it was slick as ever. Hiking time was about an hour and a half. The campground was deserted (except for the deer of course). A couple other groups hiked in later and stayed Saturday night. The weather was incredible: full moon, clear skies, and the stars were amazing. We had just one little rain shower Sunday morning before we got up. Can't wait till next year...