Cape Alava, Cape Alava Loop (Ozette Triangle) — Friday, Mar. 23, 2001

Olympic Peninsula > Pacific Coast

Cape Alava Loop is well worth a afternoon or weekend visit. We opted for a overnight stay. I had heard tales about the boardwalk for years so whene a buddy emailed and said he wanted to head out there I was game. We arrived at the trailhead at about 3 pm there were a good 15 cars in the enormous parking lot. The boardwalk was a bit uneventfull a few slips but no falls. There is not a whole lot to see on the 3 miles on out to the ocean-but it seems like a preety short 3 miles because hiking the boards are so repetitive. It was a beautiful sunny March afternoon and there were numerous people camped up at Cape Alava along the high tide line. We opted to steer clear of these crowds and headed south to a neat little spot just before you get to Sand Point. There happened to be a little water source right there and 3 very friendly deer. (There not much fresh water available from Cape Alava to Sand Point) There sure was not as much sandy beach as I was used to after hiking the Kalaloch beaches and Third Beach down to Goodman Creek but the tidal rockery was a change of scenery. It seemed the big white sea lions liked the area---there were a bunch of them lying around. We got up early on Saturday and headed out as the rain started falling. There was not a whole lot to see as we headed out the Sand Point leg of the trail either, but after a short 50 min hike we were at the trailhead. No reservtions needed. Plenty of fees. If you want to see some other hikes around the Pacific Northwest take a look at my website at: http://alpinejo.tripod.com.