Backpack - Ozette Triangle

Meet at 9 AM Saturday at the front porch of the Olympic National Park Wilderness Information Center (WIC) at 3002  S Mt. Angeles Road, Port Angeles, WA. 98362, reached from US 101 in Port Angeles by turning left at N. Race St, which becomes S Mt. Angeles Road, and turning right at the south end of town into the WIC parking lot.  Restrooms are available there.  

Olympic National Park requires that all food and other odor emitting substances must be stored overnight and while we are away from camp in an approved bear canister.  Anyone who does not have one can borrow one from the WIC at no extra charge, by requesting it from the leader prior to the trip.  When we meet at the WIC, the leader will pick up the prepaid permit and preordered bear canisters and distribute them to the borrowers.  Then the camp fee of $17 per person will be collected in cash or check only.  Anyone borrowing a bear canister from the WIC will need to reorganize their gear to fill the canister before we hike in to our campsite.  That will be most easily done at the trailhead, where we will stop for lunch before hiking in to Sand Point.  The canister must be carried inside your backpack, so be sure your backpack is large enough to hold it.

We will caravan from the WIC to the Ozette trailhead.   That will take about an hour and a half, involving heading  north on Mt. Angeles Road, turning left at the traffic light at Lauridsen, continuing straight at the next traffic light to join US 101, turning right onto SR 112 signed to Neah Bay, right at a T junction with a stop sign to stay on SR 112, left onto the Hoko-Ozette Road and continuing to the trailhead parking lot at the end of the road.  The lowest price gas on the trip is usually at the Elwha Tribal station on the north side of US 101 shortly before reaching the junction with SR 112.  Restrooms are available at the WIC, the Elwha Gas Station, at several DNR parks along SR 112, at the bend in the road in the town of Clallam Bay and at the trailhead.  The most convenient fast food stops are at the McDonald's where the one-way grid starts in Port Angeles and the Jack in the Box, where you turn left onto N Race St.  The last supermarket is on the left side of US 101 just before leaving town.  There is a small general store at the Lost Resort, involving a right turn just before reaching the trailhead parking lot. 

Before starting our hike in to Sand Point, we will have our lunch at a picnic table at the trailhead, where clean water and restrooms are nearby.   The hike into Sand Point is 3 miles.  Sunday's hike to Cape Alava is 3 miles each way along the beach.  Our hiking route will take us past the Wedding Rocks, where we will take a few minutes to look at the ancient Indian petroglyphs.  At Cape Alava we will have an opportunity to observe the site of an ancient Indian village, from which all the artifacts were dug up in the 1970s that are displayed in the Makah Museum in Neah Bay.  Monday morning we will backpack out  to the Ozette parking lot.  On the drive home there will be the option for a group restaurant meal in either Sekiu or Clallam Bay in accordance with safe practices in effect at that time.  Carpooling for this trip will conform to the safe guidelines then in place.  All other covid 19 guidelines then in place must be complied with.

The six-mile RT day hike from Sand Point to Cape Alava on Sunday is optional and that mileage is not included in the stated mileage for the trip.  The total mileage for the backpack and the day hike is 12 miles.  The Sunday day hike will be scheduled to straddle the 10:29 AM low tide of minus 1.57, one of the lower tides of the year.  We will have a trail lunch on Sunday at Cape Alava. 

Water you do not hike in with must be filtered from a stream at the south end of the Sand Point camping area.  There is another stream at the south end of the camping area at Cape Alava where water can be filtered during our lunch break there. 

Each car parked at the Ozette trailhead must display a National Park Pass.  If the pandemic has  not ended by May 29, carpooling will be restricted to members of the same household.