Backpack - Shi Shi Beach

Meet at 9 AM Friday at the front porch of the Olympic National Park Wilderness Information Center at 3002 Mt. Angeles Road, Port Angeles, reached by turning left from US 101 in Port Angeles onto  N. Race Street, which becomes Mt. Angeles Road.

This is the best beach backpack trip in Washington, so it is scheduled during the best tides of the year.  At the Wilderness Information Center in Port Angeles (WIC) we will pay camping fees of $8 per person per night for those over 16 and pick up required bear canisters for those who don't have them (no charge).  Then we will drive to Washburn's General Store in Neah Bay (2 hours), where we will purchase Makah Recreation passes ($10 per car, good for the calendar year) and lunch food and use the public restrooms by the parking lot.  Then we will drive to the Shi Shi Beach trailhead, offload passengers and gear there and drive the cars to the nearby backpacker parking lots, where the parking fee is  $20 per car at one lot and $30 per car in a closer lot.  Each car's parking fee will be shared equally by those in that car.  Drivers will then  walk back to the trailhead.  Then we hike the three miles to our beach campsite.  There is a steep, primitive trail dropping about 200 feet down to the beach, where fixed ropes aid descent and ascent on the return.  On previous trips to Shi Shi Beach everyone has been able to successfully descend and ascend this slope.  The rest of the hike is almost level, but the second mile has some muddy sections.   We will hike out at 10 AM Sunday and  during the drive home have optional stops at the Makah Museum ($5 per person) and a restaurant.

There are restrooms at the WIC, Washburn's General Store, the trailhead and the Makah Museum.  There are three primitive outhouses at Shi Shi Beach.