Ozette-Cape Alava Triangle 8-17/18-2013

This hike was in the Olympic National Park, and is a loop (triangle) that starts at Lake Ozette, and goes to Sand Point along 3 miles of trail which is mostly boardwalk through the forest, north along 3 miles of shoreline to Cape Alava, and back to Lake Ozette along more beautiful boardwalk trail for 3 miles.  Or you can do it the opposite way.  I had only done the hike in to the beach and straight back out as a day hike, but Dave and I packed up the big packs and tent and went on an overnight trip.  It was fantastic!!
We stopped in the little fishing town of Sekiu on our way in for a quick lunch.

 

Dogs aren't allowed on National Park Trails, so Cedar got to spend the weekend with Grama Ruby.  We got our backcountry permits, our entry fee and started off on our adventure!

 

Here is some of the boardwalk on the trail.  They are putting new synthetic boards into part of it, but I think some of the boards are the ones I stepped on when I was little.  Nice old mossy boards. 

There are so many kinds of moss in the Pacific Northwest.  These were like little pink moss-flowers on a really thick pelt of moss.  They looked Dr Seussian.

It didn't seem to take long and we arrived at our camp area, Sand Point.  We found a great campsite just above the high tideline, and this was the view from it!  I wish I could share the sounds too... waves, seals, eagles... it was amazing!

It was low tide when we got there, so once we set up camp we wandered around the tidepools.  Walking through all the rocks you could hear the shore crabs scurrying under the rocks.  It was a cool but eerie sound.

purple shore crab

After poking around in the tidepools, we climbed up on top of the little rocky hill that is on Sand Point and looked out at ocean, sea stacks, rocks, and shoreline.  We were super stoked to see whales!  I don't know what kind they were. I thought maybe humpback, but the ranger we visited with later thought maybe sperm whales.  There were two of them and were pretty close to shore.

There were seals hanging out all over the place.  They were so cute.  They barked and splashed and sunned themselves on top of the rocks.

This photo is full of seals, but if you look to the upper right you'll see an eagle also! I didn't even see it when I took the picture.

This friendly little cottontail wandered into our campsite and munched on the meadow.  Dave went and sat down about 4 feet away from him and he didn't seem to mind at all.

This handy table came with our campsite.  I think the table top must have been some sort of flotsam or jetsam, but neither of us could figure out what it was.  It was too heavy for us to flip it over after it rained, and it had electrical wires like embedded in parts of it.

After dinner we heated up some more water and poured it into our bag of dehydrated apple crisp, and took that and our bowls and spoons back up on top of the hill to watch the sunset.  It was beautiful!

The rain pretty much held off in the day, but sprinkled on our tent at night, which was perfect.  I love the sound of rain on the tent, but prefer not to get drenched while walking around or trying to cook on a camp stove.  After some hot chocolate and cookies for breakfast, we packed everything back up and said goodbye to our gorgeous campsite, and headed north along the beach.  Curious seals watched us as we walked by.

 

One of the attractions along this hike is referred to as the "wedding rocks" which are petroglyphs about half way between Sand Point and Cape Alava.  Dave thinks they fell from the rock face above, and if we had any extra energy we would have gone up to look.  From the way they lay at different angles and facing different directions, etc I think he is right.

There were a couple places along the shore where you have to leave the beach and go overland if there is a high tide.  I was worried that they might be long stretches where you could get into trouble if the tide came in faster than you were expecting, but they were pretty small areas and easy to identify. We got around the first one, but had to go up and over for the second one.
Another thing of interest along the beach was this whale carcass. Someone had burned it and the ribs were missing.  I also didn't see a lower jaw.  I would have looked at it a bit more, but the wind shifted and almost made us both sick. 

When we finally reached Cape Alava there was a woman trying to get her little boy to come look at a deer.  He wasn't interested, as he was very involved with a rock and a tidepool.  She said "fine," and then asked us "do YOU want to see a deer?"  We were more enthusiastic, so she pointed to where it was and we took a break there.  She was completely unconcerned with people around, ignoring children that ran right by her to the privy and she walked right up to us on her way to the beach.

This is a cool island off Cape Alava.  I would have liked to check it out, but I think the tide would have to be super low and imagine it would be pretty easy to get stuck there! 

Kendall Katwalk 8-10-13

Today was supposed to be a Camp Muir climb, but I want to have a near-guarantee of a view when I do Muir, and very few of the people who expressed interest in joining in were able to make it.  So instead, with a forecast of partly cloudy with chances of thunderstorms, Dave and I decided to hike to Kendall Katwalk, with Cedar as our faithful escort of course.
The wildflower season was wrapping up, but there were these pretty blue flowers here and there, as well as the last of the Indian paintbrush and lupine further up.  This may be monkshood?  I can't find my wildflower ID book. 

 

I think this is Lonely Mountain.  If we have more time, maybe we'll stop in and see if the dwarves are home when we are in the area again.  ; )

 

 Here is an eye test for you.  Examine the rocks below.  Do you spot the pika? 

 

 Don't feel bad... I'll zoom in for you.  There he is!

This 11 mile roundtrip trail gains over 2500 feet of elevation, so it's best to start in the morning.  A lot of it is under trees, but there are large stretches that go over rockslide areas, and those can really bake you when the sun is on them. 

Here is a view of Red Mountain.  If you're color-blind you probably can't tell why it's called that.

I didn't remember so many streams cutting the path, and most are in the 1st half of the hike, but there are quite a few cheerful little rivulets and waterfalls.

A wildflower that was blooming in profusion was the fireweed.  Cedar was happy to take this little break amongst the flowers.

I think the partly cloudy day made this hike even better.  The surrounding mountains and hills appeared even more dramatic rising above the misty clouds.

Here is another eye test for you.  Can you find the marmot in the photo below?  This shy fuzzy guy looked on the small side, so we guessed he was this year's marmotlet.  Next year no doubt he'll be fat and sassy.

 

 Here is another view of Red Mountain.  It is quite striking anyway, but even more so because the mountain that it connects with to the west is ash gray.

Here Dave and Cedar toil up the trail with Red Mountain in the background.

In the middle of one of the rockslide areas, some animals-possibly marmots (although I thought only the Olympic marmot whistled) or pikas (although I've never heard them say anything but "meeeep") started whistling shrilly and sounded distressed.  I looked up and saw movement, "Is that a marmot?" I asked Dave dubiously.  He looked up the steep rocky slope also, "It's a bird of prey!"  Then I saw that the thing was flying up into the air and then hurtling back down over and over.  "Yes, I agreed," and watched to see if it would catch a marmot or something.  About then we both realized the flying, diving, animate object was really an INanimate object and both of us shouted "ROCK!!!! ROCK!!!!"  It was fairly obvious it would miss us, but was heading right for the man and his Australian shepherd behind us.  He called his dog back and the boulder (a bit bigger than a basketball) came crashing down onto the trail between us and him, and careened off the other side, a violent victim of gravity.  We had kept most of our attention upslope to make sure no other rocks were coming down, and still the shrill whistling sounded.  I thought about it later... even the wild animals are at risk from falling rocks and landslides.  Whatever animal sounded the alarm, it was warning its friends and neighbors and just luckily the people on the trail were paying attention also.  It's a good thing to stay tuned with normal versus abnormal sounds, and the feel you get from the environment around you.  I think the more you are out in nature, the more you are able to hear when you listen.  Anyway.. it was a bit scary and definitely got my adrenaline going!!

Here Cedar models some small lakes below the trail. He is also modeling lines in his hair that show how his mom feels about paying for a professional groomer, heh heh. 

 

 Adventure Dog always loves the views.  He looks around frequently and takes more of an interest when there is a panorama or river or something breathtaking to see.  I would say he shows just as much, if not more, interest in the views along the trail as he does the wildlife.

 

 And at long last we reached Kendall Katwalk.  It was quite a popular hike this day, so it was difficult to get shots without a lot of other people in them.

 

 We crossed to the other side and ate our lunch with a view so lovely it would have brought tears to our eyes if we weren't so hungry by then.  After eating (picture Cookie Monster, having been made to march for miles, suddenly coming across a plate of double-chocolate chip cookies), we just soaked in the sunshine and the incredible vista before us.

 

It was an epic hike, and one that I thoroughly recommend.  Bring plenty of water, as you will exert yourself quite a bit, and plenty for any 4-legged companions as well. 

 

And now for some trail humor.  I have sure been seeing it a lot lately.  This amusing commentary was found in the privy (not that I condone graffiti)

 

And finally....Smoky?  What have they done to you?!?  : (